Why teamwork challenges persist in every type of work setting
The way we collaborate with others at work has changed drastically over the past few years – and it looks like it’s not for the better.
Almost 70% of workers said they aren’t satisfied with the way they currently work with their teams — regardless of work location, according to a new report from Mural, a collaborative workforce intelligence company, including responses from over 1,000 knowledge workers in the U.S.
While collaboration is a major goal for many companies transitioning back to some form of in-person work, it appears actual improvements in the way staff work together, at least in their own experience, have yet to happen. But fixing this issue is essential as employees are expected to stay in their roles for longer, and failing to do so could harm engagement and productivity, leading to more burnout and higher turnover.
Ultimately, about half of remote workers say teamwork has declined or remained the same recently, compared to 46% of in-office workers and 40% of hybrid workers, the Mural report found. And about a third of those surveyed said they struggle to work well together.
A number of factors can cause teamwork to suffer in workplaces. A key one is when employees feel their efforts are underappreciated or even stifled by others on the team, said Elizabeth Lintelman, director of career services at Rasmussen University. “They have to know that their contributions make a difference to not only their direct team, but you know moreover the entire organization,” she said.
Some newer dynamics driving teamwork issues also stem from the nature of new working arrangements: like fewer moments for connection and opportunities for shared experiences compared to what was more typical in offices pre-pandemic. Switching between working at home and in the office in hybrid arrangements now also brings new distractions that make it harder for team members to give each other their undivided attention and fully engage with each other, Lintelman said.
“It’s as easy as being present,” she said. “We’re all super busy and it’s easy to multitask, but nothing makes you feel more unimportant than when a person you’re trying to engage with is busy fielding their emails or checking their phone or responding to chat at the same time,” she said. Ultimately working well with others is a learned skill that must be consistently honed, and it’s a highly valued soft skill among hiring managers, she said.
A lot of the responsibility falls on managers too. “The main barrier is leadership, and, more importantly, leaders who have a clear point of view of how their teams should come together to get things done,” said David Baga, CEO of Mural. “Great teamwork doesn’t just happen. It needs to be planned, directed, and embraced.”
But individual efforts can only go so far. While the “Big Stay,” is now underway with fewer opportunities to job hop, when workers see no improvement in teamwork they are more likely to get burned out and leave, or for now potentially just quietly quit. Over 60% of workers said they’re eyeing the door when teamwork hasn’t improved in the past year, the report found.
In order to improve teamwork across the board, workers in the survey said they need more transparency from leadership, to build up more trust and empathy across their organizations, and to have better cross-functional alignment. More meetings however aren’t the answer. Over 70% of workers surveyed said meetings are not the best way to collaborate and align on work.