The most competitive businesses in the world (and thus those most likely to have a future) know one thing better than the rest: collaboration is the key.  This is not a secret.  Good businesses get collaboration.  It’s not something to be feared despite the fact that it is complicated and fraught with risk.  What is puzzling however, is how many people still tend to avoid it after only one bad experience.  Their collaboration intelligence is the one area most companies, regardless of the nature of their business, will find is in need of major improvement.  The catch-up game may end up being expensive because there are no shortcuts when it comes to collaboration. A systematic building of a collaborative mindset, creating a culture of collaboration based on sound strategy, is what will end up being the one thing that defines the business that competes and thrives and one that that merely exists until it is disrupted.

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

Collaboration is not for the faint-hearted (Professor Robin Reid)

Robin Reid does not like being called an expert, despite the accolades she’s received for her grasslands research in Kenya, Mongolia and Colorado. Instead, she gives credit to the people she’s collaborated with, individuals that she refers to as “great people” and good friends.  “I am always working very closely with people that live on the land, trying to bring science to help them on issues that they care about,” she said.  Reid, a professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability and head of the Center for Collaborative Conservation at Colorado State University, delivered the eighth President’s Community Lecture in the Lory Student Center…READ ON

How IKEA mastered the art of the A-list collaboration

Christopher Kane for Topshop, Beyoncé for H&M, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley for Marks & Spencer – the big name collaboration continues to attract huge hype for high street fashion retailers.   So it’s little wonder that homeware behemoth IKEA has followed suit, and begun enlisting acclaimed designers from across the globe to bring high end style to the masses.  The 73-year-old Swedish store has already enjoyed sell-out success from partnerships with industry names…READ ON

Reorganising for the Age of Collaboration

Over the past two years an unprecedented $25bn has been pumped into the global fintech market and it looks like this is just the beginning. According to a recent Accenture report, Q1 2016 saw a 67 per cent year-on-year increase in global fintech investment. That’s a $5.3bn injection of funds over just three short months.  Such vast sums are creating an environment where start-ups can launch, fail, rethink and re-engage, all in a matter of months. For long-established financial institutions, most…READ ON

San Francisco proves that city-startup collaboration can work

It’s tough for startups – with shorter capital runways and track records – to work with the long sales cycles, aging systems and bureaucratic requirements of cities. And governments often find themselves frustrated, working with legacy systems that need the support of new technology to keep up with the increases in urbanization and use of services.  But these startups have amazing solutions for cities, and in San Francisco, the Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation implemented their new Startup in Residence (STIR) Program. It aims to mentor startups through the process of working with government and helps simplify paperwork…READ ON

Collaboration key to survival: Optus

A survey of the ASX 100 and start-ups has found the pattern of cyclic transformation and stability had been replaced by one of “constant turbulence”.  Collaboration between traditional business and modern start-ups was key to both surviving in Australia’s disruptive and turbulent marketplace, the Optus business study found.  The telco today released its study named Smart Disruption which examines how traditional business and new-age “digital natives” could form partnerships.  Supported by Macquarie University, the Optus study interviewed leaders from top 100 ASX listed companies as well…READ ON

Collaboration is key

People at Volvo believe in collaboration

We and our customers are facing societal challenges that becomes more and more complex and the pace with which we have to deliver becomes faster and faster. The complexity drives the need to collaborate to achieve sustainable solutions for the future. Many different stakeholders and disciplines needs to be included and take part to drive progress…READ ON