How does trust affect collaboration?  This is an important question that every collaboration focused organisation needs to tackle.  Most of the stuff that has been written about collaboration over the past 20 years includes references to trust as a major factor.  And much of these have been written instinctively.  We simply value trust.  However, when everything is said and done, we also know that trust in the workplace does not come easy.  And the lack of it costs businesses a lot of money, which flows on to hindered competitiveness.  As we increasingly see how smart businesses embrace collaboration as a growth and competition strategy, it follows that the trust factor may in fact make or break a business.  Here’s the latest edition of recommended reading.

Thanks to ROADMENDER readers who have suggested articles for this edition of Roadmender Recommends.

Successful Collaboration Relies On Trust, No Matter How Far Away Your Colleague Works

Your business has people on three continents. How do you keep them connected, and ready to collaborate?  Anat Binur, Co-Founder of Middle East Education through Technology (MEET), faces this problem every day. Since 2004, the MIT-staffed non-profit has been connecting Israeli and Palestinian high school students, in an effort to find, unite, and empower youth in an otherwise hostile situation. Binur, based in Silicon Valley, works with a team stretching from California, to the East coast of America, to the Middle East, and into Europe…READ ON

Cloud, Containers And Collaboration Come Of Age

The cloud computing marketplace has come of age, and the market is booming. As I discussed in my last article, Cloud is no longer a business strategy. It is just something we do. Further proof is demonstrated by Amazon Web Services (AWS) reporting huge Q2 numbers of $2.9B in revenue, up by more than $1B from the same time in 2015…READ ON

Collaboration Flows from a Strong Business Mission

There’s an often-repeated story about a janitor working his shift at NASA who, when asked what he was doing, responded that he was “helping to put a man on the moon.”  From its very inception, NASA has been a mission-driven agency, with missions that require and inspire dedication within every level of the organization. The organization’s mission and purpose have remained constant to this day, nearly 60 years later…READ ON

Trust and collaboration: a virtuous circle

great management guru Peter Drucker said trust is an essential requirement of effective leaders. Without trust, according to Drucker, leaders have no followers. And to build trust, Drucker challenged leaders to go beyond the singular “I” and to lead from a more empowering “we”…READ ON

Yes, Trust Matters, But What About Courage?

It is rare to have a conversation about collaboration and not hear something like “trust is important”. But I have never heard anyone mention that courage is also important. I recently read a really cool piece in Forbes by Liz Ryan (see link below**) who examines why so much business writing is awful. She calls it ‘zombie language’ in the workplace. I think many of us have noticed that the way we write and speak in the workplace is often not inspiring. Frankly, I think a lack of expertise in getting the best out of your people is not really possible with language that is as exciting to read as a vacuum cleaner instruction manual…READ ON

Interdependence Empowers Collaboration and Results

The next generation of leaders needs to renew trust and empower collaboration in meaningful, results-oriented ways. Renewing trust and empowering collaboration are not easy tasks, and no simple formulas exist…READ ON

Key Ingredients of a Successful Collaboration Space

Earlier this year, Prysm Inc., a collaboration solutions developer based in San Jose, Calif., commissioned Forrester Research to examine collaboration technology use in the enterprise. The study surveyed 1,000 professionals at organizations in the U.S. and U.K. working in companies with 1,000 employees or more. Two-hundred of those surveyed work in IT and facilities, and 800 are “information workers”—those who are actually supposed to be taking advantage of the benefits collaborations systems can offer during meetings…READ ON

Michigan, Ontario sign collaboration agreement to boost auto competitiveness

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder today signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian province of Ontario to increase the region’s competitiveness in the automotive industry.  The agreement is designed to create best practices, cohesive public policy, increased supply chain integration and technology transfer agreements, the state said in a press release.  It’s unknown whether any public funding will be used to support the agreement.  Snyder and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne signed the agreement here at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars.  Ontario and Michigan account for more than 26 percent of vehicle production in the Great Lakes region. Trade between the two regions in 2015 totaled $74 billion…READ ON