Collaboration Overload and Productivity
According to the Harvard Business Review article, “ Collaboration Overload Is Sinking Productivity”:
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
Another article from the Business Mirror, “The dangers of collaboration” states:
…some organizations think that the best way to do it is to ask everyone’s perspectives and opinions on every decision. The danger is that people get lost in interpreting what everybody else is saying into actionable resolutions. This could lead to loss of focus and unclear directions.
Collaboration overload is indeed creating an enormous amount of stress these days. I wrote my Amazon best-selling book, “Pressure Makes Diamonds: Simple Habits for Busy Professionals to Break the Burnout Cycle” to help more professionals realize the power they have right now to transform their relationships with their work and stress.
Here are seven tips that help my clients in collaboration overload.
- Set and stick to a wake-up routine as you had in the “before times” – get up, shower & dress for work and have a “virtual commute” activity (walk, reading, etc) that allows your brain to transition into work mode.
- Schedule lunch breaks with other people so you actually take a break.
- Create an evening “virtual commute” to turn off your work brain and shift into home mode. Keeping your work area out of your bedroom and out of sight while you are trying to relax is a huge help to turn off your work brain.
- Key into the activities that work for you and let go of the ones that don’t. It’s important to release self-judgment as it comes up.
- Create a mantra yourself like “I’m doing the best I can with what I have” or “Every day I’m stepping closer to my dreams” while you keep taking action.
- Maintain mental clarity with daily mediation, morning journaling, or gratitude practices.
- Keep up your body’s stamina and energy with daily exercise. It doesn’t have to be intense – a good walk, family dance party, a bike ride – something that gets you out of your head while the blood pumps harder.
There’s a huge benefit in creating structure when working from home.
It took me a while to learn that I could hold space for the things that recharge my mind, body, and spirit while achieving my goals. It requires us to change our habits and mindset to see new possibilities.
Resources:
[1] https://hbr.org/2021/09/collaboration-overload-is-sinking-productivity
[2] https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/09/28/the-dangers-of-collaboration/