The Future Of Teamwork [2025 Edition]

The future of work is teams. That’s a trend that’s been around for a long time.

Jobs that could have been done alone at one time or another happen more efficiently and at higher quality because we work in teams. The easy problems at work and in life that a lone genius could have solved at one time are gone. Only complex problems that require creativity at the team level remain.

So, if the future of work is teams, it’s worth examining the future of teamwork. Here, several trends worth focusing on will dictate how teams will work and how they will work best in the future.

In this article, we’ll review four trends shaping the future of teamwork and what leaders need to do to respond to these changes.

Teamwork Trend One

The first trend shaping the future of teamwork is that team culture matters more than company culture. This trend has been going on for some time. While company culture remains important, most employees feel its impact only after it’s been filtered through their manager’s and their team’s culture. 

Many organizations tried to create an experience in their office or campus full of perks and benefits—free food, onsite childcare, dry cleaning, etc. But all the perks in the world still didn’t overcome being stuck on a toxic team. 

In the past two years, because of the “great work from home” experiment triggered by the pandemic, those perks have mattered even less so. At the same time, people’s experience of culture has been even more strongly shaped by the team on which they serve.

For leaders, this means that creating a positive company culture is important, but the focus ought to be on making sure leaders at all levels, and even individual contributors, know how to shape a positive team culture.

Teamwork Trend Two

The second trend shaping the future of teamwork is that teamwork stays virtual, even if people are back in the office. This trend isn’t just about hybrid work (which may or may not be the future of work). For any organization large enough to have multiple offices, the tools of virtual collaboration are going to be used much more often—and travel between those offices will happen much less often.

When the “great work from home” experiment began, nearly 40 percent of the American workforce went remote (and similar and sometimes greater numbers elsewhere in the world). Millions of people were forced to learn to use new software programs and new ways of coordinating work with people far from them. 

Those skills create a new reality where teams can be formed not based on who is working in what office but based on who is best for the project at hand, no matter where in the world they are.

For leaders, this means mastering those tools and keeping a mindset of “right person over the right place,” even if your office is open and people are returning. Because that mindset will be a big advantage in forming the best team you can.

Teamwork Trend Three

The third trend shaping the future of teamwork is that teams are built by the project, not the position. Most leaders use “team” to refer to the 6-8 people who report directly to them. 

But most work organizations today require more people than just those 6-8 individuals. Originally, these were called “cross-functional” teams, which later grew into “matrix” organizations. However, those were all attempts to keep the term “team” as defined by a traditional organizational chart. 

Many forward-thinking companies are moving away from those types of structures and forming teams based on the needs of specific projects, with roles and even reporting responsibilities rotating as often as project-based work demands. 

That trend is likely to continue. Organizations that switch to the building block of organizational charts, which is the project, not the position, will be better able to adapt to changes in the marketplace and unforeseen events.

For leaders, this means reframing how you and your “team” see the definition of team and showing them how their work fits into the larger whole. Even if they work together without any other function, odds are they will still hand their work off to a new function, and as such, the “team” working on the project is larger than they may see.

Teamwork Trend Four

The fourth trend shaping the future of a team is that teamwork grows more boundaryless. And this trend is really an extension of the previous one. 

If the future building block of the organization is the project, not the position, many organizations will realize the financial (and creative) benefits of building project teams from more than just their employees. This already happens on large-scale projects. 

It’s almost impossible to build a building or create a complex website or software application without contracting with other firms. But it will start to happen for smaller and smaller projects as well. Just like physical location ceasing to be a barrier to hiring the best employee, actual employment won’t be a barrier to working with the best people. 

As Charles Handy predicted 40 years ago, more and more organizational charts would look like a shamrock or cloverleaf with a core of full-time employees, freelancers, and vendor companies all contributing nearly equally to project teams.

For leaders, this means developing your influence skills to lead a team of people when you only have position power over a few of them, and the rest either report to someone else or work for an entirely different company.

Most of these trends have existed for a long time, but all of these trends have accelerated in the past few years. All four have reached a speed where they can’t be ignored. Leaders who ignore these trends will feel their influence diminish. 

However, leaders who adapt themselves and their people to these trends will help their whole team do their best work ever.

Role of AI and Automation in Enhancing Collaboration

AI, like its implications on everything else, also affects teamwork. It is becoming integrated as part of teams. AI-driven tools today streamline SOP workflows and help teams make key decisions. AI is already handling repetitive tasks and data integration, leaving the teams time and resources to work on the complex and strategic aspects of their job.

Today, we have chatbots managing customer inquiries and AI-powered project management systems that depict problems before they occur.

Tasks like data integration and analysis where large data sets are to be studied are taken over by AI. AI can generate comprehensive data analysis reports and give real-time insights to help you and your team make better decisions.

Tools like Asana, Notion AI, and Microsoft Copilot are becoming increasingly common, automating administrative tasks and suggesting actions based on the team’s progress.

So, it’s no longer a choice but rather a mandatory act to adopt AI. To further improve collaboration in teams via AI: 

• Use AI as a tool rather than viewing it as a replacement for humans.
• Train your employees to work with AI while leveraging their capabilities.
• Develop guidelines to look into the ethical aspects of using AI. 

Asynchronous Collaboration

In the old days, we emphasized real-time interactions with the team members. The power of face-to-face interactions, or even those via phone calls, in-person meetings, and video conferencing, cannot be denied. 

But as teams become global and many of them work remotely, there’s a need for them to become asynchronous.

We have teams working across the geographies, and we need to leverage the available tools and technology to collaborate effectively. Working in different time zones and work schedules is only becoming possible with this technology.

This allows individuals to contribute to the team’s goals at their own pace while keeping productivity levels up.

Tools like Slack, Trello, and Google Docs make communication ever-fast by enabling the team to work together in their time zones. They can leave comments, recorded messages, or updates. 

How do we adapt to the asynchronous style? Here are some tips

• Create a result-oriented culture that focuses on the outcomes rather than micromanaging employees.
• Set clear expectations like response times, preferred channels, etc.
• Invest in digital collaboration tools for asynchronous workflows like shared documents, task management software, etc.

Wrap Up

The future of teamwork is changing rapidly. There are technological advancements, changing work structures, and expectations from the employees.

Successful teams know how to balance human connection with technological advancements.

We need to stay ahead of the changes and trends to build smart, well-connected teams that can achieve success no matter how they work as long as they achieve the end goals.