Cohort Institute
Teams don't fail from lack of talent.
They fail when people aren't heard early enough.
The Problem
Most team problems are predictable. We just ask too late.
By the time someone speaks up, the damage is done. Trust has eroded. The team limps toward a deadline everyone dreads.
You're already making this decision. You're just making it blind.
You already know which team will struggle. You just won't know why until it's too late.
Our Philosophy
Teams are systems. Treat them that way.
The tension was there before the blowup. The misalignment before the complaint.
Whether you're forming a team or intervening in one, the warning signs were legible.
You didn't have a way to see them.
How It Works
Three steps to explainable decisions.
1. Give people a voice
A private intake captures what people won't say in a meeting. No judgment. No exposure.
2. Surface patterns
Alignment, tension, risk. Constraints surface before commitments lock.
3. Decide with clarity
A recommendation you can explain. A decision you can defend when asked.
Same dynamics, different stakes.
Someone has to make the call. Form a team. Intervene in one. Rebalance a roster under pressure. They rarely have what they need to decide well.
In classrooms, instructors make team and role decisions every semester with a roster and intuition. The team that struggles is predictable in hindsight. The intervention that could have helped came too late.
In organizations, the stakes compound. A misaligned assignment becomes attrition. A staffing decision made under pressure becomes a reorg six months later. The cost is never just frustration.
We write about how teams fail, why decisions lose legitimacy, and what happens when people aren't heard. Explore our thinking →
Participants see what's collected. Individual responses stay private. We collect only what's needed.
For Instructors
Explore a classroom pilot.
Students complete a short survey before teams form. You get balanced groups with the reasoning behind each one.
Full control. No black box.
- Teams built on schedule fit, intent alignment, and role coverage
- A snapshot that surfaces mismatches before they become conflict
- Every team explained—adjust anything before you finalize