None of us can achieve solo what we can achieve together.
Not for nothing then has collaboration become something of a holy grail for organisations. And we might apply that need to our wider world. Without a more collaborative spirit and application the gains we need to make become impossible.
And yet there’s a paradox at the heart of this harnessing of collective talents in service of something greater…collaboration vs accountability.
When the going’s good, shared accountability for the outcome is absolutely fine. When a project or its collaborators hit a bump in the road shared accountability becomes a place to hide. Blame becomes the language. Responsibility gets passed like a hot potato, sloping shoulders abound.
We all know none of this is the stuff of leadership but, at times, it happens, as do the bumps in the road.
At the outset of any collaborative effort we can plan for success or leave it to chance. Once a shared purpose is agreed and commitment gained, we need to be delineating the difference between who contributes and who decides and is, therefore, accountable for the outcome.
All well and good for a single project. But the future is about collaboration as a key facet of culture. In this scenario an accountability mind-set has to be one of the cornerstones. A key quality, with individual leaders appreciating that including and involving others doesn’t let us off the hook.
If we got this consistently right imagine the quality of work we’d produce, the time and effort we’d save and the levels of engagement we’d generate among those we lead.
And it is bigger than this. Imagine the example we could set for the bigger system of which we are a part.
At national and international level collaboration needs tuning up, blame and buck passing tuning out. Organisations can show the way to a better, more collaborative world.