Collaboration Overload Is Sinking Productivity

Collaboration Overload Is Sinking Productivity

Our research has shown that about 50% of the time, the main culprit of our overload can be found by looking in the mirror.

Rob Cross, Mike Benson, Jack Kostal, and RJ Milnor | Harvard Business Review 

Collaborative work — time spent on email, IM, phone, and video calls — has risen 50% or more over the past decade to consume 85% or more of most people’s work weeks. These invisible demands are hurting organizations’ efforts to become more agile and innovative. And they can lead to individual career derailment, burnout, and declines in physical and mental well-being. When people talk about collaborative overload, they inevitably blame culprits such as out-of-control email, back-to-back meetings, demanding clients, and unreasonable bosses. But our research has shown that about 50% of the time, the main culprit of our overload can be found by looking in the mirror.

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Cross, R., Benson, M., Kostal, J., Milnow, RJ. (2021) Collaboration Overload Is Sinking Productivity. Harvard Business Review Sept 2021. http://hrb.org

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