A Collaborative Perspective
A perspective is a lens on the world. Our perspective is collaboration. It is how complex problems are solved and important work gets done.
When collaboration breaks down work stops and problems mount.
It needn’t be this way.
In collaboration, one gets what one wants by helping others achieve their desired outcomes. Facilitating this exchange of value are "relationship currencies" -- the insight, access, knowledge, and physical resources of one party, which another can only tap into because a collaborative relationship exists.
CEOs believe collaboration is absolutely critical, but there is a problem: Although collaborative aspirations were high, actual implementation was dramatically lower. Citing a lack of the skills and expertise needed to partner externally, many CEOs refer to partnering as ‘theoretically easy’ but ‘practically hard to do.’
- IBM Global Services
Global Study of 765 CEOs
Collaborative Networks are the Organization
Innovation and growth occur through collaborative networks.
"Collaborate or perish." –Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Collaboration isn’t always the right approach. Most complex problems can only be solved through the purposefully leveraged resources of a collaborative network
- Developing new energy technologies
- Creating life-saving therapies that combat disease
- Growing national economies
- Solving societal issues such as education, poverty, and government reform
Collaborative networks take many shapes. Joint ventures, strategic alliances, public-private partnerships, and cross-functional teams are common network structures. Working in networks is challenging. When organizations work together in a collaborative manner, there may be thousands of people interacting with one another. If these individuals aren’t skilled in functioning, communicating, and sharing ideas with their counterparts from partner organizations, they may inadvertently contribute to a breakdown in relationship. When that happens, objectives are not achieved and growth potential is not realized.
For organizations to be successful they must grasp the importance of collaboration on the individual level. Often, employees consider it a punishment to be assigned to a team working with a partner because of how much harder it can be to get work done. The challenge is magnified when people have to interact with multiple partners with whom there are different legal relationships, objectives, and work processes.
Collaborative network management rises to this challenge by tailoring and applying alliance management techniques to all network participants, based on the degree to which collaboration is advantageous for achieving their strategic objectives.
Few organizations are truly skilled at collaborating at every level; however, more and more are realizing that they must be. The alliance management profession is ready to help collaborative partners to meet their business needs and transformation their organizations into collaborative networks.
