Collaboration makes some people uneasy. That then can easily translate into defensive behaviour, as people generally tend to rationalise their feelings. And then things are likely to snowball into something you can call anything under the sun except collaboration. But frankly it’s still early days with regard to actually understanding collaboration. Research is still sporadic and the rule makers in any organisation are still largely committed to collaboration as a soft management discipline that can’t be compared to say marketing. That will change for sure, but it will be the new generation of managers who will play a more critical role as they build a stronger understanding of what collaboration is actually about. For some inspiration here is this week’s selection of recommended readings.

Sincere thanks to those who have suggested articles for this edition of Roadmender Recommends.

Energize Your Enterprise With Collaboration

The rapid development of new digital communication technology is changing the world as we know it. It’s changing our society, companies, entire industries. It’s changing the way we think and behave as individuals, consumers and employees. The fundamental driver is that the cost of communicating has collapsed. Now that we can connect with anyone from anywhere to exchange information, ideas and experience, our attitudes, preferences and behaviors as consumers change fast and unpredictably…READ ON

Collaborative Innovation: You Can’t Do It Alone and Win

Fail, fail and fail again. No executive wants to hear these words, let alone report them to his or her boards, or worse, shareholders. But when you look at the new product failure rate–a stunning 85%–and realize new products often generate 30%-50% of best in class company revenues, it’s easy to understand why many executives are scrambling to fill their pipelines with a constant stream of fresh offerings. Yet in today’s complex world, companies can’t do everything they need to alone. Cisco’s leaders realized this more than five years ago with a benchmark study on collaboration, noting that partnerships enable companies to act faster, work smarter and improve value to create economic growth…READ ON

Why pay transparency could harm collaboration

Pay transparency as a concept probably first came to widespread attention after Ricardo Semler revealed it as one of the strategies he deployed to motivate employees at his company, Semco back in the 1990s. The idea is that if you remove any doubt around what people earn, you remove something for people to feel jealous about and thus promote a more harmonious workplace. It’s a theory that has been questioned by a recent study from researchers at Yale University. They suggest that when we’re ignorant of the wealth of those around us, we tend to cooperate much more frequently with them…READ ON

Three Ways Sanofi Pasteur Encourages Collaboration

When you think of companies that foster and encourage employee collaboration, a big pharmaceutical company probably doesn’t top your list. But thanks to enthusiastic employees and visionary leadership, Sanofi, one of the top five pharmaceutical companies in the world, is leading the charge in a new wave of collaboration. I sat down with Celine Schillinger and Dany De Grave, two employees driving some of the most award-winning and buzz-worthy employee initiatives at Sanofi Pasteur – the vaccine division of Sanofi – to get the company’s secrets…READ ON