Host Intro (Gene Kim)

What a wonderful segue to the next talk. One of the books that has changed how so many leaders think and talk in this community is Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais. I met them seven years ago, and I love the clarity of the common patterns we use to organize our teams — and more importantly, why we organize them that way.

One of the most important contributions in that book was to elevate the concept of cognitive load, which so often dictates the ability to which people can do their work easily and well.

So I'm so delighted that Manuel will be presenting on some of what he's learned since that book was published, and that he will be co-presenting with Dr. Laura Weis, another organizational psychologist. She'll be talking more about the emerging science around understanding cognitive load and the tools and techniques that leaders can use to manage it — so that everyone can do their best work. Here's Laura and Manuel.

Manuel Pais

Thank you so much, Gene. It's a pleasure to be back on the stage. I don't want to bring you down just before the party, but we have to talk more about a serious issue in our industry.

A study late last year found that nearly one out of two employees feel burnout. [Slide: 44% of full-time employees experience burnout 🤯 — Source: cio.com] I'm pretty sure most of us in this room, at some point in our careers, have felt burnout as well. Maybe some of you have felt it forever.

There's also an economic cost to this burnout for organizations. Gallup estimates that to be around $322 billion per year. [Slide: $322 Billion — Employers' global cost, per year, due to burnout.]

There are some recent trends that made things a bit worse — massive layoffs, return-to-office blind mandates. But fundamentally what I see is that teams and people feel overwhelmed. There's so much to do, we don't have enough capacity, so many distractions, competing priorities — and we don't have a clear direction. We don't know exactly what we should be focusing on.

01The #1 question since Team Topologies was published — How can we measure Team Cognitive Load?

When Team Topologies was published five years ago, it wasn't surprising that for most people the number one takeaway was: there is something called Team Cognitive Load. There's a limit to the capacity of teams to take on more work and respond effectively. If we're not paying attention to this limit, we will have poor quality and longer lead times among other things.

[Slide: #1 question since Team Topologies was published — How can we measure Team Cognitive Load? (with book cover)]

In the last few years we've been trying to answer this question — how do we measure team cognitive load? We've dedicated significant effort into, first, understanding better the science behind team cognitive load — what is really driving cognitive load in knowledge-intensive teams, and what is possible to measure and what is not. So really digging into this scientific approach.

Then we built this model into a tool called Teamperature, which we hope will help leaders and team members better understand: where is this cognitive load coming from? What should we be addressing and giving more priority?

[Slide: Teamperature — Managing cognitive load for healthier teams — teamperature.com — Free for teams]

Interestingly, this morning there were several talks where organizations identified cognitive load problems in some of their teams and, for example, built new platform services or capabilities to address those. So today the focus is not so much on which tools or approaches — it's: let's understand more of what team cognitive load is, where it's coming from, so we can better manage it.

02The improvement loop — Assess → Contextualize Results → Act → Assess

Before we go into the science behind team cognitive load, let's imagine we do have those insights. Let's say we have the data around what is driving team cognitive load in our organization. Once we have that data, we can apply essentially a continuous improvement loop.

[Slide: Assess → Contextualize Results → Act → Assess. (1) Assess Team Cognitive Load. (2) Analyze Results & generate improvement options — informed by Context (events, on-going changes…). (3) Implement one or more options. Loop.]

As leaders, we should be looking at: what is the cognitive load on teams? What are the trends? What are common issues? Then we look at the results and inject our context — because things happen in context. Are there relevant recent events at the team level or organizational level? Ongoing initiatives, reorgs, transformations? All those things contribute to increasing team cognitive load.

Once we have these contextualized results, we can generate improvement options. For example: - If we realize our Stream-Aligned Teams (product teams) have a lot of complexity in their day-to-day work, and there are things we could push to a platform — offload, reduce cognitive load — that might be an option. - Or maybe we realize we have very large product teams with too many customers, and we should look at splitting into smaller teams with a clear customer focus, aligned to a clear stream of value.

Whatever the options are, we then pick one or two — don't try to do everything at the same time — a couple we think will be the most impactful, and implement those. Then at the right time we come back and assess team cognitive load again, see if the actions improved things or didn't move the needle. We continue on this loop.

So besides understanding more about team cognitive load and the science behind it, this is a key takeaway: how leaders should be thinking about managing team cognitive load.

03Introducing Dr. Laura Weis

We knew we needed help to do this research — someone with a lot of expertise in psychology. I found the work of Dr. Laura Weis really compelling. Just after talking briefly with her, I realized we shared this passion to improve the workplace and help teams perform better. So definitely the right person — and also, by the way, she's a former national boxing champion in the UK, so definitely a force to be reckoned with. With that, I pass it to you, Laura.

[Slide: Dr. Laura Weis — Master's in Psychology, PhD in Organisational Psychology — Global Talent Innovation Director at WPP — Future of Work thought leader — Former national boxing champion and currently an international referee and coach.]

