Is Collaboration a Delusion?

Wharton researchers reveal collaboration’s dirty little secret

IEDP Editorial

Monday 19 March 2018

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Collaboration and teamwork are widely extolled as critical to organizational success in our complex business world. They may be. But according to an in-depth study from Reb Rebele and Adam Grant of the Wharton School and Rob Cross of the McIntire School of Commerce, across a range of companies in various sectors only a small number of people are shouldering the collaborative burden.

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Click here to read a complimentary summary of the Wharton research and learn: 5 Ways to Boost Your Firm’s Collaboration Skills [PDF Download]

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In a study of over 300 organizations, the authors found that 20 to 35 percent of value-added collaborations are being generated by only a very disproportionate 3 to 5 percent of employees. And unsurprisingly those employees aren’t too happy about it.

The problem is twofold, very few people lack the skills to collaborate well, and secondly organizations are bad at appreciating and rewarding the ‘extra-milers’ that are always willing to collaborate and help others. In a related study of 20 organizations, the authors found that leaders regarded by colleagues as the most in-demand collaborators actually had the lowest engagement and career satisfaction scores, leading to stress, burnout, and turnover – a situation not only bad for these exemplary individuals but bad for the organization.

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