INTHEBLACK April 2025 - Magazine - Page 56
WORK SMART
To engage staff, collaboration must be
acted upon. “If people don’t see outcomes,
then they're going to start disengaging from
collaboration,” Johnson says.
“Collaboration will become those meetings
where everybody goes away and thinks,
‘That was a waste of time.’ You need to use
it judiciously.”
REDESIGNING COLLABORATION
Leadership expert Simon Dowling says one
of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has
been a reassessment of collaboration in many
organisations.
The post-pandemic return to the office has
triggered conversations about how to foster
collaboration, what form it should take and
what are the desired outcomes.
“Organisations are focused on working
towards productive collaboration, rather
than just engaging in collaboration for
collaboration’s sake,” Dowling says.
“It's not enough to simply encourage people
to collaborate more often or to stick it up
on a poster. It requires design, asking: ‘What
are the outcomes we're looking for? Who are
the right people to include? And how do we
give people the skills to design it themselves?’”
Knowing when not to collaborate is just
as important, Dowling says.
“Sometimes, people collaborate because
they feel like it’s expected of them, but the
decision is already made. In this situation,
collaboration becomes ‘window dressing’,
which undermines trust in a big way.”
Cost is another factor. “In a crisis, the cost
of collaboration may outweigh its benefit,
because the customer issue needs to be
resolved straight away, or that employee
complaint needs to be addressed immediately,
so we need to move fast,” he says.
Dowling says collaboration also risks
diluting expertise.
“I see this a lot: There are one or two
people who have deep expertise in an area,
but the default towards collaboration means
decisions get made by a group of less-qualified
people. As a result, you get watered-down,
democratic decisions that aren't necessarily
the best outcome.”
MAKE COLLABORATION
MORE EFFECTIVE
Johnson believes effective collaboration begins
with “divergent thinking” — where people
brainstorm ideas, however left-field — before
the team converges on the best solutions.
“It’s important to set the right tone so
people feel safe to open their thinking,
so no idea is a bad idea.”
Language also matters, says Dowling.
Productive collaboration is “value-focused”
with a clear target.
He also recommends being clear about what
collaboration is — and what it isn’t.
“Collaboration is where you’re very
consciously bringing people together to invest
their time and energy in a project because
working together will deliver a better outcome
than doing it alone.
“That's different from cooperation, where
people are helpful and available to assist one
another when they're asked to or are willing
to ask for help. That's different, again, from
connection, which I can do through having
a chat with you while we're making a coffee
together to find out what's going on in your
team at the moment,” Dowling says. ■
READ
an article on
why workplace
collaboration
starts with people
UPSKILL
EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Collaboration is useful in solving “sticky problems” where the outcome
is uncertain.
• Collaboration is not just about solving the problem but engaging the team
in the solution.
• Begin with divergent thinking and brainstorming creative ideas.
• Ask: “What are the outcomes we're looking for? Who are the right people
to include? And how do we give people the skills to design it themselves?”
with CPA
Australia’s Global
Collaboration
course
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56 INTHEBLACK April 2025
