Are Cooperation & Collaboration The Same?

Let's Stop Confusing Cooperation and Teamwork with Collaboration

Curated from the blog: Jess Lynn Stoner +Jesse Lyn Stoner

Often the words collaboration, coordination, and cooperation are used to describe effective teamwork. But they are not the same, and when we use these words interchangeably, we dilute their meaning and diminish the potential for creating powerful, collaborative environments.

Collaboration has been a big word in the news lately, most recently due to Marissa Mayer’s explanation of her decision to bring Yahoo employees back to the office: “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side.”

Mayer’s belief that we work together better when we have real relationships, and that it is easier to build relationships when you have face-to-face contact is not unfounded. Coordination and cooperation is essential for effective and efficient work accomplishment, and some research supports the notion that some face-to-face time makes a big difference.

Mayer’s decision might create better teamwork – cooperation, communication and coordination – but it won’t create collaboration unless she is intentional about creating a collaborative culture.

Definitions.

Collaboration is working together to create something new in support of a shared vision. The key points are that is is not an individual effort, something new is created, and that the glue is the shared vision.

Coordination is sharing information and resources so that each party can accomplish their part in support of a mutual objective. It is about teamwork in implementation. Not creating something new.

Cooperation is important in networks where individuals exchange relevant information and resources in support of each other’s goals, rather than a shared goal. Something new may be achieved as a result, but it arises from the individual, not from a collective team effort.

All three of these are important. All three are aspects of teamwork. But they are not the same!

We can find examples of effective teamwork in all types of environments – sports, military, and even historically in politics (e.g. Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet). All high performance teams have common characteristics. But depending on their purpose and intent, they might rely more on coordination or cooperation than on collaboration.

When is Collaboration Important?

In a network environment, where there is not interdependence, collaboration is not essential to the creative process. Through cooperative sharing of information and resources, creativity emerges through individuals and is hopefully recognized and supported.

However in an interdependent organization, collaboration is the bedrock of creative solutions and innovation. If Yahoo is to reinvent itself, collaboration will be essential.

Collaboration Will Not Occur By Decree.

Can collaboration occur at a distance? Absolutely, IF (and this is a big IF) leaders are intentional about building collaborative environments, model collaborative leadership practices, and create opportunities to bring people together for occasional face-to-face conversations.

Collaborative leadership is based on respect, trust and the wise use of power. Leaders must be willing to let go of control. Collaboration does not naturally occur in traditional top-down, control-oriented hierarchical environments.

People need the freedom to exercise their own judgment. There has to be room for experimentation, failure and learning from mistakes. And there needs to be an opportunity for people to think together, valuing each other’s perspective and contributions, in order for creative new ideas to emerge.

Source link: http://seapointcenter.com/cooperation-teamwork-and-collaboration/
Lynn's latest book is Full Steam Ahead - click here to learn more

Here's a great resource to easily implement better team collaboration, productivity and outcomes: The 1% Edge - Power Strategies To Increase Your Management Effectiveness | on Kindle - The Workbook

Leading By The Incompetent - Should I Leave?

 (Image courtesy of Flickr user JD Hancock)

I ran across this article that I wanted to post. Warning..the language is a bit harsh.  But it really makes the point and emphasizes the point I want to make:

Career Advice: Leaving is a Career Management Strategy

Source: (MoneyWatch)  COMMENTARY You hear it all the time: "He's completely clueless." "What in the world were they thinking?" "That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard." And when you hear it coming out of your own mouth, that means you're having an "idiot boss" moment and are probably heading for the margaritas, the LinkedIn (LNKD) jobs page, or both.

It's rough when your boss is an idiot. Even worse is when the CEO is an idiot. And sometimes the idiocy propagates throughout the entire management team like a contagious superbug.

A friend of mine is jumping ship from a once-great company that's now run by morons. The company used to have a market cap of $50 billion. Now it's worth about one tenth of 1 percent of that. When my friend actually pondered if he should quit the Popsicle stand for a better position at an awesome, growing company, I thought, "OMG, the idiocy's gotten to him too!"

