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Collaboration Challenges

 September 28, 2004

"While service organizations recognize the value of collaboration, it does come with a cost.  Problems exist both for the individual and the organization.

Following are some guidelines about when to collaborate:

• When broader skills, knowledge, and expertise are needed;
• When the time to develop the skills is greater than the teams can spend;
• When tasks are interdependent and people must collaborate to complete them;
• When the work can be accomplished faster with more people working together;
• When both sharing and challenging ideas are valued;
• When the successful implementation depends on everyone's commitment;
• When multiple teams need to share resources to achieve alignment and coordination; and

• When innovation is dependent on a shared understanding of work and builds on multiple perspectives (Beyerlin, Freedman, McGee & Moran, 2003, p.34)."

Reference:  Beyerlein, M.M., Freedman, S., McGee, C., & Moran, L. (2003).  Beyond teams: building the collaborative organization.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

What guidelines do you follow when collaborating with others?

 Beyond Teams is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center.  A complete listing of all the Leadership Center's resources is available on our website http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu/

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Created: 2008-04-02, Updated: 2009-10-29