Collaboration- More than Meets the Eye

Author(s)

Managing Principle, Wendan Consulting
Dan Morris is a partner at Wendan, Inc. and MCT. He has written 5 books on business transformation, over 70 articles and papers for PEX, TechTarget, BPMI and others, spoken internationally at over 45 conferences and hosted/delivered over 30 Webinars for PEX and other groups. Dan has also served as the North American Practice Director for Business Transformation at Infosys, Capco, TCS and ZS Associates, and as an Executive Consultant with IBM Global Services. He currently serves on the PEX Advisory board and has served on the Forrester BPM Council, and the boards of ABPMP, and the Business Architecture Association. Dan was recently named as an ABPMP Fellow for his work in advancing the BPM discipline.

Has your company adopted collaboration as part of its culture? If it has, you have a good start – great first step.

But experience on transformation projects had shown me that collaboration is more than agreeing to send a representative to group meetings. It is also more than having managers attending these meetings so decisions can be made. Collaboration is much more than simply talking or attending a meeting and ignoring what you don’t like.

Collaboration is really about cooperation for the common good of the company – over the good of any single manager and helping him or her meet their targets. That means that collaboration requires flexibility, compromise, openness to new ideas and to both creativity and innovation. For many managers in untold numbers of companies that claim to be collaborative, this goes directly against goals and culture. That is the hard part. Managers have goals and they are measured by meeting those goals. So, when the need to meet their personal or department goals conflict with a need from a collaborative effort, it is clear which effort loses. Unfortunately, this results in priority issues, staff assignment issues, and a whole host of problems in large improvement and transformation issues.

This conflict needs to be recognized and dealt with at the executive level in companies where this situation is creating success issues.

Do you have a strong collaborative culture?

So, does collaboration in your company take a back seat to meeting internal manager goals? Or, has the collaboration process matured to the point where transformation goals take precedence while delays in any collaborating manager meeting their goals is understood? If not, ask yourself if your teams really collaborate effectively or are participants playing at collaboration?

Collaboration is a key tenet in both Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Transformation (BT). Its importance cannot be overstated – in fact without active and meaningful collaboration, any type of significant business change will likely fail to meet expectations. This is one of the reasons for the 60 to 70% plus failure rate in both large scale business improvement and transformation. Conflicting goals, opinions, and disagreements must be worked out and a resolution agreed to. If not, it will be impossible to deliver what was expected – both capabilities and benefits. No one can succeed when the requirements are opinions and the opinions differ.

While many of these efforts will eventually succeed through numerous iterations, the dissatisfaction among many managers and staff members will slow the improvements that need to be made, while causing internal strife and increases in cost.

Assessing your group’s collaboration maturity

As companies become open to assessing internal cooperation issues and looking into effort failure, many begin to change how people work together. This causes a maturing of collaboration and how priorities are coordinated. This maturing is subtle but results in changes to the company’s culture. It also changes performance measurement and evaluation procedures – challenging the long-held belief that if something is good for a business area, it is good for the entire company. This simply doesn’t hold true when multiple business areas are involved.

From experience, we have found that assessing a company’s collaboration competency should be a key step in setting up any large business change. This evaluation lets transformation managers know what needs to be addressed and what changes are needed. This assessment is also critical if a company is experiencing too much dissatisfaction with projects results – expectations which are set through collaborative teams are simply not being properly set.

Ask these few questions to get an idea of your collaboration competency and maturity.

  1. Who is expected to collaborate? Do managers attend the collaborative meetings or send representatives?
  2. Do managers in the collaborative teams really participate or are they mostly silent until their business area is affected?
  3. Are participants interested in finding ways to improve or do they waste time arguing with one another?
  4. Are meetings on key issues frequent or every now and then?
  5. Do collaborative teams guide or simply look at reports and pontificate?
  6. Are collaborative team members cooperative and respectful?
  7. Are most members of collaborative groups willing to compromise for the good of the company or are they myopically focused on their own business area?
  8. Are collaborative teams formed only at the manager level?
  9. Does upper management listen to the recommendations from the collaborative teams?
  10. Are formal recommendations from collaborative team meetings produced with action plans and investment plans?
  11. Are senior managers involved in collaborative teams to ensure that results will be highly beneficial?

The answers to these questions will provide a rough understanding of where the company stands in its collaboration maturity. The value of collaboration can be significant – or the teams can go through the motions and produce nothing. Where does your company fall in this rough scale of collaboration maturity and value? Do the company’s efforts in collaboration provide solid results? Where do you want your group or your company to fall in this measurement scale? How can your company improve this critical component of change?