I have those idiot boss moments all the time. No, I don't really have a boss these days, but now it's even worse because I'm always hearing and writing about executives and boards of companies that make the same dumb mistakes over and over. And some of them are pretty hard to believe.

10 reasons why smart people do dumb things
3 types of bosses that should be fired
7 tips to manage your boss -- and yourself

Over the past year alone, executives of tech giant HP (HPQ) and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM) couldn't have done a better job of driving their companies off a cliff if they'd cut the break lines and floored the accelerator pedals themselves.

RIM's co-CEOs recently stepped down, replacing themselves with a guy who plans to keep things more or less status quo. Investors, who lost about $70 billion over the past three years or so, weren't too happy about that. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Yeah, it's not too bright, either.

Yahoo's (YHOO) corporate color is purple. Company founders Jerry Yang and David Filo thought that was the color of creativity and innovation. After five years of mega screw-ups and gross mismanagement, I'm beginning to wonder if somebody dropped a batch of magic mushrooms into the purple paint at company headquarters. I don't think shareholders would be one bit surprised to learn that Smiley here, from Yahoo's corporate values page, is actually running the show.

Enough with the fun and games; let's get serious about what you should do when you have those idiot boss moments. Here's a hint: it's not necessarily all bad; you have more choices than you think.

Are you sure it's not you? In the case of my friend's company, as well as Yahoo, RIM and HP, there is definitely something screwy going on with the leaders of those companies. But that's not always the case. Sometimes we lash out at our bosses because we're frustrated with ourselves, jealous that someone else got the promotion, or angry that we're not doing better than we are. Sometimes we're looking for a fall guy or someone to demonize because it's too painful to look in the mirror. Not that I'm a shrink or anything, but it's often the case, nevertheless.

Cut them some slack. To be fair, most employees aren't aware of everything that goes on behind closed doors and exactly why decisions they may think are stupid are actually made. And even if they are dumb, bosses are human too, which means they're allowed to make mistakes. Nevertheless, it's frustrating when those mistakes give you a massive headache or a shrinking bank account. In that case, you still have three more choices.

Say something to someone. Not that I'm saying you should, but before you drink yourself into oblivion, drive yourself nuts, or throw in the towel and move to a deserted island, you might consider actually saying something to your boss or someone in the chain of command. Who knows? They might actually appreciate the feedback. Maybe you know something they haven't thought of. Or maybe they'll label you a troublemaker and fire you on the spot. I'd think long and hard about it, but in any case, it's an option.

Head for the bar. Or better still, the gym. When you're stressed out, burned out, or just plain mad at the world for sticking you with a bunch of idiots for managers, it always helps to remind yourself that life is more than your job. So, whatever works for you to push the reset button and get some perspective, do that -- you'll feel better. And keep doing it over and over until you can't take it anymore. Then you're down to the last option.

Head for the hills. The reason why you should never let any of this stuff really get to you, ruin your day, or ruin your life, is because you live in a free country. And while it's a really tough job market, you can always quit and do your own thing or, in time, find another job. Sometimes even committing in your head to get the heck out as soon as you can and beginning the search process is enough to make you feel better. Really.

Those are my five ideas for what to do about an idiot boss. If you've got a better idea, I'm sure we'd love to hear it. Image courtesy of Flickr user JD Hancock.

Is U.S. Management the Best in the World?

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Success TV

Four prestigious schools and one consulting firm: Harvard Business School, London School of Economics, McKinsey & Company, and Stanford say, “Yes.” They spent ten years studying a range of management practices in 10,000 firms in 20 countries to generate an overall management score.

 Please post your comments....what's been your view and experience?
JoAnn

Read the rest here...http://site.successtelevision.biz/leadershipskills/index.php/uncategorized/is-u-s-management-the-best-in-the-world/

Fundamentals of Effective Management

Delivered in Chicago several years ago...it's a candid and informational look at a few essentials to effective management.

