Asana Study Part I: Identifying Inefficiencies, Improving Collaboration
It’s that time of year again where we review Asana’s annual Anatomy of Work Global Index to learn about the latest trends impacting knowledge workers around the world. As in years past, the data from the study continues to point to how Glances can reduce the time spent on unskilled tasks so employees can focus on the work they were actually hired to do.
This year’s index surveyed 9,615 knowledge workers worldwide in late 2022. The focus of the study was to examine the outcomes of collaboration within an organization and better understand what factors add to or detract from that collaboration.
Overall, Asana found that workers at collaborative organizations—that is, companies whose teams work together cross-functionally—report more revenue growth, feel well-prepared to respond to challenges, and say their work has value in comparison to workers at organizations with weak cross-functional collaboration. In addition, workers at companies with clear, connected goals say their organization is well-prepared to meet customer expectations.
“92% of workers at collaborative organizations say their work has value—versus just 50% of weak collaborators.” – Asana
What is it that helps businesses collaborate smarter? Not surprisingly, streamlining processes and systems is one of the best ways to optimize cross-functional collaboration. In fact, process improvement is more beneficial for collaboration than adding more team meetings to the calendar or training everyone on the latest, greatest apps.
Asana’s index reports that the unique challenges facing enterprise organizations include:
✔️ Making decisions quickly,
✔️ Communicating with people in other functions,
✔️ Defining roles and responsibilities across functions,
✔️ Working with teams that span across multiple locations, and
✔️ Holding people accountable.
Infographic courtesy of Asana, The Anatomy of Work Global Index 2023
Well-intentioned efforts to solve these problems can lead to convoluted workflows, messy information management, poor communication, and other inefficiencies. According to the report, “for collaboration to work, it needs to be tactical. Improving processes is vital for business velocity, especially for those in leadership roles.”
For example, survey respondents in director roles said they could save 5.6 hours per week on average if their company improved processes. These same respondents also said they are likely to do work on their time off—44% admit to checking messages in the evenings, during the weekend, or while on vacation.
Asana points out that when businesses prioritize efficiency, they can free employees and leaders to spend more time and energy working on “mission-critical” objectives.
“Having one centralized ecosystem that brings all doers and stakeholders together has really accelerated our understanding of the work we do and the speed in which we do it,” – Steven Tai, Director of Marketing Operations for Gannett
Centralize your data and streamline workflows with one simple tool
Glances securely connects all your business apps, including Asana, Salesforce, QuickBooks, HubSpot, and many others, thereby relieving app overload, improving workflows, centralizing data, and minimizing wasted time.
Because Glances provides a simplified view of the data you need in real time, you can reduce tab-switching and stay working in your platform of choice. In addition, you can use multi-tasking actions to save up to 20 minutes per task! In a nutshell, Glances delivers the simplest way to work.
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Stay tuned for more statistics
Next week, we'll cover part II of Asana's workplace study, diving into the mental exhaustion of app overload and switching contexts at work. Curious about comparing the findings from Asana’s previous studies? Find our comprehensive reviews below:
2022 Anatomy of Work Index Part I
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