The most recent Hay Group Best Companies for Leadership survey shows that collaboration is needed for companies to innovate and solve complex problems, reports Rick Lash, National Practice leader, Leadership and Talent for the Hay Group. The trouble is, many leaders lack key collaborative skills. Part of the problem lies in thinking that collaboration is the same as teamwork. It’s not, because collaborations need to happen across functions and across units, which is where most companies drop the ball. Sony, for example, didn’t come up with an MP3 player until three years after the iPod, because (as UC Berkeley professor Morten Hansen found after studying the company) Sony had a competitive culture and a digital music player didn’t make much sense from a P&L standpoint for any individual business unit. So, the project languished.
To avoid such pitfalls, here are the 6 key collaborative competencies that leaders need, based on the Hay Group’s study of matrixed organizations.
1. Enterprise Perspective: Collaborative leaders understand that what’s best for the company may not be best for individual business units. Collaborative leaders look for ways to define an overarching strategy that resolves cross-unit conflicts.
2. Cross-functional Metrics: Supporting the enterprise perspective is a set of metrics and incentives that encourage different functions and units to work together to achieve an enterprise goal.
3. Customer Perspective: Collaborative leaders keep the teams focused on the customer rather than on departmental affiliations.
4. Self-Management: Collaborative leaders exhibit patience and self-control when challenged or when dealing with colleagues who don’t see the value of a collaboration initiative.
5. Listen With Respect: Collaborative leaders invite diverse points of view, drawing the best from everyone and believing that everyone will do their best.
6. Matrix Influencing: Collaborative leaders know how to communicate with different stakeholders to gain their support for collaborative projects.
