When the group broke out in a fight over who got the green kayak, I knew it was bad.
At one point in my life, I ran an academic and life skills summer sleep-away camp. You know, the kind with friendship bracelets, ropes courses, and a suspicious amount of bug spray. The kids would show up for ten days, live in rooms together, eat together, and do every activity together. We created an instant community. But by day six? That community hit a wall.
Snapping, eye rolls, and sudden fights over granola bars and kayak colors.
Why? Because too much togetherness can be just as harmful as too little. Turns out, even extroverts need a break. Fast forward to modern office life, and it’s not much different, even the guy who suggested ‘mandatory fun Fridays’ quietly booked a solo co-working space.
I was working with a company recently that had embraced the open-office trend with full force. No walls. No doors. No escape. Just rows of desks, shared air, and every conversation available for public consumption.
Everyone in the office knew that Sandra was struggling to complete the quarterly projections. Everyone knew that Keane’s computer kept breaking.
Everyone knew that Ken was eating boiled eggs at his desk again and pretending it was fine.
The leadership team designed the space to be “collaborative.” What they got instead? A stressed-out team, rising burnout, and a whole lot of noise-canceling headphones.
This wasn’t a case of bad people or introverts gone AWOL. It was a case of bad proximity.
Constant connection isn’t collaboration. It’s chaos.
Healthy Teams Pulse, They Don’t Hover
The most effective teams don’t spend every waking moment together. They flow. They pulse. They cycle between collaboration and solitude. They come together for a burst of shared energy, then step apart to recharge and focus.
The data backs this up:
- From 1970 to 2010, office space per employee shrank from about 500 sq ft to just 200 sq ft. As that space disappeared, cortisol (your body’s stress hormone) levels went up, productivity went down, and sick days spiked.
- In a study of team effectiveness, 76% of low-performers reported constant interruptions. By contrast, 62% of high-performers had access to private, uninterrupted space.
- Researcher Susan Cain (author of Quiet) coined this “The New GroupThink” which means an over-glorification of non-stop teamwork that suppresses creativity and problem-solving by squeezing out time for individual thought.
So, no, your people aren’t antisocial. They’re just socially fried.
In Dance Floor Theory™, we talk about building a Culture of Connection™, but that doesn’t mean perpetual group huddles or an endless Zoom room.
Connection thrives when it’s intentional, not constant. Engagement rises when there’s a rhythm. Teams need space to think just as much as they need space to talk.
Want more innovation? Let your people unplug.
Want better problem-solving? Give them room to reflect.
Want deeper team bonds? Create time apart so people have the capacity to re-engage meaningfully.
Stop Worshipping the Group Chat
91% of corporate leaders will say that teams drive success.
But then they’ll create open work spaces, schedule back-to-back meetings, and put the espresso machine next to the quiet room.
The best leaders know that great teams aren’t built by proximity, they’re built by pacing.
Like a heartbeat: active, then rest. Together, then apart.
Try this: Design your team’s calendar like a pulse
- Schedule team sprints followed by protected solo work time.
- Make “do not disturb” a badge of focus, not rudeness.
- Turn your group meetings into intentional rituals with clear start and end times.
- Normalize headphones and strategic silence not as isolation or group rejection, but rather recharge, regroup, and deep work time.
Your workplace shouldn’t feel like a group project that never ends.
The truth is, community isn’t about being together all the time. It’s about knowing when to come together, and when to give each other space.
Just like on our Engagement Pyramid, not everyone is ready to be a Level 5 Leader in the center all the time. But give them room to move, and they’ll find their rhythm.
Your Call To Action
Build your team culture like you’d build a good workout with cycles of intensity and recovery.
That’s how you create sustainable engagement, creativity, and productivity. Together, then apart, then together again.
Because even the strongest communities breathe.
