Skip to main content

Collaboration

As I sit and listen to some classical music, the idea of collaboration comes to mind. To make the music,  the symphony needs to work together, yet play as individual musicians. I cannot play your part, nor can you play mine. By playing each of our parts together as part of the bigger whole, we can create something bigger than either of us. We call this the “primacy of the whole”-the sum is greater than the individual parts. This is the basis of collaboration.

Pulling together a group of people into a team and instructing them to use “teamwork” or to “work as a team” does not equate to collaboration. A recent presentation made sense of this. Wikipedia© would not have come together as we know it if all the contributors had been put in the same space and given the instruction to create the site. The online encyclopedia exists precisely because the contributors did not know each other and did not work together in forced cooperation. The contributors created the information because they collaborated on a greater vision—each adding a piece to the whole with the greater end in mind. This does not mean that everyone agreed or was in total alignment on how to achieve the vision. Rather the contributors had the opportunity to discuss, debate, decide and then support the outcome.
So how do we get true collaboration? Here are some thought starters to point you down the right path towards more effective collaboration:
·        Create a problem or issue statement. Use this to help guide where you ultimately want to go.

·        Set a vision or picture of the result, but do not flesh out details. Let the collaborators add the detail and refine the vision as they go along.

·        Be open to whatever outcomes the collaborators determine. Do not have a set solution in your mind. Avoid having solutions in search of problems.

·        Give people time to both innovate (create or produce) and incubate (think about creating or producing). Leonardo Da Vinci used this cyclical approach to great success.

·        Utilize modern technology to facilitate collaboration (instant messaging, video conferencing, collaboration sites and tools). Embrace virtualization as a means to end, not as the end itself.

·        Select various personalities, rather than various skillsets or capabilities to work in collaboration. This will allow the team to determine which skills are needed rather being limited to the available skills. IT will also foster healthy debate and discussion of possible outcomes.

·        Eliminate interruptions and distractions as much as possible. Shutdown email, lock your office door, go to a quiet place away from others to get things done. Institute “No Talk Thursdays” where silence, rather than conversation, is the rule.
These few items should help you get started on collaboration that is more effective. Let work happen organically. Do not try to force it and the beautiful music will result.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Four Ps of Service Design - It’s not all about Technology

People ask me why I think that many designs and projects often fail. The most common answer is from a lack of preparation and management. Many IT organizations just think about the technology (product) implementation and fail to understand the risks of not planning for the effective and efficient use of the four Ps: People, Process, Products (services, technology and tools) and Partners (suppliers, manufacturers and vendors). A holistic approach should be adopted for all Service Design aspects and areas to ensure consistency and integration within all activities and processes across the entire IT environment, providing end to end business-related functionality and quality. (SD 2.4.2) People:   Have to have proper skills and possess the necessary competencies in order to get involved in the provision of IT services. The right skills, the right knowledge, the right level of experience must be kept current and aligned to the business needs. Products:   These are the technology managem

What Is A Service Offering?

The ITIL4 Best Practice Guidance defines a “Service Offering” as a description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target customer or group .   As a service provider, we can’t stop there!   We must know what the contracts of our service offering are and be able to put them into context as required by the customer.     Let’s explore the three elements that comprise a Service Offering. A “Service Offering” may include:     Goods, Access to Resources, and Service Actions Goods – When we think of “Goods” within a service offering these are the items where ownership is transferred to the consumer and the consumer takes responsibility for the future use of these goods.   Example of goods that are being provided in the offering – If this is a hotel service than toiletries or chocolates are yours to take with you.   You the consumer own these and they are yours to take with you.               Note: Goods may not always be provided for every Service

What is the difference between Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner?

I was recently asked to clarify the roles of the Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner and wanted to share this with you. Roles and Responsibilities: Process Owner – this individual is “Accountable” for the process. They are the goto person and represent this process across the entire organization. They will ensure that the process is clearly defined, designed and documented. They will ensure that the process has a set of Policies for governance. Example: The process owner for Incident management will ensure that all of the activities to Identify, Record, Categorize, Investigate, … all the way to closing the incident are defined and documented with clearly defined roles, responsibilities, handoffs, and deliverables.  An example of a policy in could be… “All Incidents must be logged”. Policies are rules that govern the process. Process Owner ensures that all Process activities, (what to do), Procedures (details on how to perform the activity) and th