New report uncovers what bad collaboration can cost your organization — and how you can help fix it
Zoom and Morning Consult surveyed nearly 8,000 leaders and employees from 16 countries to learn how people prefer to work together and what gets in the way of collaboration. Here's what we found out.
Have you ever had trouble finding time on colleagues’ schedules to connect? Or experienced a misunderstanding in communication between teammates? Turns out you may have been a victim of bad collaboration. It’s more common than you might think — and the time spent resolving issues related to inefficient collaboration can quickly add up.
Our Global Collaboration in the Workplace report, based on a survey conducted by Morning Consult of nearly 8,000 leaders and employees from 16 different countries, uncovers:
- How people prefer to work together
- Common collaboration challenges
- The projected costs of fixing bad collaboration
All told, we learned that the time spent resolving issues related to inefficient collaboration can cost organizations an estimated $16,491 a year per manager in wasted time, or up to $874,000 annually for an enterprise of 1,000*.
Check out a summary of our findings below, and read the full report for an in-depth look at global collaboration — as well as takeaways you can apply within your own organization.
Leaders struggle with collaboration more than their employees
Leaders were more likely to spend a significant amount of time collaborating with colleagues, especially in meetings and email. Fully remote leaders reported the highest numbers here: more than half of this group spends three or more hours a day on email (56%) and virtual meetings (52%).
Leaders also spend more time than employees resolving the following common issues related to bad collaboration and take more time to refocus between tasks. All this adds up and can end up costing organizations in the long run.
Most people prefer instant messaging/chat — but preferences differ by generation
How do you like to collaborate at work? Leaders and employees agreed that instant messaging/chat was their preferred method of collaboration.
Too many apps = more challenges
IT leaders are constantly bombarded with sales pitches and employee requests for new apps and tools. Individually, each one promises to solve a problem, but the report shows that too many apps were actually associated with greater collaboration challenges. Those who reported using more than 10 apps for work were more likely to struggle with issues like misunderstandings in communication, lack of engagement from colleagues, and lack of alignment than those who reported using fewer than five apps.