For information on additional topics for keynotes and training seminars, go to: http://www.joanncorley.com/Topics.html

The No. 1 Reason Why Good Managers Fail to Become Great

By Sean Silverthorne | December 23, 2010

Most organizations have only a few great managers. This is a sad state of affairs since many more managers are smart, capable, and could be much better than they are now.

So what’s stopping this improvement?The short answer: the managers themselves. Good managers fail to work hard enough to improve themselves. They reach a certain level of proficiency — good — and stop there, according to Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill and her collaborator Kent Lineback.

“Managers rarely ask themselves, ‘How good am I?’ and ‘Do I need to be better?’ unless they’re shocked into it. When did you last ask those questions?” they ask in the latest issue of Harvard Business Review.

What are your first steps toward improvement? Start with a clear realization of what managers do, namely that they are responsible for the performance of a group of people. This work is achieved through exerting influence that “makes a difference not only in what they do but also in the thoughts and feelings that drive their actions,” write Hill and Lineback.

Once you understand what you do, the authors offer some great methods for managing yourself, your network and your team. I especially liked their section on what you can do right now (Prep, Do, Review) to improve performance. Read the full article Are You a Good Boss — or a Great One? on HBR.org. The authors also have a new book, Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader

Brazil Has Elected It's First Female President

This is certainly worth a mention.  She will be presiding over the 6th largest economy in the world.
Click here to read her story!
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/ex-guerrilla-to-be-brazils-first-female-president/19696856?icid=main|main|dl1|sec4_lnk1|181563

The Struggle and Need for Innovation - Is it Only Lip Service?

I received the following trends alert related to the role of innovation in our current corporate life. By the way, this is a worthwhile thing to subscribe to!

The point of this post is my comments after the alert. Please read!

Herman Trend Alert: Innovation and Entrepreneurship February 24, 2010

For years now, we have seen a growing trend towards "Innovation" being a leading
focus for corporations worldwide. A new book from Robert C. Wolcott and Michael
Lippitz, "Grow from Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation"
(McGraw-Hill 2010), provides a roadmap for effectively creating innovation in
organizations.

Wolcott is the founder and executive director of the Kellogg Innovation Network
(KIN), "a unique forum for select executives and innovation managers to meet and
discuss internal and industry-wide challenges, business growth, risks, and
successful strategies, with academics from the Kellogg School of Management".

Discussed in the book, "Innovation Radar" (IR) grew out of an understanding that
"innovation is about more than just products and technology". Companies can
innovate in any area. Using IR, executives look at 12 dimensions of innovation;
the chart represents all of the activities with which companies can add value.

The valuable part of IR is that it provides a bridge between strategy and
innovation and gives executives the opportunity to have all of their questions
and answers (hopefully) before they begin the strategic process.

Wolcott suggests that entrepreneurs. . ."Be clear about their objectives. Be
clear about their questions. Recognize that "we [often] only see the things for
which we are looking".

The authors also talk about some corporate initiatives that promote innovation,
like IBM's "Global Innovation Outlook" programs and "Innovation Jams". In these
unique in-person and online events, IBM engages people from a wide variety of
enterprises to solve global challenges facing humanity.

In "Saving America: The Generativity Solution" by Robert R. Carkhuff (HRD Press
2010). Moving past any obvious political overtones, Carkhuff believes that the
lack of economic freedom hamstrings entrepreneurship. Defining Generativity as
"the capacity to generate a new idea", the author also provides an organized
approach to innovation. “The Generativity Solution” is the application of
"generativity" to all areas and levels of human endeavor: individuals,
organizations, and all components of the community, culture, and economy. And
that is only the beginning.

