Collaboration Is Key

A staggering 78 per cent of the global HR leaders do not believe their organisations are effective at fostering collaboration and social networking, things which have become essential for success of any organisation.

In the global scenario, making the right connections, beneficial associations, nurturing relations are crucial for any organisation, but using analytics to effectively communicate in the organisations is not all that simple as it seems. When it comes to successful exchange of words, business groups lack efficiency to maintain associations, says a recent Quora Consulting Report. The report commissioned by Regus, attempts to provide thought leadership and insight into the future of business.

As Jim Tamm, author of Radical Collaboration: Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships says,when too many people in a company lack collaborative skills it is a Red Zone organisation, which is a very low trust, high blame, unsupportive workplace. People in the Red Zone are more guarded, cynical, and suspicious. They are less open, so it is more difficult to solve problems. They avoid risk taking because if anything goes wrong someone will get blamed, so creativity suffers.

The Quora consulting report, authored by John Blackwell, reveals that 78 per cent of the HR leaders do not believe their organisations are effective at fostering collaboration and social networking. It goes on to state that only 21 per cent HR managers have recently invested more in the tools required to promote these capabilities.

Furthermore, less than 20 per cent are actively applying analytics to understand the impact of their efforts. In the study commissioned by Regus, samples show that financial out-performers are 57 per cent more likely than under-performers to use joint and social networking tools to enable global teams to work more effectively together.

Three-quarters are poor collaborators despite the importance of tapping into insights around the globe; most executives struggle to effectively connect to their workforce. Aiming too low with collaborative capabilities many organisations are failing to not only invest in new collaboration and communication tools but also fully utilise the knowledge-sharing resources they already possess.

 

The respondents said they employ collaborative tactics to enhance corporate communications and learning programmes and to target and recruit external candidates. However, collaboration tools are less commonly used for strategic purposes or idea-sharing. The respondents, who regularly use these technologies, only 19 per cent identify individuals with relevant knowledge, 23 per cent preserve critical knowledge and 27 per cent spread innovation.

The results of the study were obtained after conducting in-depth interviews and surveys among 25,000 people hired in the past two years from diverse geographic locations. This research was prompted by the need for accurate comparator data required to create workplaces that are engaging, innovative, high-performing and continually delivering the productivity and financial competitiveness to stay ahead of the fast-chasing pack.

The contributors came from all geographic regions: UK 17 per cent, Americas 14 per cent, Asia 12 per cent, Russia 11 per cent, India 11 per cent, Germany 8 per cent, France 6 per cent, Africa 5 per cent, Middle East 4 per cent, Nordic countries 4 per cent, Australasia 3 per cent, Italy 3 per cent and Iberia 3 per cent. They came from a wide range of industry sectors and organisational size – from large global corporate to SMEs and start ups.