Many leaders are lousy collaborators.
It doesn’t seem to matter that they spend a great deal of time encouraging, coaching and facilitating collaboration between their team members and across functional boundaries. When it comes time for Leader A to work with Leader B on something other than getting other people to do things, the dynamics get interesting and the output is often disappointing.
I’ve had somewhere between five and ten great, collaborative experiences with other peers during my two plus decades of leading teams. I’ve had considerably more experiences where the efforts ultimately ground to a halt.
While I have to factor in the very real possibility that I might just suck at collaborating, I look at those that worked as some of the most formative and enjoyable experiences of my career. They also resulted in remarkable value creation for our firms in the form of business and market strategies, talent development, organizational design and development and new venture planning.
My unscientific observations on why leaders often fail to collaborate effectively with other leaders are as follows:
- We forget how to work or, at least we forget how to do work that results in output other than talking. I observe this a great deal during strategic planning activities, where senior leaders have a seat at the table, but when push comes to shove on tangibly contributing, you can feel the breeze from the speed that they delegate the work. I noticed this myself as I moved out of the corporate and team environment into the life of a soloist. “What do you mean I have to write all my own web copy?”
- We irrationally view collaboration as weakness. Many leaders are inherently uncomfortable relying on someone else to supply input. While not an admirable trait, it is a common one. Leaders incorrectly believe that they are in their positions because they know the answers. Working with someone and task sharing or accepting the ideas of others as better than their own is a challenge to their overly inflated egos.
- The CEO does not create a culture that requires and promotes collaboration at all levels. Often, the CEO works with his/her subordinates one on one rather than as a team. The subordinates become conditioned to working directly with the decision maker and are out of their element when asked to do something as unconventional as work with a peer to create and to solve problems.
- It’s a power thing. Back to the weakness topic, but with a twist. One interaction that I had with a smart individual (peer) failed to materialize in spite of several years of genuine attempts on my part to find common ground. At the end of the day, it was clear that he viewed any joint work that impacted his functional area as a threat to his power. It didn’t help that he had one of his key lieutenants that saw this as well and fed his paranoia.
What’s a Leader to Do?
- Get over yourself! It’s a lean, mean world right now, and the better you are able to find ways to participate in value-creating activities with the leaders around you, the better off your firm will be.
- CEO, build in accountability for collaboration. We do what we are paid to do and what we are measured against. Create appropriate shared performance indicators and objectives, and put some teeth in them. While the initial efforts might look like compliance, some successes will breed increasing cooperation.
- Focus on creating collaborative activities around items that impact customers directly or at least impact a firm’s ability to serve customers in a tangible way. Instead of two leaders charged with fixing what’s broken about their departments, focus on getting the leaders to create something that is all about the customer. The internal fix-it activities will start to occur in support of the broader and more noble and neutral initiative.
- Re-learn how to work. Pick a solo project that doesn’t immediately require you to delegate and execute on it. Develop and deliver a keynote, write an article, volunteer for a webinar or focus on improving relationships with your counterparts at your customers and partners. Don’t step on your team members toes and don’t making them crazy with your personal initiatives, but definitely do something that requires you to generate output. You’ll be better prepared to do the same when it comes time to collaborate with a peer.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
In my own experience and as an observer in client firms, the situations where the collaborative efforts between leaders worked, produced great results. Problems were solved, the working environment for everyone improved and value was created in the process. CEOs and senior leaders would be well served to look around the table and find a reason to start working together more effectively.
Well said, very true. And this is not just for CxO positions but even if divisional/functional leaders work together. I think what will also help if leaders start networking and participating in various other community / professional committees. This will help leaders collaborate with other leaders without feeling threatened about their positions.
Manish, thanks for reading and commenting. You are right, this does go well below the C-level. I agree with your thoughts on the benefits of these individuals participating together in professional and civic groups. -Art
Great “unscientific observations!” Each point resonated with what I see on a continual basis. I enjoy what Edgar Schein has to say regarding viewing collaboration as weakness from a consultants viewpoint. He describes the power that can be found by simply “accessing your ignorance.” If leaders could understand that accessing one’s ignorance leads to trust/respect/creativity/learning/collaboration and ultimately enhanced outcomes, our organziations would all reach a new level of effectiveness.
