Molly Sands, Head of the Teamwork Lab at Atlassian, joined us on The Modern People Leader.
We talked about Atlassian’s latest research on the three things the best teams do differently, the power of unleashing collective knowledge, and why distributed teams have a headstart on AI adoption.
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🔗 Go book your next offsite with Marco Experiences.
🔗 Request a demo of ChartHop.
🔗 Download the State of Teams 2025 Report from Atlassian.
🔗 Buy your ticket for MPL Live San Francisco.
🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.
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(05:30) Molly’s Journey: From Social Psychology to Head of Teamwork Lab at Atlassian
(10:53) Day-to-Day at Teamwork Lab: Researching & Experimenting with Teams Globally
(12:50) How Atlassian Prioritizes Research & Addresses Team Challenges
(17:32) State of Teams Report 2025: The Three Key Practices of Top Teams
(23:10) Unleashing Collective Knowledge: What It Looks Like at Scale
(30:33) The AI Paradigm Shift: Why Remote-First Teams Have the Advantage
(38:10) Agentic Solutions: Can AI Agents Really Automate Team Workflows Today?
(42:46) Real AI Applications: Atlassian’s Nora Agent for Onboarding & Beyond
(48:28) Advice for People Leaders: Start Small with AI & Empower Experimentation
(50:04) Rapid Fire: Molly’s Career Advice, Superpower, and Strategy to Steal
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Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie Burke (Chief People Officer, Harvey), Liz Fosslien, Helen Russell (Chief People Officer, HubSpot), Dave Scott (Chief People Officer, ADT), Melanie Rossenwasser (Chief People Officer, Dropbox), Crystal Boysen (Chief People Officer, Sprout Social), and many more.
