Media

Harvard Business Review

Agile methodology is now being used throughout organizations to execute projects quickly, but those efforts often don’t pan out. Many large agile initiatives not only miss their goals but also cause organizational disruption—including staff burnout, the loss of key talent, and infighting among teams. Organizational network analysis has identified the main problem: companies err by staffing agile teams only with stars, isolating them from the main business, and dedicating members 100% to teams. Instead, leaders should tap “hidden stars,” who will be less overloaded, for agile initiatives, and then identifying and reaching out to highly connected potential resources who can bring in expertise as needed.

Bloomberg Businessweek

Collaboration among employees has risen by five to eight hours a week during the pandemic, overwhelming workers. The best answer to adressing this hypercollaboration is examining our own behaviors to jump in and overwhelm ourselves by taking on more work.

MIT Sloan Management Review

For most organizations, the balance between in-person and virtual interactions will certainly shift as a result of the pandemic. Using organizational network analysis to map employee work relationships and patterns helps companies answer critical questions for hybrid work planning. ONA is uniquely positioned to address three critical questions in a return-to-office strategy: Who should be brought back together in a weekly cadence of in-person and virtual interactions? What work should be prioritized in the now scarcer in-person time? How do leaders manage the transition to a hybrid model with the least resistance?

MIT Sloan Management Review

As hierarchies continue to flatten, and work becomes more agile, network analysis allows organizations to consider two key questions with a fresh lens: What kinds of relationships foster inclusion, and how can they be facilitated? Initial research suggest that people of color advance through the ranks more rapidly and stay with their organizations longer when they have opportunities to apply their skills and build trust early on in local networks. Employers can help by facilitating rich interactions among colleagues, creating more chances for people to shine.

People Analytics & Future of Work Live Session

In this People Analytics & Future of Work Live Session recording, “Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to work smarter, get ahead, and restore your well being,” Rob Cross and Al Adamson cover work overload, the pros and cons of remote work, and how to restore well-being in this collaborative context.

Financial Times

Collaboration at work is full of pitfalls which can lead to team dysfunction and burnout. Leaders and teams can examine the six patterns of team dysfunction identified by Rob Cross and Inga Carboni that undermine team performance to diagnose their own challenges and help course correct.

MIT Sloan Management Review

The success of teams of all types and sizes is dependent on the ability of people to collaborate. Two decades of conducting organizational network analysis has revealed six patterns of collaborative dysfunction that undermine performance in 88% of the organizations studied. While one solution doesn’t fit all collaborative failures, leaders and groups can use this more nuanced guide to diagnosis and resolve six common patterns of collaborative dysfunction.