feature | COLLABORATIVE WORKING
COLLABORATIVEWORKING
from ivory towers to speed dating
As we respond to perpetually increasing pressures associated with
rapid technological advances, shortened product, service life cycles, and a constantly-evolving regulatory and political context, the need for diversity and collaboration has never been more acute. Organisations
are traditionally steeped in internal, complex power dynamics, but in an era where being a collaborative organisation is a key differentiator in future competitiveness, collaboration with strategically-compatible, third-party businesses will inevitably increase.
ARTICLE BY KATE COOPER, HEAD OF RESEARCH, POLICY AND STANDARDS - THE INSTITUTE OF LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT
Technically-astute, long serving, self-assured and dynamic, these have been the typical characteristics traditionally associated with leadership. It’s only relatively recently that we have counted the increasing importance of mindfulness and the capacity to collaborate as being essential for leading people in the 21st century. As times have changed so have the dimensions of great leadership and, at the centre is the necessity to be an authentic leader - somebody who knows their values and is true to them, and behaves with integrity and operates with a high degree of self-awareness. Vision has long been associated with leadership and, of course, that notion of where you want to be in the future is important. However, the recognition that the future could be different to
today is a vital first step in predicting how things may change. But leaders have to do far more than just think about the future, describe their thoughts eloquently and make compelling calls for action - they also need to deliver results and, to achieve this consistently, they may have to adapt to something that was never part of their original vision or plan. The notion of individual responsibility may have been an admirable trait, but it’s a retrospective vision of the lone leader, struggling with untold pressure in ivory towers, out of sight and avoiding contact. Increasingly, collaboration is the forwarding-thinking modus operandi, where problems shared are - if not halved - then definitely spread across a wider and more diverse group of potential contributors. Indeed,
anyone that fails to place collaboration as one of the five dimensions of great leadership, which continually promotes teamwork, is simply not in today’s requisite leadership mind-frame. Teamwork is nothing new - we all know that - but what it represents and how it is framed has changed fundamentally, and it’s making the leader/subordinate model of the past, look increasingly medieval - as is treating all other businesses as rivals and enemies, when potential collaboration could lead to increased enlightenment, capability and opportunity. Nimble organisations stand to gain a strategic advantage, through effective resource management. Especially when achieved through inter-organisational collaboration. In January this year, Volkswagen
28 | thehrdirector | MAY 2019
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