Garrick, thanks as well for adding your thoughtful comment. I am not familiar w. Mr. Schein, but will check him out. I wish I would have wrapped up my post as eloquently as you wrapped up your comment. Well stated! -Art
Art, this a thought-provoking post.
I do think you have a point. However, in defense of leaders, collaboration is a tough sell. Our entire economy, and the culture of our organizations has been set up for competition. How can we expect leaders to collaborate when they are surrounded by sports and war metaphors and their colleagues are out to “kill the competition”?
Sad that a leader who wants to collaborate really has a tough road ahead. Nonetheless, I’m a firm believer that this will change, and collaboration will (have to) become the norm in order for our organizations to thrive.
Getting over yourself as a leader may be easier said than done. Especially when you have climbed up a ladder in a cut-throat environment. Many leaders feel entitled and have a hard time letting go of perceived power. Your post may not sound nice, but it is just about accurate with many corporate clients I have worked with. Coaching collaboration is a tough one, and an important one to learn. After the unlearning happens and the leaders are free to work with others it is a thing of beauty to see what they achieve. So how can we get over ourselves and find ways to be more open to the world around? That, my friend, is an art to be reckoned with!
Thanks for a great, thought provoking, irritatingly true post! Now…back to work!
Mary Joe, you raise a great point. Like most of us, I love competition in the market or on the court, and it is hard to shift gears. I suppose the metaphor of a sports team where everyone executes a role in support of the overall team works for me. Thanks for commenting! -Art
Monica, your comments echo Mary Jo’s on the competition front. This letting go of perceived power step is the one that I have observed so many backing away from and certainly fits my one scenario where the individual just could never do it.
Perhaps a “get over yourself” campaign is in order here! Thanks as always for sharing your insights and enthusiasm! -Art
Great post! It’s so funny how what you have listed are so true. That’s why I sincerely believe that a leader must become a servant, a follower first before becoming a true leader. I believe that the lack of the ability to collaborate with others that leaders have come from pride. Becoming humble is such a vital characteristic of an effective leader, and there seems to be very few of these humble leaders in our world today.
Art,
Interesting observations. To counter-balance them, let me offer a few reasons why leaders don’t collaborate.
Time – If decision making is done via discussion/collaboration, it takes an ungodly amount of time. The most frustrating thing in the world is when something has to be done by 4:00 and at 3 someone wants to debate it.
Responsibility – Collaborators can walk away if a decision goes badly. They have their salaries, their vacation time and the anonymity of being a team member. The leader has their name and reputation on the line. For example, think of the Bulls in the ’90s. There were three leaders, M. Jordan, S. Pippen and P. Jackson. Yes there are people you know and they were absolutely necessary to succeed, but they were not in the decision making core. They were team members, not leaders.
Human nature – If you take the risk and go through the agony of starting your own business, it’s because you want to do something your own way. If you want to be a leader, by all means do so. Know however that if you do, you have to have contextual understanding, ability, responsibility and the power. Those have to balance.
Here’s a dirty little secret. It is much easier to earn $250,000 a year being a shrewd and capable team member who looks for the right opportunities and moves intelligently. However, if you want to break $350,000 a year, you probably have to take some pretty big risks and spend a couple years earning much much less.
Ability is a key word. It has two parts. One, native intelligence and talents. Two, external or contextual opportunities. i.e. environmental opportunities, financial freedom, path to develop contacts and outside infrastructure (legal frameworks, financing frameworks, distribution channels etc.).
And, of course, luck.
It is so much easier and for most people more profitable to find someone who has combined all these things and put together a business that is profitable than it is to have to do it all yourself. There was one Michael Jordan and he probably had forty team members over the course of his championships. It’s much easier to be the team member than the leader.
Andrew, thanks for as always insightful and provocative comments. They make a great post on their own. -Art
[…] understanding the relationships required and how to actively sustain them. In a recent post on collaboration and leadership, Art Petty stated, “it’s a lean, mean world right now, and the better you are able to find ways […]
[…] understanding the relationships required and how to actively sustain them. In a recent post on collaboration and leadership, Art Petty stated, “it’s a lean, mean world right now, and the better you are able to find ways […]