Defining a collaborative culture

07Jan09

I have earlier blogged on social media and changing the culture. As social media is often about new forms of online collaboration, I now add collaboration (not as in collaborationism, but as in collaboration at work) as such to that mix. Every project manager ought to know that to create a culture for collaboration is vital for almost every projects success! However this turns out to be especially hard if the project is not co-located. Research shows that projects not co-located run a much higher risk of failure than those which are co-located.

But what is needed for good collaboration? I tried to read Wikipedia on collaboration, but did not get very much out of it in terms of required elements or actions to build a collaborative environment. (Thought of adding the fundamentals below in the article, so if they are there it means they have been added as a result of this post). Collaboration can be a fuzzy term. It refers more to a culture than to method. It requires something both of the structure and the organization, and both of the culture and the individuals. I googled it in Norwegian, (samhandling) and found a page referring to these five elements as especially important among politicians wanting to collaborate. I believe they are highly transferable to any project environment as well and I hereby refer to them as the five fundamental elements of good collaboration:

Trust
The need to trust each other and each other’s knowledge is necessary to build a good collaborative environment. This requires awareness of the roles on have in the collaborative setting, self awareness and openness. Lack of trust is a typical symptom in “e-mail-collaborative” projects where people do not meet physically.

Diversity
The need to accept, appreciate and use that we are different and have different knowledge’s and fill different roles.

Motivation
Motivation is fostered by having a common understanding of the goals, and a belief in that the team can pull it off together. Motivation results in team behavior.

Desire
Desire to collaborate is needed. Resistance towards collaboration could stem from many different reasons (power struggles, lack of incentives etc.). Lack of desire can ruin the entire project culture, and result in a failed project.

Capability
One needs to practice communicating with each other. Good communication skills are not something you are born with, but something you need to train to achieve.

Now, that is the five, they look simple enough but then come the art of massaging individuals into building the necessary level of these elements and deliver results in their teams. That is a whole other story.

Filed under: On changing the culture, On collaboration, On social media   |  1 Comment
Tags: collaboration, Social media