Bridging the gap between structured and unstructured collaboration 

Andrew Filev at Citrix considers how organisations need to address both formal and informal communication if they want to maximise effective collaboration

Over the last two years, businesses in every sector have been forced to undergo a digital transformation at not only an unprecedented scale, but at increasing speed. In fact, research reveals that the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technologies by several years. While this change has generated a significant surge in workloads, it has also added an additional layer of complexity.  

As businesses introduced a remote work model, the deployment of communications platforms, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom, spiralled. While these tools certainly helped with survival in the initial uncertain year of the pandemic, fast forward to today and many employees are experiencing reduced productivity and engagement at work, with 47% of the British workforce suffering from conditions such as Zoom fatigue.

Unfortunately, this issue has been exacerbated by the mass adoption of new work applications, alongside a growing amount of data, systems, and workflows, and, ultimately, has given rise to ‘unstructured’ collaboration.  

As we continue to move away from full-time remote interactions and towards a more hybrid workplace, it has never been more important for businesses to understand the difference between unstructured and structured collaboration, and how finding the sweet spot in between the two can boost productivity in a post-pandemic world.  

The reality of unstructured vs structured collaboration  

The outbreak of the pandemic has undoubtedly changed our perception of ‘work’. While many employees were reluctant about the almost overnight shift towards remote-working in the wake of COVID-19, today, research reveals that most UK workers do not expect to return to the office full-time after the pandemic. In fact, many employees are in favour of working from home post-pandemic.   

As part of this new normal, unstructured collaboration has been on the rise. Work produced through unstructured collaboration travels through space and time in text messages, Slack messages, video calls, and other ways that are hard to track, report on, and scale. Most of the information related to work travels outside of the visible space of our systems of record and gets lost in the dark.

CERN - the European Organisation for Nuclear Research - once stated, “The matter we know and that makes up all the stars and galaxies only accounts for 5% of the content of the universe.” The same could be said for work today. Unstructured collaboration has created the dark matter of work, which is rarely seen by leadership, and is often up to each individual to manage.   

As we continue to shift to hybrid work environments, and, therefore, continue to utilise communication platforms to collaborate with teams no matter their location, the volume of unstructured collaboration will grow. This is making it increasingly difficult for employees to understand what is and isn’t working, given little to no feedback is being provided around the tasks being completed. It also means that teams are unable to accurately determine what requires attention when iterating on existing processes.   

Moreover, unstructured collaboration is especially challenging when cross-functional collaboration comes into play. This type of work can cause breakdowns in communication and confusion in regards to workflows amongst teams and departments, which is often difficult to resolve. In addition to being time-consuming, unstructured collaboration can often lead to a decrease in productivity because it’s hard to sift through the dark matter of work it creates.   

Then you have structured collaboration that comes from solutions that were previously in place, such as finance systems and ERP solutions. These are rigid and, more often than not, imposed by an organisation. Employees must use them for certain pre-defined processes and operations. 

No matter which collaboration method you use - and nearly all organisations have both - when it comes to addressing the work management challenges of today you quickly run into problems. If you want to run a high-performance team, you need repeatable processes. You need reporting capabilities so you can identify risks and bottlenecks. You need planning capabilities to deliver on time and not to overload your team. You need integrations with other tools to make the workflow across the systems and you need business intelligence to connect the work to your business outcomes. You need more semi-structured solutions that allow for agility and flexibility so you can move at the pace of today’s collaboration. This type of collaboration will help you manage the complexity of the dark matter of work. 

The sweet spot is the way forward  

Unfortunately, communication platforms, such as Slack and Zoom, alongside legacy work management tools aren’t well equipped to support true collaboration amongst teams. In many cases, the overuse of these applications is the root cause of the dark matter of work and employee burnout. An effective collaboration solution is key to successfully harness enterprise workflows within a post-pandemic work environment.   

This is where modern technologies – such as collaborative work management platforms – come in. These are feature-rich, accessible solutions that can be customised through "citizen development" and can integrate with unstructured and structured apps and systems. This brings all of the work into one place, shedding light on the dark matter.

The ability to harness all work and provide visibility - from the bottom up and top down - creates more unified, collaborative, successful teams. These solutions are accessible to all employees; from large cross-functional teams with complex needs, to individual entrepreneurs who are kicking off their work management journey. Regardless of the user, results are noticeable immediately.  

Post-pandemic collaboration  

Employees at all levels are feeling the pressure of collaborative overload caused by the overuse of new apps and systems. As we transition into a post-pandemic world of work, it has never been more important for businesses to ensure that their staff are well-equipped to work and collaborate more efficiently. The solutions that businesses invest in today will support the workforce of tomorrow and, ultimately, determine their success.

While there is no way to predict the future, it’s safe to say that finding the sweet spot between unstructured and structured collaboration will be critical for organisations looking to grow.

Andrew Filev is Senior Vice President and Wrike General Manager, Citrix  

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com