Collaboration overload?
The January/February edition of Harvard is a ripper. Several particularly good articles in this edition. What particularly caught my eye was the lead article: " Collaborative Overload: your most helpful employees are burning out. Here's what to do about it" (p74) by Cross, Rebele and Grant.
Here are a few gems:
"According to the data we have collected over the past two decades, the time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has ballooned by 50% or more".
"The distribution of collaborative work is often extremely lopsided. In most cases, 20% to 35% of value-added collaborations come from only 3% to 5% of employees".
"The problem: although the benefits of collaboration are well documented, the costs often go unrecognised. When demand for collaboration run too high or aren't spread evenly through the organisation, workflow bottlenecks and employee burnout result"
"The solution: Leaders must learn to better manage collaboration in their companies by mapping supply and demand, eliminating or redistributing work, and incentivising people to collaborate more efficiently".
Author: Denise Picton