Expect innovation to become increasingly important, as the nations of the world
look for answers. Wolcott is right: "Corporate entrepreneurship in all of its
forms is the strategic answer to the challenge of economic growth."
************************************************************************************
MY COMMENTS:
Yes in fact, innovation is now more than ever critical as our economic engine sputters along. And yet, here in lies the concern and the reality check. As someone who comes in contact with thousands of managers and team members across North America each year, here is what I've discovered is the reality.

Conformity is the desired behavior! Many people in management and leadership positions have a very low tolerance for diversity and difference and these elements are essential components to innovation.

Many in the very positions who have the power to champion and foster the very innovation needed don't have the emotional intelligence or ego management to create and support the environment necessary for the very thing needed to occur!

I suggest we partner the concept of innovation with the fostering of divergent and contrary thinking. Can we as leaders in the business community handle it? We'll need it to move our economy, businesses, and country forward.

Coaching Question: What is your tolerance for people who are dramtically different from you in every way. How do you feel or handle when people disagree with your position in a definitive and dramatic way?

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The Key To Professional Success - Be People Wise

This blog is underwritten by Management-in-Minutes, a portable learning resource for the busy professional that uses "laser learning" to accelerate building a knowledge base. The lessons are short (usually 2-4 minutes) and on each lesson page there is an audio clip with it's text version and an mp3 download link for portability.

Every so often a lesson will be posted in this blog for you to sample. This lesson is in the Sample Library, which you can access here: Sample Lessons

The Lesson: How People Operate
Would you like one of the best professional success tips? A key to success that will transcend any generation? Learn how and why people operate the way they do. The easiest way to lay a foundation for that knowledge is through the use of personality or temperament profiles....read on.

 

How People Operate

Audio Lesson –  Duration: 3 mins. 20 secs.

1. Double click arrow to LISTEN NOW! 

2.  Read along with the transcript below or print and read for later.

3.  Right click the MP3 FILE link MP3 to download and "save as"

     to your hard drive for continuous listening or to transfer to your mobile device.

4.  For additional lessons use the Search Box (top left) or the Download Library (top right).

 

---

 

 Transcript 

How People Operate

WC: 408

Read time: 1-2 mins.

 

I remember when I got a new car several years ago and it had many new gadgets and functions I was not familiar with. For the first time in my adult life, I actually pulled out an owner’s manual for a car. I needed to learn how to operate every aspect of this vehicle to experience its full potential.

 

You know that really is the same when it comes to managers and their teams. I wish that when someone was promoted to management, they received a book entitled – How People Operate 101. Because in reality, that’s what managers are doing - operating people in the context of a process to obtain an outcome that results in profit for a company.

 

Yet, the majority of newly promoted managers receive little to no training and are thrown out to fin for themselves…(kinda like those parents who want to teach their kids how to swim and just throw them in the water and say, “Now…swim!”)

 

Knowing how people operate: what makes them tick, how they are wired, what motivates them, what skills they possess and how to engage them is essential to the effectiveness of a manager. That effectiveness directly impacts the bottom line of a company and this is where there seems to be what I call – THE BIG DISCONNECT….the very thing that impacts the profits of a company is the very thing companies spend very little time and money investing in.

 

So for those of you managers, who already feeling the pain of resulting from a lack of knowledge in this area, here’s what I recommend. Step 1 in how people operate 101 is to use a temperament or personality profile. There are great tools on the market that are easy to use.   Theses profiles provide a very useful framework to understanding people in the ways I listed above.

 

Here are some recommended resources:

Dr. Keirsey – book: Please Understand Me

The DISC Profile

Tony Alessandra - book: People Smart

Both books can be obtained at Barnes & Noble, Amazon…etc.

 

I believe having a working intimated knowledge of a personality profile is essential to a manager’s knowledge base.

 

You know many people talk about diversity training in our work cultures. I believe that in that context the single most important diversity issue today is not necessarily race or ethnicity…it is personality differences, of which employees get the least amount of training. Managers, let’s start with you!

