Seven Tips for Inspiring Collaboration
By Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D., Speaker and Author
One my most popular speaking topics is “The Power of Collaborative Leadership.” The topic’s popularity stems from clients realizing that “silo mentality” and knowledgehoarding behaviors are wasting the kind of collective brainpower that could save their organizations money. Or lead to the discovery of an innovative new program or service. Or, in the current economic climate, help keep their organization afloat when some are sinking.
And it’s not just the balance sheet that suffers when collaboration is low: the workforce loses something too. Individuals lose the opportunity to work in the kind of inclusive environment that energizes teams, releases creativity, and makes working together productive and joyful.
Here are seven tips for inspiring collaboration in your team or organization: 1. Realize that silos are destructive. Silo mentality is a mindset present when certain departments or sectors do not
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wish to share information with others in the same organization. This type of mentality will reduce efficiency in the overall operation, reduce morale, and may contribute to the demise of a productive culture. Silo is a business term that has been passed around and discussed in many boardrooms over the last 30 years. Unlike many other trendy management terms, this is one issue that has not disappeared. Silos are seen as a growing pain for organizations of all sizes. Wherever it’s found, a silo mentality becomes synonymous with power struggles, lack of cooperation, and loss of productivity.
2. Build your collaboration strategy around the "human element." In trying to capture and communicate the cumulative wisdom of a workforce, the public and private sectors have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in portals, software, and intranets. But collaboration is more than the technology that supports it, and even more than a business strategy aimed at optimizing an organization's experience and expertise. Collaboration is, first and foremost, a change in attitude and behavior of people throughout an organization. Successful collaboration is a human issue.
SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
