Managing the journey from virtual to matrix to digital collaboration

Teams have been becoming more complex from remote and virtual teams, through a focus on matrix collaboration to today’s fast-paced digital teams, but each step requires new skills and ways of working and challenges are traditional corporate culture.

Until the 1970s most teams were local and focused on functional silos. In the 80s improved communication technology allowed us to work remotely, and virtual teams started to develop as work started to cross functional boundaries more often.

Since we developed the world’s first virtual teams training in the early 90s, the pace of change has accelerated with many of our clients moving into matrix structures which increased cross silo working and multiple team membership. Today many of our clients are focusing on digital transformation which accelerates the change and supercharges collaboration.Each step of the journey changes the key challenges, leader focus, collaboration and corporate culture of the organization.

At the matrix stage of the transformation many organisations are obsessed with structure changes today in digital transformation we were in danger of obsessing over systems, the risk is that we ignore the impact of skills – and these are essential to any successful transformation journey.

McKinsey found that “companies can lose up to 85% of the potential value of a digital transformation if they don’t ensure that their organizational culture changes to a digital culture:

This is backed up by further research conducted by the Corporate Executive Board with 1,304 executives, who also found that “technology adoption is not the biggest barrier to digital success; rather it’s an inability to change enterprise level activities.  Enterprise changes, such as business skills, incentives and operating models, have 15 times more impact on the likelihood of success in digitization than changes in digital technologies”.

To find out more about the key people and cultural challenges in equipping your people to succeed today and prepare for the future of collaboration take a look at our insights section.