Dr. Laura Weis

Thank you. What's it like to work where you work? Busy, right? Everyone has been asked to do more with less. As a psychologist, I'm interested in how that affects the brain.

I collect data on how people feel under this pressure. Here are some of the most representative sentiments I've found:

[Slide: A cloud of employee quotes — - "This work feels pointless" - "Why do I have to do it like this?" - "Requirements keep changing!" - "Can I speak up about this issue?" - "We are talking past each other!" - "I feel like I'm walking on eggshells." - "Can I ask for help?" - "Why can't I think straight?" - "I feel misunderstood." - "It's too noisy!" - "I'm not appreciated here." - "This stpid tool is not working!" - "I feel paralyzed by all these tasks." - "Why does everything take so long?" - "My brain is fried" "THIS IS ALL TOO MUCH!"*]

I won't do the TED Talk thing of asking you to raise your hand if you've experienced any of these. I assume you have — and if you haven't, you need to be on the stage.

What these sentiments all have in common is they induce anxiety, stress, and frustration — all of which have an effect on how we process information. They strain our cognition, leading to what we call cognitive load.

04Theories behind team cognitive load

As a diligent scientist, we need to actually embed this in a bit of theory. I'm sorry — I know it's really late in the day.

[Slide: Theories Behind Team Cognitive Load — Capacity Theory of Attention | Attentional Control Theory | Cognitive Load Theory | Cognitive Overload Theory | Information Theory | Group/Team Dynamics Theories | Collective Working Memory & Group Cognition | Organisational Effectiveness Theories | Social Facilitation Theory | Leadership Theories | Mutual cognitive interdependence principle]

- Capacity Theory of Attention — brought forward by our friend Daniel Kahneman. He was actually the first who stated there's a limit to humans' cognitive and attentional capacity. Hence multitasking is really difficult, at least for most of us. - Attentional Control Theory — suggested by Michael Eysenck, British psychologist. He said emotions such as stress, anxiety, pressure also further strain that capacity. - Cognitive Load Theory — proposed by John Sweller. All about how we use cognitive resources during learning. He set out three main cognitive loads: intrinsic (task complexity), extraneous (how information is presented), and germane (how we integrate new knowledge — the load of building schemas). - Cognitive Overload Theory — focuses on what happens if we're overloaded: how it affects motivation, performance, decision-making, and well-being. - Information Theory — how does too much information affect our brain? A recent Nature study said that information overload is an environmental pollution such as air and water — due to its widespread effect on decision-making and social interaction.

The team is our level of analysis, and because the team is our level of analysis, we looked at theories that consider how teams function and achieve their goals: collective working memory and group cognition theories, social facilitation theories.

Why focus on the team? I did my PhD on social network analytics. The key premise of social network analytics is that nothing exists in isolation, only in relation. People need to be studied in the context of their social environment.

05The coal-and-diamond analogy

I'm going to share my favorite cheesy analogy. So coal and diamond have the same carbon atoms. But they have vastly different properties due to how those carbon atoms are connected.

Similarly, teams — their effectiveness is not just about having a bunch of super-intelligent people in a room. It's about how those people connect, the relationships between them, the structure of the team. And here's where it gets really cheesy: depending on that, you get something brittle and dark like coal, or something really strong, transparent, bright, and valuable — like a diamond.

[Slide: photo of a piece of coal next to a polished diamond.]

06Today's "LOAD"

Why is this so relevant today?

[Slide: Today's "LOAD" — Fast Technological Progress | Ways of Working constantly change | Complexity & Interdependence | Distributed Work | Need for Lifelong Learning — What about AI?]

- Fast technological progress — has a really strong effect on how ways of working are changing. They're constantly changing, we have to adapt all the time. Introduces increased complexity, but also more interdependence between workers. - Distributed work — some people at home, some in the office, some in a completely different time zone. That introduces a complication to collaboration. - Need for lifelong learning — because of constant change, we need to continuously adapt to new tools and learn new skills. All this increases cognitive load dramatically. - What about AI? I'm sure there was pretty much no talk today that didn't mention AI. On one hand it can really help with cognitive load — automate tasks, help with decision-making (e.g., prescriptive analytics), help with information personalization. On the other hand, AI requires you to learn and adapt and change behavior all the time — that creates more load. You need to maintain systems, oversee decisions to avoid errors and biases. The effect on information management is mixed — ChatGPT can create loads and loads of information that's overwhelming, but you can also use it to streamline and summarize. (My favorite prompt: "make concise.")

07Cognitive load is normal — the car-engine analogy

Cognitive load is normal and it's actually nothing bad in itself. It's too much and regular cognitive load that is a problem.

Imagine a car engine. If you drive a car at full capacity for a long time, the engine will overheat. Similarly, overloading the brain will lead to mental fatigue and burnout.

