Collaboration (Business Social Networking)

Collaboration

Morten T. Hansen. Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results

(Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press, 2009)

April 11, 2023 [email protected] 2

• Collaborating in hostile territory

• Over-collaborating

• Overshooting the potential value – the synergy trap

• Underestimating the costs

• Misdiagnosing the problem (see barriers)

• Implementing the wrong solution (see barriers)

Bad Collaboration

Morten T. Hansen. Collaboration (Harvard Business Press, 2009)


• Collaboration defined:

– Cross-unit collaboration takes place when people from different units work

together in cross-unit teams on a common task or provide significant help to

each other.

– It can be joint work between units or a one-way collaboration, as when one

unit provides advice to another.

– In all cases, collaboration needs to involve people: swapping data in not

collaboration.

Disciplined Collaboration



• Three steps:

1. Evaluate opportunities for collaboration

2. Spot barriers to collaboration

3. Tailor solutions to tear down the barriers

Disciplined Collaboration



● The not-invented-here barrier

● The hoarding barrier

● The search barrier

● The transfer barrier

Barriers to Collaboration



The first barrier: Why “not invented here” happens.

Insular CultureCommunication mainly inside a group

Status GapDon’t want to cross status lines

Self-relianceShould fix your own problems

FearDo not want to reveal problems

Not-invented-here barrierPeople are unwilling to go outside their own unit toseek input from others



The second barrier: Why “people hoard” happens.

CompetitionCompetition with colleagues and units

Narrow incentivesRewards for own goals

Too busyNo time to help others

FearLoss of power if sharing knowledge

HoardingPeople are unwilling to help and share what they know



The third barrier: Why “search” is difficult.

Company sizeBig companies face search problems

Physical distanceDistance makes search difficult

Information overloadToo much information worsens search

Poverty of networksLack of links undermines search

Search problemPeople who look for information

and people cannot easily findthem



The fourth barrier: Why “transfer problems” happen.

Tacit knowledgeDifficult knowledge to transfer

No common frameDon’t know how to work together

Weak tiesNo strong relations to ease transfer

Transfer problemPeople are unable to transfer

knowledge easily from oneplace to another



PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + · · · + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))

Google, 1996


Highly explicit

Highly tacit

…a formula for “how to close a tough sales negotiation?”

Pick one…


BarrierLever 1:

UnificationLever 2:

T-Shaped Management

Lever 3Nimble

Networks

Not-invented-here +++ +++ +

Hoarding +++ +++ +

Search problems + +++

Transfer problems + +++

The barrier-to-solution map



Lever 1: Unify people


• Create a unifying goal– The goal must create a common fate– The goal must be simple and concrete– The goal must stir passion– The goal must put competition on the outside

• Create a core value of teamwork– Not “small teamwork”– Not “everybody but us” teamwork– Not teamwork “for its own sake”

• Create a language of collaboration• Don’t overdo it

– Individual accountability is essential


• You earn $40• Peter earns $40

• You earn $80• Peter pays $20

• You pay $20 • Peter earns $80

• You earn 0• Peter earns 0

The Community Game


70% - 30%

Cooperate

Cooperate

Defect

Defect

Peter’s Choice

Your Choice


Cooperate

Cooperate

Defect

Defect

Peter’s Choice

Your Choice

The Wall Street Game


30% - 70%

• You earn $40• Peter earns $40

• You earn $80• Peter pays $20

• You pay $20 • Peter earns $80

• You earn 0• Peter earns 0


Lever 2: cultivate T-shaped management


• Not lone stars and butterflies

• The power of two performances

– Managing the individual business unit

and communicating up the hierarchy

• The vertical of the “T”

– Engage in a variety of cross-unit

collaboration activities

• The crossbar of the “T”


Butterfly T-shaped

Laggard Lone star

High

Low

HighLow

Cross-companycontributions

Individual Performance




ButterflyPeople who work well

across the company but fail to do well in their own jobs

T-shaped

Laggard

Lone starIntolerant and impatient

High achievers have difficulty delegating and

collaborating

High

Low

HighLow

Cross-companycontributions

Individual Performance




30%Butterfly

20%T-shaped

20%Laggard

30%Lone star

12%Butterfly

65%T-shaped

5%Laggard

18%Lone star

Change levers• Fire• Recruit T• Promote T• Pay for T• Coach for T

Transforming a team into T-shaped

Before

After


Behavior vs. Attitude

Harvey Golub, AmEx, and the tetanus experiment


Lever 3: build nimble networks

• No bloated rolodexes

• Networking not always a good thing

• Identify opportunities, then capture them

– Not-invented here

– Search barrier

– Hoarding barrier

– Transfer barrier



Lever 3: build nimble networks

• Rules for identifying opportunities:

1. Build outward, not inward

2. Build diversity, not size

3. Build weak ties, not strong ones

4. Use bridges, not familiar faces

• Rules for capturing value:

5. Swarm the target, do not go it alone (swarming = informal persuasion)

6. Switch to strong ties, do not rely on weak ones

• Molotov cocktail = weak ties x complicated knowledge

• Easier transfer = strong ties x complicated knowledge

Become a networking “bridge”



Key activity Barrier lowered Network rules Effect

Identify Opportunities

Not-invented-here Rule 1: Build outward, not inward +

Search Rule 2: Build diversity, not sizeRule 3: Build bridges, don’t use familiar facesRule 4: Build weak ties, not strong

+++

Capture Value Hoarding Rule 5: Swarm target, don’t go it alone

+

Transfer Rule 6: Switch to strong, don’t rely on the weak

+++


Nimble network = identify opportunities x capture value• built outward• diverse• many weak ties• many bridges

• swarming targets• switching to strong ties



Becoming a collaborative leader

• Redefining success – from narrow agendas to bigger goals– Putting personal goals and interests second– Getting others to transcend their own agendas

• Involving others – from autocratic to inclusive decision making– Openness to people– Openness to alternatives– Openness to debate

• Being accountable – from blaming to taking responsibility – Assuming individual accountability– Holding others accountable– Tearing down personal barriers (to redefining goals, involving others, being

accountable)



“…but you have to learn that you make better decisions through collaboration.”

(John Chambers, longtime highly successful “command and control” CEO of Cisco)

“…and it’s also as you watch this be successful, you say, ‘Why didn’t I do that earlier?’”

finis



thank you


Barriers Survey question 1-100Not-invented-here 1. Even when they need help, our employees are not willing to

seek input from outside their organizational unit.

2. When faced with problems, employees in our unit strive to solve them by themselves without asking for help from outsiders

3. There is an attitude that people ought to fix their own problems and not rely on help from outside the unit.

Hoarding 4. Our people keep their expertise and information to themselves and do not want to share it with other units.

5. People in our unit are often reluctant to help colleagues in other parts of the organization.

6. Our employees seldom return phone calls and e-mails when asked for help from people outside our unit

Search problems 7. Our employees often complain about the difficulty of locating employees in other units who have the information and expertise they need8. Experts in our company are very difficult to find.

9. Employees have great difficulties finding information and documents they need in the company’s databases.

Transfer problems 10. Our employees have not learned to work together effectively across organizational units to transfer tacit knowledge.

11. Employees from different organizational units are not used to working together and find it hard to do so.

12. Our employees find it difficult to work across units to transfer complex technologies and best practices.

Median 160 + 100 + 135 + 168 = 563 / sample of 107 companies
