Leadership is at a pivotal point in time—balancing the demands of high performance while navigating the complexities of the AI era. The Work Innovation Lab by Asana, in collaboration with Greg Wells, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Wells Performance, embarked on a comprehensive study of 6,000 high-performing executives and leaders from the world’s top companies. What we discovered is a science-backed approach to leadership that goes beyond innate talent or working harder—it’s about working smarter.

Guarding attention, structuring work, and prioritizing mental fitness

Some leaders may think that multitasking or constant hustle is the key to success. But our research found that the secret to high performance lies in focusing on one task at a time, establishing clear structures, and maintaining mental fitness.

Harnessing the power of AI to supercharge leadership

In the era of AI, leadership potential is limitless. AI isn’t just a tool—it’s an ally in becoming a high-performing leader. It can help leaders block off distractions and align work with ultradian rhythms. But using AI isn’t about adding more tools to your tech stack—it’s about leveraging the right tools to enhance your leadership capabilities.

Dive into the science of high-performing leadership

Leadership is not a secret. It’s a science, backed by data and research. Dive into the full report to learn:

• The data-backed strategies that can turn anyone into a high-performing leader
• The daily challenges and stressors leaders are facing right now, and how top-performing leaders are addressing them
• How leaders can harness the power of AI to supercharge their leadership

…and more.

By defending your focus, strategically protecting your time, and adopting the right mindset, you—with the power of AI—can unlock your potential and lead your team to success in an era of uncertainty and rapid change.

What is hybrid work, anyway?

Employees can’t stop talking about it, leaders are always referencing it, and it’s blazing across media headlines seemingly every day—but do we even know what “hybrid work” means?

The short answer for many companies is, not really. And that’s understandable. After all, hybrid work quickly surged in popularity, and leaders scrambled to incorporate it as best they could. 

But as our new era of distributed work continues to evolve, companies are struggling to navigate the uncharted waters of hybrid work and find their footing—and, as a result, are clinging to policies that might no longer serve them.

A data-backed solution

So what’s the solution? When hybrid work first started, there wasn’t much existing data on what it was or how to best implement it. Now, there are years of information to pull from. Our team at The Work Innovation Lab in partnership with Jen Rhymer, Assistant Professor at University College London, analyzed and aggregated that data, alongside nine months of original research, to help company leadership develop and improve their hybrid work policies. 

In this playbook, you’ll learn how to define hybrid work, analyze your current policy, and ultimately, create and put into place the best hybrid work policy for your organization’s needs. 

Dig in for key takeaways like:

• How to evaluate your current hybrid work policy, including understanding how it was designed and communicated (and why that matters)
• The four pillars of a strong hybrid workplace policy (the aspects you need to define)
• Data-backed ways to structure your policy with the latest research

…and more.

Sleep tight to lead right 

Many of us view sleep separately from the workplace. But in reality work, collaboration, and ultimately, your company, are greatly impacted by you and your employees’ sleep habits. 

Sleep might feel like the last priority in a long list of impactful ways to motivate a workforce, but did you know that your employees are less likely to trust you when you don’t get enough rest? Or that sleep-deprived individuals are more likely to view the actions of others, including their colleagues, as negative? These often subconscious reactions can be major blockers to building a connected organization that can take on and solve complex problems. 

That’s where sleep leadership comes in—prioritizing rest has a positive, cascading effect across organizations and helps everyone show up as their best selves at work.

Based on months of original research, The Work Innovation Lab, in collaboration with Chorus Sleep, a mobile app and coaching program, and leading scientist and performance physiologist Dr. Greg Wells, created a playbook packed with insights to help you develop sleep leadership. Learn:

• What sleep leadership is (and why it’s a must for these uncertain times)
• How high-quality sleep helps you be a better leader
• How sleep impacts collaboration at work 
• Actionable steps you can take today to create a more well-rested, productive, and efficient workforce

Don’t sleep on sleep.

There’s a better way to collect feedback

Performance reviews are common, but do they work? Often, these reviews are time consuming, can provoke anxiety, and lack actionable feedback. 

Turns out, there’s a better way to collect feedback, designed by The Work Innovation Lab by Asana, called the Feedback Switcharoo. In this research-backed process, teams flip the script, giving team members the chance to voice what they need from their leads.

With this tool, you can:

• Gain actionable feedback
• Learn what matters most to your team, and develop a plan to make it tangible
• Bring more empathy and humanity into the relationships between leads and their teams

Learn how to perform your own Feedback Switcharoo, get actionable feedback, and become a better leader.

More Collaborative Intelligence, less collaboration tools

The digital “needs” of the workplace have reached a frenzied pace. In an attempt to stay relevant, organizations are scrambling to adopt the latest technology. But adding to your tech stack is not enough to win, or often even compete, in your category. To make sure your organization hits its targets and stays ahead of competition, you’ll need a strategic digital transformation. 

The challenge? Over 70% of digital transformations fail. Featured in Harvard Business Review, this playbook—packed with the latest cutting-edge research by The Work Innovation Lab, a think tank by Asana, and research consortium Connected Commons—unlocks the recipe to launching an effective full-scale digital transformation.

Learn data-backed ways to: 

• Streamline your tech stack in a way that builds collaboration
• Go beyond collaboration tools and prioritize Collaborative Intelligence instead—the true life-blood of your team’s most important work
• Assess your current digital capabilities before launching a full digital transformation  (using the included checklist)

Use the playbook below to launch a full digital transformation and ensure your organization doesn’t get left behind.

Adopt a subtraction mindset and fix your meetings

Meetings are a huge time sink for organizations. Even with technology built to manage calendars and work more efficiently, meeting bloat has only gotten worse.

This playbook—jam-packed with research that’s been featured in publications like WIRED, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal—is an antidote. You’ll learn:

• How to lead wide-scale meeting audits and resets (so you can have fewer, more meaningful meetings) 
• How The Work Innovation Lab, a think tank by Asana, launched an experiment to create a “Meeting Doomsday,” which eliminated low-value meetings and improved all meetings—even for people who didn’t participate in the experiments 
• How to use this research and perform your own “Meeting Doomsday” to reduce meeting bloat in your organization

Download the playbook, below, to use the same system in your organization, eliminate low-value meetings, and gain back time for the work that matters most.