  

 

 

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Solution to Less Women in the Sciences - Have Female Professors

In my previous post regarding the brain drain. There was a portion of the post that addressed our kids interest in math and science.

Now add to that another dimension...how this trend impacts women in business leadership - the ripple effect of women under represented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. There is a gap in executive leadership, particularly in these fields.

That dilemma is discussed in this incredibly interesting article that addresses a study about leadership succession.
Title: A Formula for Success - Want more women to study science? Hire more female professors.

So let me add to my previous suggestion of having teachers who are able to stir interest and continued curiosity. Looks as if we need a strategic effort to nurture and recruit more female professors in higher education as well.

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A Leadership Misstep? - Obama & Fox News

A Leadership Misstep?
No matter how one characterized the news validity of Fox, here was a great opportunity to show a fresh model of leadership. In truth Obama is a leader of ALL the citizens whether they voted for him or not. Leadership is rising above the petty and in this case being willing to work with any group that disagrees or even misrepresents...and even more so to be an available and ready presence to those who are exceptionally vocal. That to me shows courage, grace and true leadership.


Consider leadership in this way...."no matter how you are, I will be this way."  You are driven by your own operating philosophy.  Strong leadership is not disturbed by challenging thought or even irrational thought.  You stand your grown, centered in your own knowing.


This is not to say the President Obama has not done this; however, what his coming from "his house" is not being represented as such as therefore he is being seen that way....at least by this observer.
To follow is the latest on the "saga" as picked up from Digg: http://digg.com/d318BD1

Management Tips - #1 - Develop the Leadership Edge

One of the things I love about blogging is valuable information can be delivered in a short format like my Management-in-Minutes portable learning resource for busy professionals. The lessons are in small bites....(I call it "lazer, high-impact learning"). The duration is usually 2-4 minutes. Short can be high-impact and deliver significant value. To check this out, you can go this link to sample first hand: Sample Lessons

With that in mind, I will posting what I call Management Power Tips and Professional Power tips (e.g. time management, productivity..etc.) in a variety of series.  All of the tips posted are pieces of the coaching and management training seminars I conduct, as well as from my professional seminars. If the content of any of the tips appeals to you and you're in a position to bring someone into your organization or refer, you may want to consider one of my training seminars.  To find out more about that, you can do directly to my website: www.joanncorley.com.

One final note, many of the tips will conclude with the Action Prompt - this is the coaching component.  Keep in mind...it's not so much what you know, but what you do with what you know that really counts.

THE LEADERSHIP EDGE – BE INSPIRING
Here’s a quality greatly overlooked and yet sorely needed in the workplace! This quality is sure to give you the leadership edge.

Be Inspiring! I love this word. Inspiring someone or a group of people is special in that inspiration touches many parts of a person and like our previous power tip… you don’t need an official leadership title to be this way. 

Consider this:
When someone is inspired their vision or how they see things is impacted, changing the way someone sees something removes blocks that might have impeded them from taking action up until that point.

Inspiration typically involves an expression of energy and that’s contagious! Don’t you feel more energized when you’re around an energized person?

Finally, and I think of significant importance, inspiration touches the spirit!  The human spirit, I believe, is at the heart of a person’s motivation.  Infuse a person’s spirit with inspiration and every part of them is engaged to move toward the outcome.

You as a team member or manager can get so much mileage out of the quality of being inspiring.  It’s magnetic, memorable and a quality worth cultivating!

Action: Take some time to think about this and consider how to practically add inspiration into how you interact with others as well as how to infuse it into your team culture.
Posted by: JoAnn Corley, Management Coach & Advisor

Innovation and Leadership - SpaceShipOne

Confidence in Nonsense - What Innovators can Learn from SpaceShipOne 

Though this is somewhat old news...some news is worth repeating!

"Research should be defined as doing something where half the people who know about it, thinks it's impossible. When there's a true breakthrough, you can always go back to period in time when people said "that's impossible'. That means a true creative researcher needs to have 'Confidence in Nonsense'". - Burt Rutan, SpaceShipOne.

