A recent report revealed “of companies that deployed collaboration tools, 72% stated that they experienced better business performance compared to only 46% of companies that did not deploy them.” This included improved R&D, sales, and profit growth. So where are all the stories of incredible collaborative business leaders?
Organizations need their own Ted Kennedys. When Ted Kennedy first ran for Senate he was discouraged by his family, who didn’t think their black sheep could win. Between his drinking, womanizing, and 6 years to complete college he certainly wasn’t the archetype of a Kennedy. Ted Kennedy wasn’t a heroic leader like his older brothers, or in business world Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca, or Steve Jobs. Despite that Ted Kennedy became one of the most influential senators of all time. In a body notorious for gridlock, he got things done. He did this by being a strategist, a negotiator, and a collaborator who could find middle ground; collaborating and bringing separate parties to the table in order to deliver.
A recent Harvard Business study uncovered the words of a finance manager in a large consumer products company, whose efforts to improve his business team’s profit margins were repeatedly undercut by people in the sales department:
“I learned that pricing for one of our key accounts has already been confirmed to the customer, without any prior approval or review. […] It turns out that the pricing offered is [so low that] we will be losing money on this account.”
We saw this sort of thing happening repeatedly to the business teams of this company, because salespeople were rewarded only on total revenue, while the business teams were judged on profit.
The General Manager and his team seemed not to realize that these disparate goals were a fundamental problem — both for the division’s performance and for employee inner work life.
This is the ideal situation for someone like Ted Kennedy who can build consensus between the two sides. As outsiders we see the problem logically, but when you are immersed in this it has the potential to be a nasty battle of corporate politics and “what’s in it for me.”
I’ve seen this in career driven people as well. A driven, capable senior manager (lets call him JD) had build his career as a defender of “his” people. He built a strong “us vs. the executive” story, and it served him well. Until he made that final move to the executive table. Suddenly JD was the person he spent his career rallying against. His staff expected sudden and abrupt changes, but there was no was JD could deliver on what he built as his story. He was left needing to build relationships with the other executives to get things done, but they were not exactly open after years of “David vs. Goliath.” If JD had been more collaborative earlier, and put forward a story of everyone working towards the same goals, he would be far less stressed than the last time I saw him.
Why, despite our knowledge of its effectiveness, do we not celebrate those who are successful at collaborating? I firmly believe the lack of collaborative leaders is directly tied to our love of the heroic leader. They are great stories, but overly simplify business success. What we really need to see are more books, articles, and video clips discussing examples of past great collaborators in business. Many great leadership programs are stressing these skills, so hopefully that too will begin to drive changes.
How about you? When you get into a heated discussion do you aim for the middle ground? Do you try to see the commonalities in your positions? Or do you instinctively go for “the win” ?
Let me know your thoughts on collaboration within organizations.