Collaboration , Are We Doing Effectively ?

Collaborate, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, means “to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor”.

In “Collaboration Handbook:Creating, Sustaining, and Enjoying the Journey” (Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, 1994), Michael Winer and Karen Ray define a continuum of increasing intensity for building relationships and doing work.

The following table summarizes the key distinctions involved.

where “intensity” means risk, time and resources needed, opportunity to make a positive impact, and strength of commitment.

Reference: Designing effective collaboration, Economist Intelligence Unit,The findings of this paper focus on those factors and attitudes that are unique to collaboration.
Key findings include:

• Collaborators require creativity, expertise and engagement.

Although all work groups value competence and commitment, these factors are valued highly in each team member involved in a collaboration.

• Mutual trust among peers is most important to collaborators.

The majority of collaborators, co-operators and co-ordinators demand mutual trust among team members, and that connection is far more important than trust in the boss or senior management.

• Processes for collaborators must be rigorous, with room for freedom.

Collaborators want processes that are rigorous, but they are also more likely to want some freedom to adopt project-specific processes.

• Protection of proprietary knowledge is required for collaborators.

Collaborators recognize that their work is likely to include proprietary knowledge-sharing and need guidelines to protect interests

• Collaborators are more intensive users of IT

Most people need IT to keep information current and accessible, but collaborators are more likely to need IT to support idea development and protect those ideas.

• Where context is critical, in-person communication is preferred.

In-person communication is still preferred in situations where context is critical, regardless of the type of project, but e-mail is quite adequate for disseminating information when no immediate feedback is needed.