Competition is fierce and in a down economy, the need for teamwork and collaboration is crucial. Great product development involves being able to keep up with a rapidly changing marketplace. Great product development means being able to leverage teamwork and collaboration to successfully innovate and deliver- quickly.
Internal teamwork and collaboration between colleagues
We recently dug up some interesting statistics related to teamwork and collaboration with team members.
Average time spent in offices per day:
- Trying to contact customers or colleagues: 74 minutes
- Trying to find key information: 67 minutes
- Duplicating communications: 39 minutes
- 20 % of the time is spent looking for internal information or tracking down colleagues for help
- 96% of execs cite lack of collaboration of ineffective communications for workplace failures (Salesforce)
- 59% of middle managers miss valuable information every day, simply because they can’t find it or never see it (Accenture)
- 28 hours a week is spent writing emails, searching for information and collaborating internally (McKinsey Report)
We want to know: What do you think of these shocking results? Is teamwork and collaboration an important element of your development process?
Related blog posts:
Encouraging Teamwork In the Workplace
Collaboration Quotes: Our Top 10
6 Comments
Donna
The whole “I’m great, just ask me!” mindset is not working for companies anymore…and the Gartner study seems to prove it.
Thanks for sharing this!
Catherine Constantinides
You are absolutely right, Donna. It’s going to take a lot more than that to keep customers satisfied. I am happy you enjoyed this post and thanks for your insights.
-Catherine
Hape Etzold
Thank you for these great hard facts. These are the only recent statistical figures I found on the issues of teamwork or the lack of it in many companies. Could you also name the sources?
All the team building activities seem to be fruitless because of individual politics, e.g. hoarding valuable information for fear of loosing the status of being irreplaceable… Do you have any ideas for better team development?
Catherine Constantinides
Hi Hape,
Glad you like the post. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the Gartner report but you can find the sources for the rest of the statistics here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexlawrence/2012/11/01/five-customer-retention-tips-for-entrepreneurs/
http://www.damarque.com/blog/gianluigi-cuccureddu/lack-collaboration-or-ineffective-communication-cause-workplace-failures
http://thisiswhatgoodlookslike.com/tag/mckinsey-28-hours-time-each-week-spent-by-knowledge-workers-writing-e-mails/
The secret to better team building:
Clear understanding of goals
Open and honest communication
A strong sense of “we” but also a firm grasp on what the individual brings tgo the table.
Do you agree?
Best,
Catherine
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