Creating a Culture of Collaboration

You blindfolded them and tied their hands. Why aren’t they working together?

Many leaders I work with lament a lack of collaboration in their teams (ever so much talk of silos), but they haven’t purposefully put in place the pieces that would allow for that collaboration. If you are feeling that your team is stuck in a rut, consider:

• Does your staff know and have input into the organization’s overall strategy and direction? If they only have a sense for their specific team goals & metrics, it isn’t possible to spot synergies or work to a bigger vision.

• Does your team have a sense of overall organizational resources? Or do you just allow them access to their own budgets and only engage them in talking about their own workplans? Transparency increases trust in you, while also letting your team know you trust them. It also allows for cross-team conversations about allocating resources in new ways and leveraging what is available.

• Do you make room for innovation? Do your staff receive a clear message that it is okay to try, but miss the mark? Is this backed up by not only words but deeds (e.g. performance reviews)? And are they given space to stop business as usual to make time for working together and trying new things?

Collaboration does not happen through vague leadership intention but purposeful instituting of conditions that make cross-functional work relevant, resourced, and incentivized.