MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Easing the Invisible Burdens of Collaboration

Collaboration is essential in today’s work world, but it can also consume more time and energy than well-intended leaders expect or recognize. What precisely do we need in collaborative interactions, what are we trying to get out of them, and how can we optimize our time together? Author and MIT Sloan Management Review contributor Rob Cross, the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College, explores these questions in his new book, Beyond Collaboration Overload: How to Work Smarter, Get Ahead, and Restore Your Well-Being (Harvard Business Review Press).

Deborah Milstein, associate editor at MIT SMR, recently spoke with Cross about his book and his work on organizational network analysis, a methodology that maps the often invisible informal working relationships through which collaborative work typically gets done. What follows is an edited and condensed version of their conversation.