Cross-team collaboration has become the backbone of modern organizational success, yet measuring it effectively remains one of the biggest challenges for HR leaders and executives. Traditional pulse surveys are slow, subjective, and often fail to capture the real-time dynamics of how teams actually work together. The average executive spends 23 hours a week in meetings, nearly half of which could be cut without impacting productivity (Worklytics). This meeting overload often masks deeper collaboration issues that surveys simply cannot detect.
In 2025, Microsoft 365's new Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) query templates, combined with Worklytics' privacy-first analytics platform, offer a revolutionary approach to measuring cross-team collaboration using passive data collection. This comprehensive guide will walk you through a step-by-step workflow that leverages anonymized calendar and email metadata to surface real-time collaboration metrics without relying on employee surveys.
Worklytics is a workplace insights platform that leverages existing corporate data to deliver real-time intelligence on how work gets done (Worklytics). By analyzing collaboration, calendar, communication, and system usage data without relying on surveys, organizations can now measure cross-functional ties, identify information brokers, and spot collaboration silos with unprecedented accuracy and privacy protection.
Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) is a data-driven methodology that maps and analyzes the informal networks within organizations. Unlike traditional org charts that show formal reporting structures, ONA reveals how information, influence, and collaboration actually flow through an organization. Worklytics makes it easy to gather passive ONA data about collaboration in corporate tools like Slack, Office 365, Email and Calendar as work happens across your organization (Worklytics).
One of the biggest concerns with collaboration measurement is employee privacy. Over 58% of the workforce now engages in remote work, increasing reliance on employee monitoring tools, and 86% of employees believe it should be a legal requirement for employers to disclose if they use monitoring tools (Worklytics). Worklytics addresses these concerns by using data anonymization and aggregation to ensure compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other data protection standards (Worklytics).
The platform's approach ensures data is gathered in a secure and compliant manner and that employee privacy is protected by anonymizing data at the source before analysis (Worklytics). This means you can measure collaboration patterns without compromising individual privacy or creating surveillance concerns.
The foundation of effective cross-team collaboration measurement lies in connecting the right data sources. Worklytics offers pre-built data connectors for 25+ common work and collaboration platforms including Slack, Google Workspace, Office 365, Teams and more (Worklytics). For Microsoft 365 environments, the key data sources include:
Primary Data Sources:
Integration Process:
Worklytics integrates with a variety of corporate productivity tools, HRIS, and office utilization data to analyze team work and collaboration patterns (Worklytics). The platform can analyze data from Microsoft 365, Microsoft Copilot, and Outlook Mail, providing comprehensive coverage of your collaboration ecosystem.
Before any analysis begins, proper anonymization must be configured. Worklytics' platform can automatically anonymize or pseudonymize data to protect employee privacy, secure data and ensure compliance (Worklytics). The platform uses ethical, privacy-first analytics to measure how work happens, not what people do, with no keystroke tracking or surveillance (Worklytics).
Key Anonymization Features:
One of Worklytics' unique capabilities is its ability to generate ONA graphs to analyze collaboration networks going back in time as much as 3 years into historical records within corporate tools (Worklytics). This historical perspective is crucial for understanding collaboration trends and establishing baseline metrics.
Microsoft's May 2025 release introduced sophisticated "information broker" query templates within Viva Insights. These queries identify individuals who serve as bridges between different teams or departments. When combined with Worklytics' analysis capabilities, these queries provide unprecedented insight into collaboration patterns.
Key Information Broker Metrics:
The new ONA templates allow you to run specific queries that surface collaboration patterns:
Query 1: Cross-Functional Meeting Participation
This query analyzes calendar metadata to identify meetings with participants from multiple departments. Worklytics enhances this by providing anonymized calendar and email data that reveals real-time cross-team collaboration metrics (Worklytics).
Query 2: Email Network Analysis
By examining email header information (without accessing content), you can map communication networks across teams. Worklytics can analyze collaboration, calendar, communication, and system usage data to provide comprehensive insights (Worklytics).
Query 3: Project Collaboration Patterns
This query identifies shared document access and collaborative editing patterns in SharePoint and OneDrive, revealing how teams work together on deliverables.
