“The most productive collaboration occurs among people who know and trust each other.” decision and as evidence for promotions. In addition, training people in skills associated with effective team-based interactions, including conflict resolution and project management, helps. Practices That Treat People Like Adults. Productive collaboration is fundamentally an “adult”
behavior. People have to make sound independent judgments about what, when and with whom to collaborate. They are less likely to do this in highly paternalistic organizations, in which management makes all the decisions on their behalf. Organizations with high levels of collaborative behavior tend to leave many work-related decisions to the discretion of the individual—such as when and where to work, how often and from whom to seek feedback. Leaders at All Levels with Relationship Skills. Modeling collaborative behavior at the top stimulates collaborative behavior among individuals throughout the organization. Senior leaders should work to create a “gift culture,” in which they share their own time and expertise freely with others to help them succeed. The example of sharing ideas and supporting others’ success is invaluable in promoting collaboration. Similarly, team leaders should be trained to manage relationships among team members thoughtfully. Productive Processes and Well-Managed Teams. The desire to collaborate is diminished if
work processes are cumbersome and bureaucratic—if it’s difficult and time consuming for individuals to get their basic work done. Efficiency supports collaborative behavior. Clearly Defined Roles. Surprisingly, the idea that loosely defined, overlapping roles will
encourage people to collaborate, suggesting that all should contribute to the same task, is wrong. Like the old saying “good fences make good neighbors,” collaboration is enhanced when roles are clearly defined. Without that, people waste time posturing for influence or control. The classic example is a symphony orchestra, in which the role of each instrument is well defined, allowing the musicians to play together harmoniously. Important and Challenging Tasks. Collaboration requires that individuals expend extra effort or slow their own work in the short term to make the time required to collaborate. The bottom line is that people do not collaborate on tasks that are easy or unimportant. If it’s easy, why take the time to collaborate? Just do it. And if it’s unimportant, why invest the energy? Just give it your best shot.
The ability to collaborate can be a powerful competitive advantage, but doing it successfully requires the right organizational context. MW Tamara J. Erickson is a McKinsey Award-winning author and widely respected expert on collaboration and innovation, on the changing workforce and on the nature of work in intelligent organizations. She has twice been named one of the 50 most influential living management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, the global ranking of business thinkers created by Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer. She has written a trilogy of books on how individuals in specific generations can excel in today’s workplace and has authored or coauthored numerous Harvard Business Review articles and the book Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent. She is the founder and CEO of Tammy Erickson Associates, a firm dedicated to helping clients build intelligent organizations, including ways to measure and strengthen collaborative capacity. She can be reached at tammy@tammyerickson.com A collaborative leadership style can enhance team commitment and individual member performance. It’s a matter of knowing the skills for building mutual trust and applying them in a team environment. Learn these skills at AMA’s seminar “Collaborative Leadership Skills for Managers.” For details, visit www.amanet.org/2186 MWORLD WINTER 2013-14
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