12 June 2025

The questionnaire on Smarter digital team collaboration and communication, sent to staff at Leiden Law School and the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences in April, shows there is great potential for smarter digital collaboration and communication. But there are also clear bottlenecks. The results from the questionnaire provide direction for concrete steps to make improvements. A total of approximately 320 employees from both faculties filled in the questionnaire. There was virtually no difference in the results received from the two faculties. Some important results are listed below.

1. A need for clarity
Half of the respondents indicate that there are no or hardly any agreements about digital collaboration. That said, 78% would welcome clear guidelines. This offers an opportunity to come to practical agreements within teams or departments about:

• Which digital tools are used and for what
• How and in which cases documents are saved
• How to communicate with colleagues efficiently

2. Email adds to the workload
92% of staff receive a maximum of 50 emails a day. More than half of the respondents say that email adds to their workload. Email does not always appear to be the most efficient means of communication. There is a need for:

• Alternatives such as Microsoft Teams or sharing documents
• Guidelines on how to effectively use these tools

3. Proficient in Microsoft Teams, but not yet advanced
Many people feel proficient in working with the chat and online meetings, but:

• Less is known about saving documents in Teams
• People find sharing documents and managing versions difficult

Only 23% use Microsoft tools to share documents instead of sending attachments by email. The potential of Microsoft 365 is far from being fully exploited.

4. A need for training and support
More than 70% of staff would like training or are open to it. Among other things, there’s a need for:

• Practical and identifiable examples
• Repeatable and accessible formats
• In-person, interactive training

5. Document storage: underutilised and confusing

• Although Microsoft Teams is known as a tool for meetings, only 57% use Teams for document storage.
• Many staff don’t know the difference between storing documents in OneDrive and in Teams.
• 43% expect that the discontinuation of the J drive will have a major impact on their work.

6. Different jobs, different needs
The response shows that different jobs have different needs. This calls for a targeted approach. For example, researchers need clarity about data management and privacy, and support staff would like to improve administrative workflows.

Comments from staff
The comments in the open answers show a clear need for extra support:

'Make the difference between OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint much clearer.'
'Provide short, practical tips and repeat these regularly.'
'Provide training for different levels, not just the entry level.'
'Make sure information about tools can be found easily.'
'Appoint a “digital buddy” in your team who can provide support’.

Follow-up
The results show there is a definite need for smarter digital collaboration, but that clear steps are needed. By providing clear agreements, targeted training and tailor-made support, we can work together more efficiently and in a more enjoyable way. These results contribute to recommendations that the consultancy firm AVK is drawing up for our faculty and university. We will receive these recommendations this month and, after approval from the ICT and information management departments, these will be translated into clear guidelines/tools and specific training. From September 2025, these steps will be rolled out among staff at Leiden Law School and the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.