Yep. Collaboration is a verb and communication is your well-deserved vacation.

You work with good people. You enjoy the work and believe in your team. Yet somehow, the energy keeps leaking away. Small tensions, unspoken irritations, misunderstandings, and postponed conversations.
“Maybe it will change,” you think. But in the meantime, collaboration becomes increasingly inefficient. The dynamics feel slightly off. The enthusiasm flatter.

Recognizable? This is exactly where many teams get stuck. Not on intention or expertise, but on communication.

So what is collaboration really?

On paper, everything seems to be in place: the right people, the right skills, the shared goal. Yet working together often turns out to be harder than expected. It often goes wrong with communication. Not in the sense of 'we talk too little', but rather: we do not speak each other's language. We use the same words but mean different things. And those differences are often larger than we think.

So what is collaboration? Not just dividing tasks, but sharing meaning.

This requires coordination on how you communicate, how you make decisions, and what you expect from each other. Effective collaboration means learning to read each other. That you recognize when noise starts to build up. And not ignoring it, but addressing it.

Why team collaboration often creates friction

The world we work in is changing rapidly. Technology is a visible multiplier in this: from calling to voice memos, from typing to AI-generated notes. But the biggest shift happens beneath the surface: in how we understand each other. And especially: where we miss each other. Because more generations are now working side by side than ever before, each with their own preferences, assumptions, and communication styles.

• One sends a message, the other expects a call.

• One asks for direct feedback, the other primarily hears criticism.

• One concludes a message with an emoji, the other feels not taken seriously.

Working well together requires constant adjustment. It requires mutual understanding.

Generational differences and communication: where it often goes wrong

Gen Alpha, Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers all communicate differently. In fact, numbers also clearly show the difference in experiences. While 46% of Baby Boomers report having no issues with generational collaboration, only 17% of Gen Z feels the same¹. Furthermore, half of those over 50 admit being annoyed by the lack of traditional tools like pens or physical notepads, while 47% of Gen Z think older colleagues slow down the pace with outdated methods. And yes, even emojis can lead to confusion: a third of teams say they have had misunderstandings about this².

Yet these differences remain unspoken in many teams. While they are precisely at the root of communication problems and even workplace conflict.

Good teamwork starts with learning to speak each other’s language

We often talk about output, processes, and goals. All nice and concrete. But we rarely talk about how we talk to each other. And that’s exactly where the key lies. Because good collaboration isn’t just about complementing each other’s skills, it’s about understanding each other. Knowing that what feels logical to you might feel unclear, or even unsafe, to someone else. That misunderstanding can arise, even when intentions are good. And that costs energy. Every day a little, until it shows up in avoidance, frustration, or even turnover.

This applies to everyone. But especially to Gen Z, who values an open work culture, transparent communication, and psychological safety more than previous generations. If you as an organization do not adapt to this, you run the risk of losing new talent faster than you think.

Strengthen team collaboration playfully

That's why we play the UNSNOOZED Generation Game with teams on the work floor. A playful, honest way to uncover frictions between generations and discover what becomes possible when you take them seriously. An experience where all generations in your team learn to step into each other’s shoes to see what assumptions you carry, how your team communicates, and what you truly need from one another to collaborate effectively.