In a recent study from Microsoft, researchers looked into the communication patterns of more than 60,000 employees during the COVID pandemic. These studies uncovered data that indicated a significant drop in cross-team collaboration. It also found a decrease in real-time video calls and meetings and an increase in emails and instant messages.
From my personal experience, being able to hear the viewpoints from other departments helps to fuel innovation within a singular company (and possibly within an industry as a whole)! Less interactions means less information shared and overall less efficiency/effectiveness. Has this been a problem within your company, and if so, how did you tackle it? Happy hours? Team building exercises? Company-wide meetings? Let me know!