What is Smarter Collaboration?

Smarter collaboration is a hyper-intentional way of starting with a problem or opportunity, then dissecting it to figure out exactly who should be working on it, when, and for what inputs. But it’s not enough to bring together people with diverse expertise and perspectives—they must also be empowered to contribute.

 

A decade-plus of research at Harvard and with hundreds of organizations globally shows that collaborating smarter consistently boosts innovation, generates higher revenues and profit, strengthens customer/client relationships, and attracts and retains better talent. It also saves times, lowers risks, and improves people's health and wellbeing.

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When talking about smarter collaboration, it helps to understand what it's not. Smarter collaboration is not:

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• Collegiality

• Delegation

• Group hugs

• Throwing a team at every issue

• Spreading underrepresented groups across every team in the name of diversity

• Collaborating with mini-me's

• A soft skill

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But smarter collaboration is:

 

• Starting with the end in mind (and a means to an end)

• An increasingly vital way to solve VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) problems

• Bridging silos both in and outside your organization

• Dependent on including diverse expertise and perspectives 

• Deliberate and empowering 

• Necessary for leaders and contributors alike

• A strategic imperative

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In Smarter Collaboration: A New Approach to Breaking Down Barriers and Transforming Work, we define smarter collaboration, lay out the business and talent case for working this way, and explain how to achieve it - leveraging data, case studies, and complementary management research. We also explore the most common collaboration traps in organizations - including diversity without inclusion, over-commitment, and poor collaboration during times of stress and pressure.