Collaboration as a theme always comes up at our events – both the MAD World Summit and The Watercooler – but at this year’s Watercooler, which took place on 7th and 8th May, the conversation around collaboration changed.
It got much more specific. And determined. Some might even say feisty.
When talking about inter-departmental collaboration, there was a definite frustration in the air due to the way some colleagues are currently openly doubting the value of Health, Wellbeing and Belonging work. Many attributed this to the trickle-down effect of the DEI backlash coming from America.
DEI backlash fuelling determination
However, while this backlash may be fuelling their frustration, it’s also fuelling a renewed determination to find more effective ways to convince colleagues – especially senior management – of the value and impact of this type of work.
After all, without this buy-in, Health and Wellbeing cannot be successfully embedded across an organisation and realise its full potential. The Watercooler came at a pertinent time, then, to share these stories of how to engage others better and the energy at the event was palpable.
Here are 7 key take aways….
1. Just being in the room together isn’t collaboration
There is a huge difference between showing up out of obligation and being genuinely engaged.
True collaboration requires a shared sense of purpose and positive intent.
Many speakers reflected on the fact that, while Health and Wellbeing and DEI professionals may have got people in the room, they haven’t always succeeded in fostering this sense of partnership.
As Nina Goswami, Head of Inclusion UK for law firm Clifford Chance, said in her session on ‘Understanding each other to ensure equality for all’:
“Being included is one thing, but being represented and actually having a voice, and having the chance to actually have your voice heard, is another thing and a lot of companies don’t see the difference between the two.”
2. Forced to meetings
Executive Coach Selina Suresh in her session on ‘Why gender equality is best for men’ recounted scenarios of male dominated organisations where employees felt forced to attend meetings, but didn’t really want to be there:
“We’ve worked with a lot of c-suites. For a lot of those people, as soon as you put diversity, equity and inclusion in the title of any kind of session, they have already mentally checked out.”
The way to check them back “in” and transform them into genuine collaborators is to “build trust”, make people feel genuinely included and give them a sense of connection and belonging in the room. This often comes down, she said, to good leadership.
3. You can’t automate collaboration
One of the Watercooler event’s running themes was holding onto our humanness in a tech-driven world.
Collaboration isn’t something AI can schedule for you—it takes time and human connection.
Colleagues don’t generally trust each other, or work at their best with each other, until this connection is forged.
Arguably, due to our collective lack of time today (despite AI supposedly freeing us up!), the increase in screen-based remote working and the pressure on employees to be productive, creating the conditions for good collaboration is harder than ever.
4. Putting ‘time’ back into our timetables
One way suggested at The Watercooler to put time for relationship-building back into our time tables would be to use a different metric to measure productivity. This was spoken about in the panel on ‘Leveraging the power of data’, one speaker suggested measuring collaboration itself, rather than productivity.
Jamie Davis, Director of Workplace Strategy, Fidelity International, said:
“I’d like to learn more about how people collaborate and network within the business. We’re all leaders, whatever level of the organisation we’re at. It would be fascinating to see who are the linchpins that hold departments together, who are the people who enable collaboration.”
When asked if that is a metric he’s taking steps to create, he replied that it was “definitely an ambition”.
5. Broader ROI
The previous point about metrics feeds into a wider point made through the event about ROI and the fact it needs to be broader to truly encompass the impact of Health and Wellbeing.
For instance, in the same session on leveraging data, facilitator Allison English, Co-CEO Aéto Strategy, argued that we should be measuring “progress” rather than productivity by saying:
“The word [productivity] we’re using is wrong. Maybe something like ‘progress’ is more important. So, you may not have done your emails today, but if you helped move a project forward or you moved a team forward, that’s progress.”
6. No magic formula; but trust the magic
While there’s no magic formula to follow, there is a certain amount of trust in the “magic” of collaboration that is necessary for success.
In the ‘Office’ stream, speakers talked about the organic process of being in the office and “engaging with other people in other parts of the business” that would lead to those magical or “serendipitous” moments. These cannot be predicted by data analytics.
These are the moments, when people are relaxed and their guards are down, which often lead to new ideas and increased understanding of each other; something that is more challenging when different departments are in a more formal meeting and budgets may be up for grabs.
Ryan Jans, Regional Head of Leasing, WeWork, also talked about them in his keynote on one of the hottest topics at the moment – office mandates:
“We need to make sure that employees come back in [to the office] for these moments that matter, for that interaction, for that collaboration. In Britain, the magic is often after the meeting, after we do the niceties and have the meeting. And we can miss that digitally and I want us to bring back these little magical moments that connect us.”
7. Design for serendipity
But, of course, tech can encourage connection. Davis, speaking in the session on leveraging data, shared how Microsoft Viva Insights helps identify when contacts are in the office at the same time and suggests brief meetups.
“It’s just using the available pieces of technology and data to try and encourage collision,” he said.
But, again, colleagues can ‘collide’ but, unless the relationship foundations are there, they probably won’t ‘collaborate’ optimally.
Jans also talked about not being able to control serendipity, but said “you can certainly stack the deck in your favour”. This, he said, takes “intentionality” and he cited the example of his company’s ‘culture committee’ which meets monthly to discuss effective ways to bring people together in engaging ways.
In his experience of observing many employers, and their return to work office strategies, there is one common weakness he sees most, which relates directly to collaboration:
“They’ve designed a beautiful space. It’s high quality and works. Then they give employees key cards and say ‘here you go, we’ll see you around’. That’s where employers are dropping the ball. They’re not creating connection. We need to activate our communities. We need to encourage people to work together and have a shared purpose.”
Collaboration will continue to be a central theme at our events; our next event is the 8th Annual MAD World Summit which takes place on 9th October 2025 in London. The Watercooler Event is already in the planning for next year, scheduled to take place on 15-16th April 2026, at ExCel London.
