Working Together

Lomography Collaboration, enshahdi, Flickr

I’m in a series highlighting 9 Effective Servant Leadership Practices. Servant leadership is not just a good idea. It works! The 9 effective leadership practices highlighted in this series capture core leadership dimensions that are correlated with effectiveness in the team context.

The past two weeks I highlighted the first two practices—Modeling what Matters and Engaging in Honest Self-Evaluation. This week, we turn to the third practice—Fostering Collaboration.

Practice 3: Fostering Collaboration

Dwight D. Eisenhower is attributed with saying “It is better to have one person working with you than three people working for you.” Such logic is at the heart of collaboration, and effective leaders prioritize fostering collaboration in their teams and organizations. In contrast to overly competitive leadership agendas, this leadership behavior—Fostering Collaboration—highlights the importance of leaders encouraging followers to work together over competing against one another in the organizational environment.

Collaboration and Complexity

Noting the importance of fostering collaboration, one research participant argues that, “solutions to complex problems today often require a collaborative engagement with others, the collective of which will generate the best solution.” Another participant acknowledges that no one person can meet the demands placed on leadership, and thus “collaboration allows a leader to expand the leadership resources brought into the leadership process.”

The Priority of Authentic Collaboration

Providing a key argument for viewing this practice as part of beginning with authentic leaders, one participant in my study noted the danger of collaborative gestures coming across as token invitations for follower participation. When a leader “just wants to appear like he/she is collaborating, but doesn’t really care about input from others,” such inauthentic collaborative gestures become toxic for leader-follower relationships and the broader organizational culture. However, when genuine respect for followers is blended with a listening posture, a suspension of leader predispositions, and a willingness to give credit to others and embrace solutions that come from others, there is great power in leaders working with followers on genuinely collaborative agendas.

Going Far Together

There is an African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Those who want to go far in leadership enterprises recognize the priority of a collaborative environment.

How are you doing at fostering collaboration in your sphere of influence? Do you recognize the priority of working together in order to go far? Take the next step in fostering collaboration in your work as a leader!

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Related Posts for the 9 Effective Leadership Practices:

Cluster One — Beginning with Authentic Leaders

Practice 1: Modeling what Matters

Practice 2: Engaging in Honest Self-Evaluation

Practice 3: Fostering Collaboration

Cluster Two — Understanding the Priority of People

Practice 4: Valuing and Appreciating

Practice 5: Creating a Place for Individuality

Practice 6: Understanding Relational Skills

Cluster Three — Helping Followers Navigate toward Effectiveness

Practice 7: Communicating with Clarity

Practice 8: Supporting and Resourcing

Practice 9: Providing Accountability

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Note: For those wanting to dig a bit deeper, please check out my article entitled “A Model for Effective Servant Leadership Practice.”

Collaboration, by AJC1, Flickr

In a previous post I focused on the importance of removing the “I’s” from teams. Certainly there are important barriers to effective teamwork that need to be addressed, but pressing through such barriers is worth the effort. Here is a quick overview of the benefits, bottom line, and basics of collaboration.

The Benefits of Collaboration

Engaging a related topic to teamwork—collaboration—a recent article in the Harvard Business Review highlights benefits to collaboration in the professional service sector. In this article, Heidi Gardner identifies collaborative work across expertise boundaries as a key path for addressing complex issues and increasing overall profitability. In this study, collaborative models were associated with increased margins, increased client loyalty, and increased competitive edge.

The Bottom Line of Collaboration

Emphasizing this point, Gardner writes: “For a firm, the financial benefits of multidisciplinary collaboration are unambiguous. Simply put, the more disciplines that are involved in a client engagement, the greater the annual average revenue the client generates.” Although there is a learning curve in moving toward collaborative practices, Gardner reminds readers that on this front “perseverance pays off.”

Although I see great value in the use of teams on multiple level, it is helpful to note that the collaborative edge of team practice also proves to be effective from an economic perspective.

The Basics of Collaboration

Gardner provides a few specific recommendations for those seeking to increase their use of collaboration.

Don’t squeeze your team members “…be fair to the partners you invite onto your team.”
Deliver what you committed to on time, without reminders.
Communicate openly.

While there are many factors that contribute to effective collaboration, these are helpful reminders. I appreciate the affirmation of collaborative practice in this piece by Gardner.

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How are you tapping in to the benefits, bottom line, and basics of collaboration in your work with others?