Positive Results With Collaboration

Positive results with Collaboration as a Target are: 

Accountability, Solution Focused Discussions and Activity, Effective Teams and Strategic Results

We are sure that at least one of the above results has been missing and can be pointed to as a reason for lack of achievement.  Some of the conditions listed below bring a greater challenge to success or are ongoing issues that never seem to change.

  • Change management if not done with the elements of collaboration can become failed change management.  Lack of buy in, undercurrents of sabotage and lack of motivation as well as fear create an environment that creates stagnation.  With the Culture of Collaboration the major three elements, communication, accountability and solution focus allow for a template for managing change.
  • Lack of implementation or execution of strategic planning is continually mentioned to me as an ongoing frustration.  The elements above which are achieved through making collaboration a number one goal address the issue of execution completely.
  • Lack of personal accountability is a major issue and exists in widespread ways throughout a business that does not value and implement a clear collaboration process.  Clients make the mistake of thinking that assigning projects without the use of collaborative processes is all that is necessary to move forward.  Projects are often stymied by concerns such as taking time away from the usual job description, giving over power and authority to the project manager, no channels for discussion or redesign, lack of a sense of ownership and lack of motivation.  With the Culture of Collaboration in place these issues are dealt with openly and honestly using time to move things forward.  The focus rather than blaming becomes how can we work together to solve the problem.  Creativity flourishes in an environment where the four elements are present.
  • Lack of collegial communication is one of the important issues when effective team collaboration is not developed.  At the top of the leadership group in organizations, our observation is that peers know less about each other than they know about their direct reports.  Communication is at a premium and generally does not openly take place in a meeting.  Often those meetings, as mentioned in one of the scenarios do not even take place on a regular basis.  Because of the lack of honesty and real work ethic that involves everyone in the room; meetings are often seen as a waste of time.
  • Fear of risk is one of the reasons that collaboration does not take place successfully.  The culture is one of competition and watching your back instead of collaboration.  There are steps that need to be taken to open up for the personal risk of having a bad idea or being wrong, so that creative thinking that bring about innovation and growth is encouraged.
  • Lack of communication, of course, creates a lack of understanding of performance expectations.  In many organizations the performance reviews are viewed with trepidation and people walk out relieved or upset without much information that can move them forward.  Low performance results often come from a lack of understanding.  This leads to the issue of accountability which can only be sustainable with clarity of expectations in a collaborative culture.
  • The poor functioning of teams is the repercussion of not valuing collaboration by giving the process time and resources.  Teams struggle to maintain and often give up resorting to each person having their own individual focus.
  • You may know someone, especially a leader, who is experiencing burnout.  The executive who is retired on the job.  Often you think it is due to hard times, stress or challenges.  It is due to lack of collaboration and a sense of team, most often.  What is missing is communication, accountability and a focus on solutions.

Lack of creative thinking leading to innovation is one of the biggest barriers to growth.  Without a format for creative thinking, followed by analysis and innovation your business will miss the opportunity for moving into new realms that come with progression in the business environment.  With sustainable team collaboration in place creative thinking becomes a supported process that is allowed and encouraged.  It takes its place ahead of analysis so that new ideas that are “out of the box” have a chance to be exposed before the analytical process.  Innovation follows so that new ideas are moved into production and presented successfully.