Collaboration - You keep using that word...I don't think it means what you think it means.
I've been learning a great deal about collaboration lately, and it seems like a good subject for a post.
I like working with other creative people, and pulling together ideas and developing plans. This is a fun process.
When it comes to doing the work, it can break down pretty quickly.
As an example, let's look at moving a sofa. Two people can work together to move a sofa, and that is collaboration. Involve a third person, who might help plan the location of the sofa, open doors, etc. and it can be even better. Three people are an effective team for moving a sofa. We get the sofa into place intended, which we call location "A".
Now add another person, who thinks it might be better if the sofa were in location "B".
The process just got longer.
Add another who thinks location "A" might be better, and you are spending an afternoon moving a sofa back and forth, and irritating the two people who are doing the actual lifting.
Now pull together a dozen people and have a meeting about it, while the people who were doing the lifting leave the sofa on the porch and wander off for a beer.
This is not collaboration, this is a cluster-fuck.
If you are buying a sofa, collaborate on the decision, the color, the placement, and the particular before the purchase is made, and then make one person point on the project and stick to the plan. That's it. It's great to have a conversation about getting a sofa, thinking about the type you'll want, and looking for a good deal, but when the time comes for the heavy lifting, that is not the time to start arguing over the placement of the furniture, much less second guessing the color.
If a question arises about sofa placement, or there is a problem with cost or delivery, make certain that whoever is managing the project has the authority to make a decision and keep the project moving forward. Then let them.
Ironically, it is easy to adjust sofa placement later, once the purchase is made and the item is delivered. Much easier than stopping in the middle of the project and making everyone wait while the details are ironed out in committee.
I see this all the time. Huge projects that run over time and over budget because someone in the management team yells "Stop!" and starts asking questions about something that is not their area, and second guessing decisions that have already been made, plans already executed and asking questions about processes they don't understand, or need to understand.
These questions are great before the work begins, useful in a post-project discussion, and a huge waste of time and resources when they stop progress.
I'm sure there are instances where disrupting a project is important. Like you are in an operating theater and you notice that the surgeon is about to amputate the wrong limb. But those instances are incredibly rare. Most interruptions sound more like: "That scalpel looks small... I've got the knife I use to gut fish right here! Works like a charm! Shouldn't you use a fillet knife like this?"
Unless you are certain that you are averting a catastrophe, it is so much better to let someone complete the task at hand, the job they were chosen to do. Really.
Now to figure out how to explain this politely to a CEO.
I like working with other creative people, and pulling together ideas and developing plans. This is a fun process.
When it comes to doing the work, it can break down pretty quickly.
As an example, let's look at moving a sofa. Two people can work together to move a sofa, and that is collaboration. Involve a third person, who might help plan the location of the sofa, open doors, etc. and it can be even better. Three people are an effective team for moving a sofa. We get the sofa into place intended, which we call location "A".
Now add another person, who thinks it might be better if the sofa were in location "B".
The process just got longer.
Add another who thinks location "A" might be better, and you are spending an afternoon moving a sofa back and forth, and irritating the two people who are doing the actual lifting.
Now pull together a dozen people and have a meeting about it, while the people who were doing the lifting leave the sofa on the porch and wander off for a beer.
This is not collaboration, this is a cluster-fuck.
If you are buying a sofa, collaborate on the decision, the color, the placement, and the particular before the purchase is made, and then make one person point on the project and stick to the plan. That's it. It's great to have a conversation about getting a sofa, thinking about the type you'll want, and looking for a good deal, but when the time comes for the heavy lifting, that is not the time to start arguing over the placement of the furniture, much less second guessing the color.
If a question arises about sofa placement, or there is a problem with cost or delivery, make certain that whoever is managing the project has the authority to make a decision and keep the project moving forward. Then let them.
Ironically, it is easy to adjust sofa placement later, once the purchase is made and the item is delivered. Much easier than stopping in the middle of the project and making everyone wait while the details are ironed out in committee.
I see this all the time. Huge projects that run over time and over budget because someone in the management team yells "Stop!" and starts asking questions about something that is not their area, and second guessing decisions that have already been made, plans already executed and asking questions about processes they don't understand, or need to understand.
These questions are great before the work begins, useful in a post-project discussion, and a huge waste of time and resources when they stop progress.
I'm sure there are instances where disrupting a project is important. Like you are in an operating theater and you notice that the surgeon is about to amputate the wrong limb. But those instances are incredibly rare. Most interruptions sound more like: "That scalpel looks small... I've got the knife I use to gut fish right here! Works like a charm! Shouldn't you use a fillet knife like this?"
Unless you are certain that you are averting a catastrophe, it is so much better to let someone complete the task at hand, the job they were chosen to do. Really.
Now to figure out how to explain this politely to a CEO.