Dec 21, 2021
Before COVID pushed many workers into remote work, collaboration consumed as much as 85% of people's work time. In the post-pandemic world it's gone even higher, adding five to eight hours to the average work week.
We're collaborating more, which is a good thing, but we've entered overload territory.
In this episode of Get Reworked, we talk to Rob Cross, professor of global leadership at Babson College and author of "Beyond Collaboration Overload," about what that means and how companies can make sure they're collaborating in the right ways. As companies ponder their return-to-office strategy, understanding internal networks and identifying who your organizational super collaborators are is critically important.
"They're in my mind the really big flight risks that a lot of the organizations are using the network analytics to understand," Rob said, "because if you force them back what you're doing is not just losing a person, you're losing that network too. And so the impact is quite, quite significant."
Highlights of the conversation include:
- How Zoom fatigue is different from collaboration overload.
- How to drive better innovation from collaboration.
- The role of purpose and intention in building effective collaboration.
- How to build high quality relationships in remote and hybrid work.
- Who should take ownership of collaboration inside the organization.
Plus, co-hosts Siobhan Fagan and Mike Prokopeak talk to Rob about how actor Kevin Bacon is a model for the kind of networked connections we should be aiming for in organizations, and the pluses and minuses of New Year's resolutions. Listen in for more.
Have a suggestion, comment or topic for a future episode? Drop us a line at editors@simplermedia.com.