What Collaboration Looks Like in 2023

January 11, 2023
January 11, 2023 Jamie Notter

Now that most of us are in a hybrid workplace arrangement, we have to change our approach to collaboration, and learn how to do the virtual version of it better.

  • Both task-focused and relationship-focused collaboration activities still need to happen, but we have over-relied on the in-person version of those, and have yet to fully develop the virtual
  • As part of your culture design work, you should consider running specific culture plays related to virtual collaboration to make sure you’re not leaving money on the table through missed opportunities to collaborate.

THE DETAILS

Here’s what holistic collaboration looks like:

collaboration graphic

We have done a number of projects over the last six months that focus on how to adapt to the new hybrid reality in the workplace. In each one, we heard complaints about how collaboration was harder with everyone remote, along with some calls to have more people at the office more of the time. But here’s the inconvenient truth: you’ll never get people back all the time, which means you will ALWAYS need to attend to the virtual side of collaboration. We drew up this chart to illustrate that.

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Collaboration requires both task-focused work and relationship-building activities. You can’t collaborate well unless the relationships are developed. Within those two buckets, there will be some activities that are intentional and scheduled, and others that just happen organically (like those magic, random hallway conversations we hear so much about). That creates a nifty 2×2 matrix, which you then need to divide in half, because each box has both a virtual and in-person component.

In 2023, your organization needs to have basic competency in ALL 8 boxes on the chart. Yes, you tried virtual happy hours back in 2020 and they fizzled out. So what else can you do? Remember, when it comes to the relationship side, the virtual component won’t replace face to face. It’s more likely to be a supplement, but it is an important supplement, and if you ignore that part of collaboration, you’ll feel those pain points mentioned above—information flow, cross-silo work, and collaboration in general.

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Jamie Notter

Jamie is a co-founder and culture strategist at PROPEL, where he helps leaders create amazing workplace cultures that drive greater performance and impact. He brings thirty years of experience to his work designing and managing culture, and has specialized along the way in areas like conflict resolution and generations. Jamie is the co-author of four popular business books, including the award-winning Non-Obvious Guide to Employee Engagement, and his fall 2023 release, Culture Change Made Easy. He holds a Master’s in conflict resolution from George Mason and a certificate in Organization Development from Georgetown, where he serves as adjunct faculty.