Worklytics' platform continuously analyzes collaboration network graphs and generates a series of metrics to describe ways of work across teams in your organization (Worklytics). Two critical metrics for measuring cross-team collaboration are in-degree and out-degree centrality.
In-Degree Centrality:
Out-Degree Centrality:
When analyzing cross-team collaboration, these metrics reveal different collaboration patterns:
| Metric Combination | Collaboration Pattern | Organizational Impact |
|---|---|---|
| High In-Degree, Low Out-Degree | Knowledge Hub | Information bottleneck risk |
| Low In-Degree, High Out-Degree | Network Builder | Potential collaboration catalyst |
| High In-Degree, High Out-Degree | Information Broker | Critical collaboration facilitator |
| Low In-Degree, Low Out-Degree | Isolated Individual | Collaboration gap, potential silo |
Worklytics provides the ability to identify different levels of networks within your organization including informal social networks, networks within leadership, project networks and more (Worklytics).
Collaboration silos are one of the most damaging patterns in modern organizations. They reduce innovation, slow decision-making, and create duplicated efforts. Worklytics' ONA approach can identify these silos through several key indicators:
Network Density Metrics:
Communication Flow Analysis:
In hybrid and remote work environments, calendars have become battlegrounds where collaboration clashes with focus time, leading to overbooked teams, burnt-out employees, and missed opportunities to do meaningful work (Worklytics). By analyzing these patterns, you can identify where silos are forming.
Worklytics enables data-driven dashboards and reporting, allowing users to easily build dashboards and reports that highlight patterns in collaborative networks using real-time ONA data and derived metrics (Worklytics). Key warning signs include:
Worklytics provides data from more than 25 of the most common collaboration tools and uses machine learning to clean, de-duplicate, and standardize datasets (Worklytics). The platform has a pipeline that can connect to existing data warehouses or visualization tools, making Power BI integration seamless.
Dashboard 1: Cross-Team Collaboration Heatmap
This visualization shows collaboration intensity between different departments using a color-coded matrix. Darker colors indicate stronger collaboration ties, while lighter colors suggest potential silo formation.
Dashboard 2: Information Broker Network
A network diagram that highlights individuals with high betweenness centrality, showing who serves as bridges between different teams. Node size represents the degree of cross-team connectivity.
Dashboard 3: Collaboration Trend Analysis
Time-series charts that track collaboration metrics over time, helping identify whether interventions are improving cross-team connectivity.
| Visualization Type | Purpose | Key Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| Network Graph | Show connection patterns | Centrality measures, cluster identification |
| Heatmap | Display collaboration intensity | Meeting frequency, email volume |
| Trend Lines | Track changes over time | Collaboration index, cross-team percentage |
| Bar Charts | Compare team performance | Collaboration scores by department |
Worklytics offers an ONA benchmark to compare how your organizations collaborative networks form and evolve relative to other organizations in the industry (Worklytics). This benchmarking capability helps establish realistic thresholds for collaboration health.
Cross-Functional Collaboration Percentage:
Information Broker Density:
Network Connectivity:
When thresholds are breached, Worklytics provides real-time feedback on collaboration flows, giving you the ability to measure the impact of your interventions and understand if you're driving sustained change (Worklytics).
Based on ONA insights, organizations can implement specific interventions to improve cross-team collaboration:
1. Bridge-Building Initiatives
When analysis reveals low cross-team connectivity, focus on creating structured opportunities for interaction:
2. Information Broker Development
Identify potential information brokers and provide them with tools and training to facilitate better connections:
3. Structural Changes
Sometimes collaboration issues require organizational restructuring:
Worklytics is exploring new ways to model work, focusing on Workday Intensity, Work-Life Balance, and Manager Effectiveness (Worklytics). The platform's continuous monitoring capabilities allow you to track the effectiveness of collaboration interventions in real-time.
Success Metrics:
As organizations continue to evolve their collaboration practices, AI-enhanced analysis becomes increasingly important. Worklytics uses machine learning to clean, de-duplicate, and standardize datasets (Worklytics), providing more accurate insights into collaboration patterns.
