The Case for Reimagining Workplace Tech

I’m betting that you have found the last year or so mentally challenging. I sure have. At least we can take solace in the fact that we’re not alone. Consider the following statistics:

In June of 2020, the American Psychiatric Association revealed that:

• 36 percent of Americans say coronavirus is having a serious impact on their mental health.
• 59 percent feel coronavirus is having a serious impact on their day-to-day lives.

I suspect that those numbers have only increased since then.

While Covid-19 is a relatively new —and hopefully temporary — phenomenon, the idea of feeling overwhelmed on the job is most certainly not. Case in point: In February of 2017, the staffing firm Accountemps released the results of a survey. More than half (52 percent) of workers reported feeling stressed at work on a day-to-day basis. Three in five 60 percent reported work-related pressure has increased in the last five years.

It’s best to view our existing enterprise tech differently.

Make no mistake: A good deal of the physical and mental stress that employees routinely feel stems from technology. With regard to the former, consider the results of a popular Swedish study. Its conclusion is downright haunting: “Around half of those who work with computers have pains in their neck, shoulders, arms, or hands.”

Ouch.

Don Draper Has Left the Building

I’ll focus on the mental side of the coin in this post, though. While on the clock, we use a bunch of different systems, applications, and technologies. Long gone are the decidedly low-tech Mad Men days of receiving intra-office memos and fielding phone calls. Today’s environment consists of FOMO, incessant emails, and constant multitasking. Collectively, they don’t exactly lend themselves to deep work, to borrow a phrase from Cal Newport’s bestselling book.

Is even more technology the answer? Probably not. We’ve all seen CXOs get excited about shiny new things that ultimately ring hollow with the workforce.

Perhaps it’s best to view our existing enterprise tech differently. Specifically, what if we thought of our disparate apps and systems more holistically? I’m talking about a single gestalt.

That, in a nutshell, is the Hub-Spoke Model of Collaboration at the center of my new book Reimagining Collaboration.

It’s obvious that Microsoft understands the power of this model. Case in point: Last week’s audacious Viva announcement.

Simon Says: The World of Work Has Changed Forever.

Slack/Salesforce, Google, Zoom, and Microsoft are all moving in the same direction. When it comes to workplace tech, hubs and spokes are here to stay.