Why Hybrid Work Broke Collaboration and What Leaders Must Fix Next

Hybrid work was supposed to make collaboration easier. In reality, many teams feel busier than ever, yet less connected. Microsoft reports that time spent in Teams meetings has tripled since February 2020, while a majority of people say they are struggling with the time and energy to do their job.

The bigger problem is what happens between teams. Research published by Microsoft’s Future of Work group found that when firms moved to remote work, time spent collaborating across different groups fell by around 25%, pushing organizations towards more siloed ways of working.

This matters because teamwork is not “soft stuff.” Gallup meta-analysis data shows that top-quartile business units for engagement deliver materially better outcomes, including 23% higher profitability and 18% higher productivity.

That is the backdrop to this conversation with Dan Crompton, an award-winning leadership coach and culture strategist, and Senior Commercial Partnerships Manager at ITV, where he co-managed a partnerships team responsible for roughly £130 million in annual revenue.

In this exclusive interview with the London Keynote Speakers Agency, Dan Crompton, a Teamwork & Teambuilding speaker, explains why workplaces still struggle with collaboration, what a real culture of curiosity looks like day to day, and how leaders can build environments people want to stay in.

Q1. Hybrid has made it easier to “work alongside” people, but harder to collaborate across teams. In your experience, what is actually breaking collaboration in organizations right now?

Dan Crompton: “One of the most common briefs I get, when companies come and ask me to talk at their events or conferences, is: “We just want to get people together.” It sounds like a vague brief, but I’m hearing it again and again. What that’s telling me is that, particularly with hybrid teams, they’re simply not spending any time together.

“And when they do come in, they’re not collaborating. They’re working with their teams, but not cross-team. What’s happening more now than even five or ten years ago is that teams are working in silos. Everyone knows collaboration sounds like a good thing. Everyone knows it’s something teams should be striving towards. But it’s knowing how to do that, how to collaborate, and actually when to collaborate.

“What are those opportunities when we’re going to work together, either as a team or cross-function? It’s about creating opportunities where people can do that, and giving teams frameworks to do it.

“In some of my talks, I use a process called the Disney Creative Strategy. It’s a three-stage process where I get teams from different functions and different offices together to look specifically at a challenge or opportunity they’re facing. We go through these three stages in a process developed by Disney and still used by them today, as well as countless other businesses around the world.

“Those kinds of frameworks do two things. First, they bring people together in the same room. Second, they give people tools for how to collaborate and on what sorts of things. We know collaboration is a good thing, but if you give people the tools for when to do it and how to do it, it’s much more likely to happen.”

Q2. Leaders love words like “curiosity” and “innovation”, but posters are not culture. What behaviors and routines show you a culture of curiosity is real?

Dan Crompton: “Whenever we talk about company culture, I always joke that it can’t just be swirly writing on the wall. If we write “curiosity” and “innovation” on the wall, just because someone passes that in the lobby on their way to their desk, it doesn’t mean they know how to be curious or innovative when they’re actually sitting there getting through their to-do list.

“Whenever we talk about a culture of anything, particularly something like curiosity, it needs to be built into routines. It needs to be built into how the team works, not just as a notional, noble ambition of where we want the team to get to.

“For curiosity, it’s about giving teams moments and frameworks. How to brainstorm, where to brainstorm, who to brainstorm with. Until you make it part of the system, part of the routine, it’s not going to happen.

“Another great place to look is appraisals. Are you assessing how curious people are? Are you giving them opportunities to experiment, try things out, fail, and give things a go? Or are the goals too ordinary, too focused on sales figures and metrics? All of that is important, but giving team members permission to be curious is a big part of it.”

Q3. Retention has become a culture issue, not a perks issue. What do leaders need to understand about what people will and will not tolerate at work now?

Dan Crompton: “There’s one stat that always blows my mind. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of bullying cases at tribunal went up 44% in the UK. That’s a 44% increase in a single year. Tribunal cases overall are going up.

“What amazes me is this: did every manager become a bully overnight? I don’t think so. Did every workplace culture suddenly become awful? I don’t think so. What it shows is that attitudes to work have fundamentally changed.

“Kickstarted by the pandemic, but driven by other factors too, people are no longer accepting company cultures or behaviors they would have accepted before. And they’re not going quietly.

“What that tells us about creating workplaces where people want to stay is that leaders need to be far more mindful of the environments and cultures they’re creating, now more than ever. Employees keep telling us they’re craving flexibility, autonomy, and work-life balance.

“Leaders need to be deliberate about handing over autonomy to their teams. We all say we want our teams to take more ownership, to be more autonomous, to have more responsibility. But actually doing that requires a specific set of skills. Leaders need to learn how to give ownership while still supporting people.

“It’s not complicated, but it is important. Rather than blaming Gen Z for being demanding, we need to teach managers how to manage a new generation, because they’re not going anywhere.”

Q4. When you speak, you want people to change something immediately. What should leaders do differently the moment they get back to their desks?

Dan Crompton: “The only thing I want people to take away from my talks is that they go back to their desks and do something differently. That’s the big thing for me.

“There’s no point if it’s just a nice day out. It’s not about listening, nodding, saying, “Oh, that was interesting,” and then going straight back to the routine. My talks are more like workshops.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a room of 30 or 300. Everyone gets involved. People work in small groups and participate on something that matters to them, something unique to their workplace.

“If people go back to the office and do something differently, then it’s worked. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

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This exclusive interview with Dan Crompton was conducted by Tabish Ali of the Motivational Speakers Agency.