It is not enough just to understand collaboration. It is not enough to like collaboration. It is not enough to collaborate. Collaboration professionals must be card-carrying collaborators. Now, the last time I carried a card of any kind that I was proud to display (tactically, with only a […]
How important is collaboration to you in 2014? If more than last year, then next year will be even more so. If not that much, then next year will be a struggle. But let me put my crystal ball away and rephrase the above. A major study by […]
I often wonder to what extent workers in the 21st century associate the ideas of collaboration and work as being inseparable. Perhaps the self-evident truth doesn’t need much reflection. But only just, as I am inclined to think that the changing context presents a challenge to better understand […]
Sceptics have been around for ever and will continue, thankfully I’d say, to be part of humankind. I refer here to scepticism as it is most widely understood in everyday life, not the philosophical school of thought type. So, with full respect to the tough questions and lack […]
It is very rare now to read about collaboration in a business context without the point being made that collaboration is ‘new competition’ or a form of ‘co-opetition’. This is true. It is also true that despite a growing number of business leaders becoming seriously engaged with this […]
Creativity and innovation regularly feature in the collaboration discussion. Some call them ‘corporate twins’ (see article below). At times it may sound as if they are the best, or most appealing, features to potential partners. Now, I think they certainly can be very appealing to individuals who carry […]
I start this post with an assumption that everyone has seen the LEGO movie. Why wouldn’t I, it has all the drama and excitement needed to rival any serious contender; the only difference being that the characters came from a plastic mould. But, that’s precisely the point; how […]
When exactly do you stop learning? Is there such a point in time? Most people (or perhaps I hang out with the wrong tribe) would instinctively say that you never stop learning. That’s a kind of conventional wisdom we think we live by. In reality I think it’s […]
Collaborative advantage, a concept developed by Rosabeth Moss Kanter and now 20 years old, continues to gain traction. The major difference between the time when the Professor Kanter developed the concept and now, is a massive environmental shift. Collaboration today is not only a response to wicked problems […]
The forerunner in this week’s selected recommendations is a brilliant piece co-authored by several thinkers who dig deep into collaboration and published in the April issue of Harvard Business Review. As a strategist I am somewhat reluctant to single out one point they make over another, but in […]
I know of organisations which regularly get a bad rap in the marketplace for being poor at collaboration. Actually, I can name a few who actually know they have that standing but are not sure about how to change and improve their track record in collaboration. Being good […]
In my last article I wrote about some of the key things that need to be considered before any collaboration can commence. The first item listed was governance. This is one of the areas that, when properly structured, can eradicate a host of concerns. Having said that, it […]
Starting a collaboration can sometime be similar to starting a diet. You reach a point where you acknowledge that collaboration is a strategy your business should really engage in, but for whatever reason you are still drawn to urgent but less critical things. Procrastination or not, it is […]
Harvard Business Review’s Spring Edition of ‘OnPoint’ is all about collaboration. For the collaboration–minded, this is like a perfect slice of heaven. Let me share. Philip Evans and Bob Wolf wrote an extensive piece on the rules of collaboration. The piece itself was originally published back in 2005 […]
There is a scene in the Toy Story animated film (by the way, I strongly recommend all three of the movies) when Buzz Lightyear, the supremely self-confident toy space ranger, believes he is really flying while in fact he is being carried upwards by an elevator. However the […]
Researching for this week’s edition of recommended reading I found quite a few articles covering different industries where the thrust of the report was the conviction that collaboration is the key to either solving some major challenges, like in the case of the aviation industry and safety in […]
Let’s face it; if you play with fire you may well get burnt. Collaboration is a little bit like fire, but like the camp fire; we really do love it. Nevertheless, there is an inevitable (and directly proportionate to one’s experience) time when things will not go the […]
Some say that a spider’s silk is one of the strongest materials known to humankind. Diamonds are another amazingly strong material. I wonder if perhaps one of the strongest intangible materials might be collaboration. Judging by the current Russo-American collaboration in space, i.e. the International Space Station (ISS), […]
To borrow a term from political spin doctors: ‘optics’ may matter a lot, but in collaboration they can actually be a major cost to your enterprise. The attraction of ‘looking good’ (I’m sure a communication guru would come up with a number of better ways to express it) […]
In all honesty, the supply of good examples about how well collaboration works is almost endless. When I say good examples, I do not exclusively mean great collaboration stories. It is more about facets of collaboration that can be valuable to an increasing number of people who recognise […]
Collaboration is not a discretionary strategy: it is primarily an emergent business sustainability driver. A common habit of many managers is to aim for ‘low hanging fruit’ rather than taking a long term view. Meeting monthly sales budgets is a prerogative that leaves little room for risky and […]
Collaboration is a bit of a buzzword right now. But until one starts to delve deeper into all the facets of collaboration, it is hard to appreciate how much the ‘buzz’ is in fact much more than that. In this week’s dispatch of ROADMENDER Recommends you can appreciate […]
Writing about collaboration, educating people through workshops, strategic planning sessions and so on inevitably creates opportunities for learning new things and, perhaps more importantly, thinking about new challenges and questions posed by clients and audiences. One of the interesting questions I am often asked is how collaboration differs […]
Collaboration Instead of Litigation: Nokia Takes the High Road During Settlement Negotiations with HTC for Patent Infringement Disputes The idea of collaborative competition is not entirely new but the magnitude of such behaviour is starting to become a major factor in the market. Companies are realising that litigation […]
One thing that I’ve noticed recently is the increased chatter about collaboration from various corners of governments when they talk about delivering services in partnership with the NFP sector. I am not alone. This is something many notice and discuss discreetly. A proper, open conversation has not fully […]
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