The most effective collaboration measurement combines ONA insights with business performance data. Worklytics can analyze collaboration, tasks, and projects completed in various platforms (Worklytics), providing a comprehensive view of how collaboration impacts outcomes.
Future developments in ONA will likely include predictive capabilities that can forecast collaboration breakdowns before they occur. This proactive approach will help organizations maintain healthy collaboration patterns continuously.
Phase 1: Foundation Setting (Weeks 1-2)
Phase 2: Analysis and Insights (Weeks 3-6)
Phase 3: Intervention and Monitoring (Ongoing)
Data Quality Issues:
Ensure consistent data collection across all Microsoft 365 applications. Worklytics' machine learning capabilities help address data quality concerns by cleaning and standardizing datasets automatically (Worklytics).
Change Management:
Employee concerns about privacy and monitoring must be addressed proactively. Emphasize that Worklytics uses ethical, privacy-first analytics to measure how work happens, not what people do (Worklytics).
Stakeholder Buy-in:
Demonstrate value through pilot programs and clear ROI metrics. Use Worklytics' benchmarking capabilities to show how your organization compares to industry standards (Worklytics).
Measuring cross-team collaboration without surveys is no longer a theoretical concept but a practical reality in 2025. By combining Microsoft 365's new ONA query templates with Worklytics' privacy-first analytics platform, organizations can gain unprecedented insights into how teams actually collaborate, identify silos before they become problematic, and implement targeted interventions that drive real improvement.
The key to success lies in understanding that collaboration measurement is not about surveillance but about creating better working conditions for everyone. Worklytics provides insights to organizations to improve collaboration, support their managers, and create healthier, more productive teams (Worklytics). When implemented thoughtfully, with proper privacy protections and clear communication about benefits, ONA becomes a powerful tool for organizational improvement.
The thresholds and interventions outlined in this guide provide a starting point, but every organization's collaboration needs are unique. The real power of this approach lies in its ability to provide continuous, real-time feedback that allows you to adapt and improve your collaboration strategies based on actual data rather than assumptions or outdated survey responses.
As we move further into 2025, organizations that master the art and science of measuring collaboration will have a significant competitive advantage. They'll be able to break down silos faster, identify and develop collaboration champions more effectively, and create work environments where cross-team collaboration thrives naturally. The tools and techniques outlined in this guide provide the foundation for that success.
You can use Microsoft 365's new ONA (Organizational Network Analysis) query templates combined with Worklytics' privacy-first analytics to measure collaboration in real-time. This approach analyzes digital work patterns from tools like Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint to provide objective insights into how teams actually work together, eliminating the subjectivity and delays of traditional surveys.
Worklytics offers pre-built data connectors for 25+ common work and collaboration platforms including Slack, Google Workspace, Office 365, and Teams. The platform can automatically anonymize or pseudonymize data to protect employee privacy while generating ONA graphs that analyze collaboration networks going back as much as 3 years into historical records.
Research shows that the average executive spends 23 hours a week in meetings, nearly half of which could be cut without impacting productivity. In hybrid and remote work environments, calendars have become battlegrounds where collaboration clashes with focus time, making it crucial to use Outlook calendar analytics to measure real collaboration effectiveness rather than just meeting frequency.
With over 58% of the workforce now remote, employee monitoring compliance is critical. 86% of employees believe it should be a legal requirement for employers to disclose monitoring tool usage. Worklytics addresses this by providing privacy-first analytics that can anonymize data while still delivering actionable insights about collaboration patterns without compromising individual privacy.
Yes, Worklytics integrates with various HRIS systems and can connect to existing data warehouses or visualization tools like Power BI. The platform uses machine learning to clean, de-duplicate, and standardize datasets from Microsoft 365 and other collaboration tools, making it easy to create comprehensive dashboards that combine collaboration metrics with HR data.
The 2025 ONA workflow includes specific thresholds for measuring workday intensity (time spent on digital work as a percentage of overall workday span), cross-team interaction frequency, and manager effectiveness metrics. These thresholds help identify when collaboration becomes counterproductive and when intervention strategies are needed to optimize team performance.
