Collaboration: Blockers and the Route to Success
Reading new books is one way we keep on top of our commitment to continuous training and development. We can explore new ideas, question the way we do things, and learn from others in similar fields. One such book that has instigated lots of discussion in the Harrison Network office this month is Collaboration by Morten Hansen. So we’re sharing our thoughts and takeaways, as well as some useful titbits from the book itself.
Supporting Collaboration
Morten Hansen is an American academic who has studied collaboration in organisations for some considerable time. His book refers to organisations that range from big business to the US intelligence services and the FBI.
Hansen takes a very objective look at collaboration, recognising that it isn’t always the right thing to do. As he says:
“It’s easy to get carried away with collaboration, believing that you will gain many benefits from it. It’s equally wrong to undershoot. When leaders believe – incorrectly – that there is little or no upside from collaborating across the company, they ignore a big opportunity. Sometimes they fear that it will kill the entrepreneurial freedom that each business unit enjoys. They believe, often wrongly, that the potential gains from collaborating will be overshadowed by the loss of entrepreneurship.”
Hansen points out that collaboration works when it is used in the right way, at the right time and has clear goals. In order to do this he sets out the Three Steps of Disciplined Collaboration, which are:
- Evaluate your opportunities for company-wide collaboration across organisational units.
- Look at the four potential barriers which might arise to derail your collaborative efforts.
- Tailor solutions to these barriers using a mix of collaborative levers.
Throughout the book, Hansen provides ideas, templates and case studies that support each of the steps above. And, although the book mainly focusses on collaboration inside an organisation, the principles are just as relevant to collaborations between organisations as well. This is particularly evident in the barriers to collaboration.
Collaboration Barriers
In his book, Hansen identified a number of collaboration barriers:
- The not-invented-here barrier (people are unwilling to reach out to others)
- The hoarding barrier (people are unwilling to provide help)
- The search barrier (people are not able to find what they are looking for)
- The transfer barrier (people are not able to work with people they don’t know well)
To a greater or lesser degree, all of these barriers reflect what we can see in our own work with individuals, teams and organisations. In more extreme cases, they may be born from silo mentality, but they primarily have their basis in human behaviour.
Collaboration involves at least some level of change. Change is often seen as difficult and scary. Let’s go through the barriers one by one, as overcoming them is absolutely key to a successful collaboration.
The Not-Invented-Here Barrier
Hansen ascribes this barrier to a motivation problem, primarily. He says that it arises because people are busy, they are geographically distant, they are insular and they feel that they don’t need or want help.
I would add that the experience of working with some clients is that people sometimes either didn’t know they could reach out, don’t know how to reach out and don’t know who to reach out to. Often this occurs in more process driven, hierarchical organisations.
The Hoarding Barrier
Hansen notes that this barrier is all too common within the organisations that he studied. The behaviour is often driven by departmental KPIs, perceived lack of time, and competing for resources. Organisations that create an internally competitive culture to drive performance will likely hit this barrier hard when they need to collaborate.
If we consider concepts such as Groupthink, a term popularised by Janis but often accredited as a concept to the novel 1984, then we can find some psychological insights into the hoarding barrier.
“Groupthink occurs when individuals within a group prioritize harmony and conformity over critical thinking, leading to a suppression of dissenting opinions and potential flawed decision-making.” (Schaedig 2023)
Significantly, collaboration groups that are in this type of state often think of anyone outside the group as “the others” and therefore untrustworthy.
The Search Barrier
The search barrier can arise for a number of different reasons. Hansen notes that large organisations with multiple components frequently come across this barrier alongside physical distance, information overload and a lack of networking. I would suggest that complex information storage, incompatible IT systems and uncooperative workplace culture can also have a significant effect.
The Transfer Barrier
When people don’t know how to work together, it becomes hard to transfer knowledge, expertise and resources. Hansen tells us that this barrier occurs because:
- It is difficult to transfer tacit know-how.
- People may not know how to work together.
- Weak ties may discourage knowledge pooling.
It is important to create relationships that promote the transfer of knowledge, expertise and resources. Through these, people can work together to overcome barriers to transfer and contribute to a successful collaboration.
It is very likely that support from senior leaders may be needed to underpin this. It’s often helpful to create common frameworks that smooth the proces.
Overcoming Barriers
Hansen focusses on three key levers to overcome the barriers:
- Unification: creating unifying goals and facilitating effective teamwork.
- T-shaped management: managers sharing results and learning with not just their own units, but across the collaboration.
- Networks: Encouraging strong relationships across the collaboration at all levels.
Hansen’s main focus is on people and enabling the appropriate behaviours to ensure collaborative success. People are key to the process and success or failure will often depend on them and what they do.
“I have witnessed collaboration becoming a top priority in large multinational companies in the United States, Europe and Asia. The focus on collaboration will continue, as companies become larger, more complex, more efficient, more global, more decentralized, and more open to working with other parties – all demand disciplined collaboration.” Morten Hansen
Final Thoughts
Collaboration is an important aspect of almost any successful business, but there are a lot of barriers that can stifle it and block development. By identifying and putting a name to those barriers in his book, Morten Hansen provides a roadmap for successful collaboration both within and between teams.
At Harrison Network, we have highly experienced and skilled coaches and facilitators that can help your organisation develop its collaborative capabilities, putting theory into practice in a realistic and proven way that leads to improved performance. Get in touch to find out more.
Author: Nev Holmes, Programme & Operations Lead
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