Make Collaboration Really Work
By Lisa Bodell for Fast Company
With so much importance placed on connecting and collaborating, why is it so unproductive?
Collaborative work has become overwhelming and ineffective. On average, we spend 85% of our time in meetings, on emails, on phone calls, and on Slack. It’s too easy to schedule a meeting (just send a Teams link!) and too hard to decipher its purpose (seriously, what’s the agenda?).
We’re connected, but we’re not really connecting. Harvard Business Review stated that while more than 80% of managers believe that good collaboration is critical, only 20% are satisfied with how it happens. Status meeting, anyone?
Improving how we connect and collaborate would have a huge impact. When citing the benefits of stronger teamwork, employees emphasize that it would improve not just productivity but also foster innovation, creativity, and engagement.
Try these tips to turn the typical drudgery of connecting into a transformative experience.
ELIMINATE TIME SUCKS
Make space for better collaboration by stopping what’s in your way.
Do a meeting audit: List all your recurring meetings—daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly—with the goal of eliminating as many as possible. Has a certain meeting outlived its time? Cancel it. Need to keep it? Lessen the frequency or put it on a time diet (30 minutes is the new 60 minutes).