Internal Collaboration: Good or Bad?

Universally, internal collaboration is required by every organization. According to Morten T. Hansen, in the Harvard Business Review Collaboration on Collaborating, leaders are viewing this collaboration as a good sign of togetherness between teams.

But, surprisingly, through Hansen’s research it yielded the contrast. This happens because many times, internal collaboration results in a job/project taking longer times to finish. So many things to do, from announcing the internal recruitment, selecting the ‘dream team’, briefing, before the team actually works on the required task. Yet indeed, internal collaboration has the potential to unleash innovation within the organization and boost up the spirit among team members.

So, do our organizations need internal collaboration? Will it be valuable that means good or even less-valued that means bad? Should we really do collaboration on an internal scale?

Bad Internal Collaboration

Collaboration can be wrong if the effort in which it is used is not equal to the winning results. It means, what is expected at the beginning becomes useless or even destroys the values. Leaders, in order to minimize this “failure” should train and lead their cross-unit people to do well, proven by knowing when not to collaborate.

Here are the 5 (five) signs that collaboration can be wrong :

  • Not know what collaboration aims to reach
  • People involved have no ideas what to do
  • Leaders doesn’t prepare their people to collaborate in a group
  • Requires too much efforts and costs
  • Not keep the organization values in mind

Good Internal Collaboration

It is a common belief that what is prepared and started well will end in good results, though. So, if we want the winning results in collaboration, as the leader, we should teach and prepare people to give their best without being enforced. Internal collaboration that ruins smooth and good will be impacted in positive ways.

Here are 5 (five) benefits we can gain if collaboration in internal scale is well-proven :

  • Anyone internally can take part in the collaboration
  • Ideas-gathered is more beneficial for internal
  • Will have some cross-experiences
  • Cross-unit communities can be facilitated
  • More focused on developing the internal values

Leaders, in every unit of an organization, may understand internal collaboration as a challenge in growing their people. Through that teamwork, both the organization and its members are usually beneficial by deducing good results.

But, we must see that on the other hand, collaboration could destroy an organization’s values without us knowing. How it would be? That depends on the situation you encounter. In that case, you ought to understand and be ready for any consequences you likely to face. But you can minimize the risks of giving a major flaw by consolidate others together and communicate thoroughly. So, it made clear that People Development still have a strong essence in company

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Daniel V. Lie
President/Global Chief Executive

Daniel is a very prominent figure in Indonesia's digital learning sector.

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