By Tomás Dostal Freire, CIO & Head of Business Transformation, Miro
As leaders, we all want our teams to be excited about and engaged in their work. While everyone loves the feeling of a big win, from a successful launch to a campaign that goes viral, we can make our teams even stronger if we zoom in and ask a simple question: what makes work meaningful for today’s workers? Or, more to the point, what are the ingredients of a great day at work?
According to our new survey, the best days don’t come from a completed to-do list or empty inbox. Rather, they are motivated by the activities that spark creativity, drive meaningful business outcomes and bring team members together. Collaboration (74%), interesting work (74%) and time for strategic thinking (72%) all top the list.
Understanding what makes a workday fulfilling is not just good for teams; it’s essential for organisations that want to attract and retain top talent. Yet creating that sense of fulfilment is often easier said than done, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. By identifying what stands in the way and addressing these challenges directly, SME leaders can build happier, more productive workplaces where innovation and collaboration thrive.
The stark imbalance holding teams back
Enabling teams to do their best creative and strategic work sounds like a no-brainer, but our research found that for every one hour of this momentum work that drives innovation, today’s knowledge workers spend three hours on “maintenance work” like email, meetings, reporting, and other routine tasks.
Although some of this is surely necessary, it’s clear that this disproportionate allocation of time to lower-value tasks is draining teams’ energy and stalling innovation. A majority of workers (55%) feel like they are working more but achieving less, and two-thirds agree that the rise of maintenance work stalls momentum in their organisation.
These findings are especially relevant to small and medium organisations, since team members tend to wear multiple hats. With fewer people, the burden over administrative work and other maintenance tasks risks putting strategic progress on the back burner, which is bad for everyone. Leaders should address this disequilibrium and focus on achieving sustainability and long-term viability in a highly competitive market.
The cost of siloed, tool-heavy workflows
In this shifting landscape, small- and medium-sized enterprises have a unique opportunity to lead the way, since they often adopt new digital tools earlier and faster than their larger competitors. The openness to innovation brings clear advantages, but it can also lead to a patchwork of apps that don’t scale well or integrate smoothly. Unlike big enterprises with dedicated IT teams, smaller companies may lack the resources to manage complex tech systems. That’s why taking a strategic approach from the outset is especially critical.
Our survey found that siloes are a fact of life for the majority of knowledge workers today, and most agree that they stall momentum and slow decision-making. In fact, 63% report information siloes in their organisations, with data and insights spread across too many tools. In addition, 57% face communication siloes due to different tooling preferences across different teams, and 51% struggle with collaboration breakdowns when working cross-functionally.
Tooling is a significant contributor to siloes, and knowledge workers cite outdated tools (46%) and fragmented toolsets (35%) as top factors. This signals a need for organisations to consider whether their tech stacks are able to meet the needs of the moment.
An SME’s path to rebalance
While AI can’t solve every problem facing today’s organisations, there’s little doubt that it can help teams reclaim their time and reduce repetitive tasks. Our research shows us that 64% of workers believe AI could reduce the burden of information siloes, and 60% say it could help avoid having to recreate the same work across different tools or apps.
In addition to streamlining operations in resource-limited smaller enterprises, AI can also empower teams to refocus on the deep work that drives innovation and growth. Yes, these organisations can face steep barriers to AI adoption, including limited budgets, less in-house expertise and competing transformation priorities, but it is important to remember that simple AI applications like automating reports or consolidating project updates can yield an outsized impact, delivering significant returns for smaller teams.
Rethinking productivity to drive meaning
Redefining productivity is crucial for smaller enterprises as they aim to stay competitive in this volatile market, and this depends on not overwhelming workers with low-value tasks.
Instead of pushing for more work, leaders should focus strategically on enabling better, more meaningful work. This reset will pay dividends in the long run by nurturing teams that are engaged and excited by their projects, rather than burned out or overwhelmed.
Small and medium enterprises bring the advantage of agility, which makes them well-placed to reimagine workflows around what actually motivates and energises teams. By designing workflows that encourage collaboration, creativity and clarity, and then supporting these with the right tooling, organisations can simultaneously boost business performance while supporting employee satisfaction.
Our teams want to be collaborative, strategic and strategic. As leaders, let’s turn that vision into a reality.