Technology on its own cannot solve the UK’s productivity issues. Only properly aligned leadership and a new mindset when it comes to using AI will achieve that, argues Molly Sands at Atlassian.
Most business leaders (89% according to research by Atlassian) believe that their organisations must move faster to remain competitive. Yet, with more than half of employees reporting that more than a quarter of their time is unproductive, there’s a clear disconnect between leadership’s expectations for speed and the workforce’s capacity to deliver. As a result, employees struggle to stay aligned and focused on company priorities, leading to an ongoing productivity conundrum.
If businesses want to tackle these inefficiencies and regain momentum, they must work smarter, not harder. While having technological tools is essential, the ability to use them effectively is what will drive a business’s competitive edge. To supercharge productivity, leaders must look to bridge the gap between leadership misalignment, to break down information silos and adopt a different mindset towards AI.
Bridging the gap between leadership and teams
A major challenge for the workplace is the lack of communication and alignment between senior leadership and the rest of the team.
Research has found that 69% of leaders cited a lack of alignment between overarching strategic goals and daily tasks leading to company inefficiency, causing a dip in productivity. This disconnect often leads to a decline in productivity, as leaders push for faster execution but fail to supply teams with the tools needed to deliver on this vision.
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To bridge this gap, leaders must actively reconnect with their teams to clarify the wider overarching objectives and the knock-on effect this has on task prioritisation. Leaders can ensure a distributed workforce moves in the same direction by setting clear and aligned goals that are regularly revisited.
By making these goals visible and carving out dedicated time blocks for collaboration, leaders foster an environment of open feedback and honest conversations about challenges. This ensures teams stay focused, aligned, and motivated, regardless of location.
Breaking down information silos
Improving productivity also depends on breaking down information silos – the silent productivity roadblocks that keep teams isolated and knowledge trapped. In most cases, efforts overlap, with teams blissfully unaware that they might be duplicating work, which wastes valuable time.
Without the right flow of information, strategic decision-making is prevented, and in the event of an employee leaving, crucial company insights can often vanish, locked away in siloed systems.
Research shows a stark difference in how effectively employees use AI’
To tear down these barriers, organisations must embrace technology that connects teams, centralises knowledge, and enables real-time collaboration. Shared digital workspaces, integrated communication tools, and centralised data platforms create a shared ecosystem where everyone is working from the same roadmap. These tools build the foundations for transparency, promote cross-functional teamwork, and allow insights to flow without friction.
When collaboration tools are used correctly, teams no longer just work harder – they collaborate smarter and faster.
The AI mindset
Many organisations dive headfirst into adopting AI tools without first fostering a collaborative mindset. Research shows a stark difference in how effectively employees use AI. While simple AI users save 53 minutes per day, the most strategic AI collaborators save a whopping 105 minutes per day. This gap highlights more than just efficiency; it reflects the need for the correct mindset on how to use AI productively.
When employees start to use AI as another teammate, companies start gaining the competitive edge they so desperately need”
Strategic AI users treat AI like a collaborative partner. They not only leverage AI for data insights but can also prompt it to action tasks like outlining the pros and cons of different decisions, surface case studies from similar contexts, and list potential unintended consequences. This collaborative approach leads to significant results, with 85% of strategic AI collaborators reporting improved work quality and twice the ROI on their efforts.
When employees start to use AI as another teammate, companies start gaining the competitive edge they so desperately need. In turn, this leads to higher ROI and encourages the kind of experimentation and forward-thinking that keep businesses moving forward.
Turning insight into impact for a more productive workplace
The modern workplace productivity crisis isn’t due to a lack of tools – rather it is from the lack of clarity, connection, and strategy. Continued information overload, the misuse of technology, and siloed communication are all contributing to stalled productivity and sluggish innovation.
But this crisis also provides an opportunity. By reconnecting leadership with teams, breaking down silos and using AI efficiently, organisations can transform information overload into knowledge and insight into impact. The answer to the productivity crisis isn’t about working more, it is about working meaningfully and smarter. Businesses that embrace this mindset won’t just keep up but will be the ones leading the way.
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