In knowledge organizations, people are metaphorically similar to engines or machines in a factory. Knowledge and energy from various sources are brought together to create new knowledge, information, services, products — often in a super chaotic manner.

In factories, however, there's a very defined capacity. You know exactly how much a machine can handle. Cognitive — or brain — capacity is mostly overlooked, and managers rarely consider it when adding new tasks or new complexities. This is partly because it's not straightforward. Humans don't have a speedometer or a fuel warning system or some alarm that sets off when we're overloaded.

[Slides: photo of a bottling factory at the top; man overwhelmed with paperwork at the bottom.]

08Definition of Team Cognitive Load

So how do we measure it? Let's define it:

[Slide: Team Cognitive Load refers to the collective cognitive burden experienced by a group working together. Overload occurs when a group's combined cognitive demands exceed its processing capacity, impairing its effectiveness.]

Without a brain capacity monitor, we rely on self-reported feedback from your employees. I didn't have time to cover the scientific process on how to create a psychological assessment scale, but it's on the Teamperature website — or you can come speak to us afterwards.

Before I go into the model, I want to talk about why we chose not to measure team cognitive load directly. As of yet, there is no valid and accepted way to measure it directly. And even if we did find a way of measuring it, it's not necessarily actionable. Imagine — you know your burnout rate, you know your attrition rate. That doesn't tell you how to prevent it.

What we need to do is look at the root causes — the drivers — of cognitive load.

09The Drivers of Team Cognitive Load — four clusters

This is our model. We have four clusters:

[Slide: Drivers of Team Cognitive Load — four clusters: 1. Team Characteristics — Composition (Team Complexity, Team Competence), Roles (Member Role Clarity, Member Role Fit, Member Role Load), Culture (Team Alignment, Team Interaction, Member Psychological Safety). 2. Task Characteristics — Problem Statement (Problem Definition, Solution Alignment), Complexity (Task, Contextual), Metrics (Metrics). 3. Work Practices & Processes — Use of Information; Efficiency & Effectiveness (Process, Consistency, Pace, Performance); Adaptability (Resilience, Iterative Working, Continuous Learning). 4. Work Environment & Tools — Tools (Suitability, Performance), Environment (Environment). Scientific model: https://www.teamperature.com/resources/scientific-model]

1. Team Characteristics — composition, complexity, team competence; role clarity ("are members clear what their role is, do they actually fit in"); cultural aspects like team alignment and psychological safety. Anxiety and stress induced by low psychological safety also affect how we process information. 2. Task Characteristics — task complexity, contextual complexity, and "are we all clear about the problem?" The amount of times I speak to teams way into a project, ask "what is the problem?" and get either no answer or completely different answers — is just crazy. 3. Work Practices & Processes — are they consistent? Is there a good pace? How does the team use information? Aspects of adaptability — is the team working in an iterative way? 4. Work Environment & Tools — are tools suitable, and do the tools do what they're supposed to do? Is the environment comfortable and safe?

10Emerging research directions

Three areas, briefly:

[Slide: Emerging Research Directions & Opportunities — (1) How do different groups experience Cognitive Load Drivers? (2) How do Cognitive Load Drivers affect Outcomes of Importance? (3) Cognitive Load as "Success Moderator" — Can Effective Management Foster Greater Inclusivity?]

1. How do different groups experience cognitive load? People experience the workplace quite differently depending on operational and demographic differences — role, gender, race, seniority, etc. In order to design actionable interventions, it's really important we understand these group differences. We did a study and found that: - Females experience a lot more role overload and a lot more role ambiguity. - Remote workers struggle with knowledge exchange, but they have better physical environments at home. - Bigger-size teams experience much more cognitive load.

2. How do cognitive load drivers affect outcomes of importance? Manuel talked about burnout at the start. We found that cognitive load drivers are strongly positively correlated with burnout, with turnover intent, and negatively correlated with job satisfaction.

3. Cognitive load as success moderator — can effective management foster greater inclusivity? I work at WPP and we have a massive emphasis on our neurodiverse talent because we know neurodiverse talent can really bring that competitive edge. What we find is that managing cognitive load drivers is incredibly important, especially for the neurodiverse talent — as a lack of clear roles, processes, and lack of clear roles and processes disproportionately affects them.

11Key takeaway

Managing team cognitive load is key to maximizing value by enabling all employees to perform at their best. (Scientific model: https://www.teamperature.com/resources/scientific-model)

With that, I'm handing over to Manuel again.

Manuel Pais — Close

Very, very, very quickly because I know you need to get to the party and reduce your cognitive load with some alcohol.

What we're looking for: 1. How do we raise C-level awareness around the need to manage team cognitive load? 2. If you found effective ways to manage team cognitive load at scale, we would love to hear that. And also — what were the obstacles? 3. If you want to try teamperature.com, we would love your feedback on how we can make it better to help you as leaders and senior people manage cognitive load in your teams.

Thank you very much.