Beyond Collaboration Overload - by Rob Cross (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Companies consume 85% of workers' time in collaborative activities. But they have no idea if all this collaboration benefits corporate performance, individual productivity, or employee well-being. Today's corporations are plagued by stress, loss of engagement, and attrition, which cripple them in their quest for a competitive edge. What's going on? Collaboration. Yes, that seemingly Good Thing all companies encourage is creating overload and burnout. It crushes our vitality and well-being, prevents us from being innovative, and blocks our companies from being the most successful organizations they could be. To some this is surprising. It's assumed that it's always better to collaborate more-and faster. But the toll of all this time on collaborative platforms, email, phone and video calls, meetings, and texts after work is far more severe than companies know. So what can be done? In his breakthrough research using network analysis and hundreds of in-depth interviews, Rob Cross has found the answer to collaboration overload. By taking action on three fronts, the best performers streamline collaboration and keep overload from derailing their careers. They use their freed-up time to invest in collaboration activities that drive performance by: mobilizing a broad network for scale, creating 'pull' by drawing people and ideas to them, engaging in renewal activities to promote well-being. High performers in today's hyperconnected world create enormous impact through their networks while, amazingly, spending the least amount of time on collaborative tasks. They don't do anything magical. They simply make sure that they collaborate only where they can add unique value-and only where collaboration provides unique value to them. You can do it too. And by applying these collaborators' best practices, you can reclaim a whopping 18 percent to 24 percent of your time-a workday every week-to invest in activities that contribute to your professional success and your overall well-being"--

Book Synopsis

Named the Best Management Book of 2021 by strategy+business

Named one of "this month's top titles" in the Financial Times in September 2021

Named to the longlist for the 2021 Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award in the Management & Culture category

A plan for conquering collaborative overload to drive performance and innovation, reduce burnout, and enhance well-being.

Most organizations have created always-on work contexts that are burning people out and hurting performance rather than delivering productivity, innovation and engagement. Collaborative work consumes 85% of employees' time and is drifting earlier into the morning, later into the night, and deeper into the weekend.

The dilemma is that we all need to collaborate more to create effective organizations and vibrant careers for ourselves. But conventional wisdom on teamwork and collaboration has created too much of the wrong kind of collaboration, which hurts our performance, health and overall well-being.

In Beyond Collaboration Overload, Babson professor Rob Cross solves this paradox by showing how top performers who thrive at work collaborate in a more purposeful way that makes them 18-24% more efficient than their peers. Good collaborators are distinguished by the efficiency and intentionality of their collaboration--not the size of their network or the length of their workday.

Through landmark research with more than 300 organizations, in-depth stories, and tools, Beyond Collaboration Overload will coach you to reclaim close to a day a week when you:

• Identify and challenge beliefs that lead you to collaborate too quickly
• Impose structure in your work to prevent unproductive collaboration
• Alter behaviors to create more efficient collaboration

It then outlines how successful people invest this reclaimed time to:

• Cultivate a broad network--not a big one--for innovation and scale
• Energize others--a strong predictor of high performance
• Connect with others to reduce micro-stressors and enhance physical and mental well-being

Cross' framework provides relief from the definitive problem of our age--dysfunctional collaboration at the expense of our performance, health and overall well-being.

Review Quotes

Named one of the Best Business Books of 2021 by the Globe & Mail

Named one of the Best Work and Management Books of the Past Year by Charter

Shortlisted for the Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award in the Management & Culture Category

"Beyond Collaboration Overload convincingly argues that well-meaning attempts at transparency, communication, and collaboration can go awry when they consume too much of our energy. Cross offers useful tips for how to reclaim your time and a compelling vision of what healthy networking and collaboration look like...Cross offers a timely caution against overdoing the connection and communication that are hallmarks of modern workplaces, including tactics like cutting time allotted for meetings in half and discouraging replies to emails." -- Charter

"Beyond Collaboration Overload earns its spot among this year's best business books for several reasons. It disabuses us of the notion that collaboration per se is a good thing. It defines dysfunctional collaboration and identifies its many causes. It provides a host of research-derived tools and techniques for managing collaboration in ways that benefit people and the organizations they work within. And, of course, there's the welcome prospect of getting one day per week of your life back." -- strategy+business

"In his new book, professor Rob Cross shows how to rethink beliefs, structures and behaviours to help us adopt new patterns of interacting more efficiently. There is also a plan for dealing with collaboration overload to improve performance and innovation." -- Financial Times

"At a time when so many of us have allowed our focus and relationships to become unidimensional, in orbit around our work, Rob Cross offers a framework that focuses us back on our fuller lives. And that may be exactly what we need to be happier and more productive at work." -- Porchlight Books, Staff Pick

"Thoroughly 'reader friendly' in style, organization and presentation, Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to Work Smarter, Get Ahead, and Restore Your Well-Being must be considered essential reading for any corporate executive charged with the responsibility of maintaining an effective work force at all levels of their business." -- Midwest Book Review

"A perceptive guide to working smarter and staying on top in our 'always-on', highly-collaborative world." -- Developing Leaders magazine

Advance Praise for Beyond Collaboration Overload:

"Rob Cross has produced a genuine marvel. He shows why collaboration is often overused and underwhelming--and how we can enlist its power more humanely and strategically. This is an essential book on an essential topic by an essential mind." -- Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author, When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human

"Beyond Collaboration Overload is a powerful leadership tool for us all as we move into a postpandemic, hyperconnected world of work." -- Jacqueline Williams-Roll, Chief Human Resources Officer, General Mills

"OK, you're really busy. Why should you take the time to read this book? Only because it will save your work life and your home life. Only because if you follow its prescriptions you'll be both happier and more effective. Only because it's based on solid evidence from leading firms and leaders. Do it!" -- Thomas H. Davenport, President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management, Babson College; Visiting Professor, Oxford's Saïd Business School; Visiting Scholar, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy

"If you're drowning in emails and meetings, look no further than this book. Drawing on a wealth of evidence and experience, Cross has written an unusually practical guide to help you make your collaborations more efficient and effective." -- Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author, Think Again; host, TED podcast WorkLife with Adam Grant

"Every leader needs to study this book--carefully. It's loaded with insights about how to scale up your leadership and help others to do more while maximizing your time in the process!" -- Tom Rath, former Senior Scientist, Gallup; author, Eat, Move, Sleep and Well Being

About the Author

Rob Cross is the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College and the cofounder and Chief Research Scientist of the Connected Commons business consortium. For more twenty years, he has studied the underlying networks of effective organizations and the collaborative practices of high performers. Working with more than three hundred organizations and reaching thousands of leaders from the front line to the C-suite, he has identified specific ways to cultivate vibrant, effective networks at all levels of an organization and at any career stage.

Cross has authored six Harvard Business Review articles on practical approaches to enhancing collaboration. He is the coauthor of five books, including The Hidden Power of Social Networks.

You can find more about Rob Cross at
robcross.org
connectedcommons.com