The Mohave Desert is the birthplace of the sonic boom and the X15. And now the mantle of innovation rests on the shoulders of Burt Rutan of SpaceShipOne. Only two winged craft have gone into space, the X15 and the space shuttle. Both took decades to develop and were incredibly expensive programs to develop. Neither have been able to bring the cost of spaceflight down so economically such that regular people like you and me can travel into space, either for business or pleasure. And yet, in September 2004, SpaceShipOne broke all the rules, not once but twice, in a craft that was flown by wire by a human (not computer controlled) and was fuelled by laughing gas and old tires.

So what can would-be innovators learn from SpaceShipOne's experience? Firstly let's consider Burt Rutan, the designer and leader of the team. Rutan says "There are less than 500 people who have flown in space in 40 years. People believe that government organizations are working on ways to get the rest of us into space, but they are not. Unless guys like me do this, it will not get done, period."

And so as far back as 1994, Burt started putting pen to paper and dreaming up new and original ways that spaceflight could be accomplished on the cheap. But it was not until 2001 when Paul Allen invested, that Burt really got serious about going after the Ansari X prize and developing SpaceShipOne. Putting together a small team of very smart people, where everyone was responsible for something critical. But elite doesn't mean lots of experience. Matt Steimetz, a young bright guy who worked on the construction of the craft says, "Most companies would say you're just a kid out of college and you don't have enough experience to work on a spaceship, here they just give you a lot of responsibility and say we'll see how you do." Of course, one could argue that with so few spaceships in the world, who would have the experience?

Using materials that were cheap and abundantly available was most important to the team. The fuel composed of nitrous oxide and rubber (aka laughing gas and old tires) is highly economical, compared to the thousands of pounds of liquid oxygen consumed by the space shuttle, let alone its solid rocket boosters. The construction of the craft was based on airplane kit designs, using fiberglass and other lightweight materials to keep both weight and cost down. And yet, the design is so unique. Part of the space shuttle's ongoing cost are the thermal ceramic tiles on its underside, which protects it from the immense heat of reentry. Instead Rutan designed a wing structure that 'feathers' by 90 degrees, slowing the descent of the craft so that tiles are unnecessary. Revolutionary.

And so armed with his small team and two craft (one to lift SpaceShipOne part way into the sky, that is a design accomplishment in itself) Rutan has accomplished the seemingly impossible. Jim Tighe, the Chief Aerodynamicist of SpaceShipOne says, "Nowadays we place very little emphasis on what an individual can do, I hope this shows people that to achieve something great, you don't need to be a large multinational corporation or large governments needing international cooperation with the US, Russia and Japan. You don't need millions of people to do something fantastic. Hopefully today we have showed that 20 people can do something fantastic - just look what we did with 20 people in 3 years."

An extraordinary accomplishment. So what can this world's would-be innovators learn from SpaceShipOne's experience? Here are some key points:

1) Dare to Dream and have a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) - why not? Even if you have to take tiny steps to getting there, you are still on the path to achieving what you want.
2) Do have the best team possible, and trust your team members to deliver.
3) Don't be limited by the way things have been done before. Question everything.
4) You don't need unlimited resources to get things done, just a small group of people who really want to make a difference.
5) Go back to the drawing board. Approach the problem many different ways. Redefine the problem and follow the sequence of events that cause the problem. Perhaps you can affect the root cause earlier in the chain, so the problem doesn't even occur.

Burt Rutan's hero is Werner von Braun for his pioneering work in rocketry. Someone asked Werner von Braun once, "What is the most difficult thing about going to the moon?" He replied, "The will to do it". Burt adds, "The technology isn't an issue, it's the way people think about Space." For Burt, this is not an end, just a very good beginning.

Thanks Burt, for your 'confidence in nonsense.' And here's to all you innovators out there thinking at 337,500 feet.

 

Tuesday, October 26, 2004