Six signs you aren’t collaborating effectively

Effective collaboration is the foundation for business success. More than that, it also has a significantly positive impact on team members themselves, with those working with high collaboration reporting a 30% increase in job satisfaction and a 20% decrease in turnover intent.

However, it’s easy for firms to remain stuck in outdated, inefficient ways of collaborating. Indeed, there are several tools and apps facilitating hybrid work, but it’s in people’s nature to habituate and potentially fall back into old patterns. Some organisations might not even realise a process or tool requires a refresh to instil better collaboration.

I’ll dive into six signs of ineffective collaboration that indicate the need for change, along with some considerations for improvement.

1- Too many meetings are being held

If a work diary is full of follow-up meetings, similar information is likely being relayed throughout the work week and team collaboration is not as efficient as it could be. Beyond time and money spent for businesses pulling employees into meetings, excessive touch points can cause fatigue and prevent people from working optimally.

Critical thinking should be applied to establish whether each recurring meeting is truly needed. Are team members learning or applying new information? Or are they just being reminded of the status of items? Asynchronous collaboration can act as an effective alternative to extra meetings. Visual collaboration, for example, allows individuals to collaborate effectively on their own time and reduce the need for extra meetings. In some situations, the quality of collaboration will become more valuable because it gives team members time back and decreases the pressure of coming up with ideas on-the-spot.

2- Meetings aren’t organised

That said, not all meetings should be cancelled. How meetings are facilitated can be a big source of poor collaboration. If they frequently start or run late, don’t have an agenda, or there isn’t a formalised notetaking or documentation process, people may feel the need to host more meetings in general to feel aligned.

Optimising meeting times is beneficial to the productivity of each individual and team, giving them the information they need to do their job well and, critically, some time back. Compiling effective meeting agendas helps prepare attendees for discussion, encourages participation, and keeps meetings focused and to time. Improved documentation on a visual canvas that everyone has access to during and after any meeting where participants are expected to collaborate - where notes, action items, and decisions can be recorded – can help to enhance alignment and productivity.

3- Duplication of documents

Documents can go back and forth between employees, so much so that people end up working from multiple versions of the same one. Not only does this waste time searching for resources, it also means teams are likely working from outdated information. As people come and go in an organisation or change roles, there can also be confusion over who owns documents, wasting even more time.

Having a single source of truth – a centralised repository for your team’s documents, data, and information – can assure teams of where to go to seek information and answers. This can act as a one-stop shop for people to easily add to and pull from, so they can stop unproductive searches, avoid duplicate work and identify patterns within ideas and data.

4- Frequent misunderstandings between team members

Organisational misalignment can also arise from misunderstandings amongst teams due to lacking clarity around project goals, timelines, and priorities. Constantly seeking answers to seemingly basic questions or leaving meetings without clear direction are indicators that a clear record of decisions or other project details are missing.

Creating a single source of truth is helpful in solving this issue too, but it’s important to note that the mere presence of documentation doesn’t automatically equate to clarity for teams. Similarly to how it’s easier to misinterpret text messages, teams can interpret things differently when only using text-based communication like emails or Slack. Visuals speed up the process of understanding a concept or information to confidently move forward on tasks and projects.

5- Spreadsheets are being used, too much

Spreadsheets are useful when it comes to inputting and analysing large amounts of data, but despite being overwhelming to interpret and highly error-prone, they’ve grown to be used in other ways, like as visuals in presentations or a means to collaborate. But spreadsheets aren’t optimised for internal communication, so teams still rely on other tools, like Slack and email, to ask questions or communicate needed changes.

While spreadsheets have their place, there are more appropriate ways to make sense of data in ways spreadsheets can’t. Visual collaboration platforms are often more intuitive when it comes to getting started – they leverage work already done instead of having to manually input data.

6- The same voices are being heard in meetings

If this is the case, it’s likely indicative that there’s an issue with collaboration equity. If a business isn’t offering all participants the same ability to contribute and communicate equally, regardless of whether they work in-office or remotely, have different collaboration styles, are at varying levels of seniority or are neurodivergent, it won’t achieve the full potential of teams. Employees also may feel frustrated and dissatisfied or like their organisation doesn’t value their input, and ultimately the business will benefit from fewer ideas and probably missing some of the best ones.

Expressive collaborators like working in teams, while introspective collaborators prefer a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to collaboration. By understanding different working styles and empowering people to do their best work in the way they do it best, businesses can facilitate more fulfilling sessions, satisfied employees, and an equitable workplace.

Breaking old collaboration habits

Changing the way we work can be difficult to navigate, as it’s human nature to keep doing what we’re doing instead of opting for a better way. However, making small changes to inefficient day-to-day processes can drastically improve collaboration and productivity between and amongst teams. Keep an eye on the frequency and quality of meetings and ideations, and whether documentation processes are indeed helping to share knowledge or actually producing siloes. Improving these elements will help accelerate decision-making and drive innovation for businesses in the long term.