As an expert in performance improvement and business transformation, it is clear that many collaborative teams might as well skip meetings and just remain focused on their work. That really will not help the company improve in any way, but it will save wasted time. It is also clear that companies that wish to grow their business need to harness the intellectual ability in every person in the company – all people are able to observe and many are able to find better ways. The place to vet these observations and ideas is a collaborative group where the observations can be combined to form a more complete understanding of the projects and where ideas can be discussed, improved, and realistic benefits agreed upon.

So, is true collaboration being practiced in your company? If not, it can start in your group and expand from there as others see the benefit it is providing.

Similar Resources

Understanding the Difference Between a Certificate and Certification

Understanding the Difference Between a Certificate and Certification

Author(s):

Editor & Founder, BPMInstitute.org, BAInstitute.org and DBIZInstitute.org

As professionals seek to advance their careers or pivot to new fields, understanding the variety of learning and credentialing options is essential. At BPMInstitute.org, we often encounter students wondering whether they should pursue a certificate or certification in Business Process Management (BPM). This article is designed to clarify the differences, highlight the benefits of each, and guide prospective students in making the best decision for their career goals.

Enhancing Your Team’s BPM Capabilities: The Value of External Expertise

Enhancing Your Team’s BPM Capabilities: The Value of External Expertise

Author(s):

Editor & Founder, BPMInstitute.org, BAInstitute.org and DBIZInstitute.org

Enhancing Your Team's BPM Capabilities: The Value of External Expertise In today’s dynamic business environment, managing and improving business processes is critical for any organization aiming to maintain a competitive edge. Many companies consider handling Business...

Exploring Shared Data Model and Notation (SDMN) and Its Role in BPM+

Exploring Shared Data Model and Notation (SDMN) and Its Role in BPM+

Author(s):

Editor & Founder, BPMInstitute.org, BAInstitute.org and DBIZInstitute.org

Exploring Shared Data Model and Notation (SDMN) and Its Role in BPM+ Introduction In the evolving landscape of Business Process Management (BPM), the introduction of Shared Data Model Notation (SDMN) marks a significant advancement. As businesses increasingly seek to...

Featured Certificate: BPM Specialist

Everyone starts here.

You're looking for a way to improve your process improvement skills, but you're not sure where to start.

Earning your Business Process Management Specialist (BPMS) Certificate will give you the competitive advantage you need in today's world. Our courses help you deliver faster and makes projects easier.

Your skills will include building hierarchical process models, using tools to analyze and assess process performance, defining critical process metrics, using best practice principles to redesign processes, developing process improvement project plans, building a center of excellence, and establishing process governance.

The BPMS Certificate is the perfect way to show employers that you are serious about business process management. With in-depth knowledge of process improvement and management, you'll be able to take your business career to the next level.

Learn more about the BPM Specialist Certificate

Courses

  •  

 

Certificates

  • Business Process Management Specialist
  • Earning your Business Process Management Specialist (BPMS) Certificate will provide you with a distinct competitive advantage in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. With in-depth knowledge of process improvement and management, you’ll be able to take your business career to the next level.
  • BPM Professional Certificate
    Business Process Management Professional
  • Earning your Business Process Management Professional (BPMP) Certificate will elevate your expertise and professional standing in the field of business process management. Our BPMP Certificate is a tangible symbol of your achievement, demonstrating your in-depth knowledge of process improvement and management.

Certification

BPM Certification

  • Make the most of your hard-earned skills. Earn the respect of your peers and superiors with Business Process Management Certification from the industry's top BPM educational organization.

Courses

 

Certificates

  • Operational Excellence Specialist
  • Earning your Operational Excellence Specialist Certificate will provide you with a distinct advantage in driving organizational excellence and achieving sustainable improvements in performance.
 

 

OpEx Professional Certificate

  • Operational Excellence Professional
  • Earn your Operational Excellence Professional Certificate and gain a competitive edge in driving organizational excellence and achieving sustainable improvements in performance.

Courses

Certificate
  •  

  • Agile BPM Specialist
  • Earn your Agile BPM Specialist Certificate and gain a competitive edge in driving business process management (BPM) with agile methodologies. You’ll gain a strong understanding of how to apply agile principles and concepts to business process management initiatives.  
 

Business Architecture

 

Certificates

  • Business Architecture Specialist
  • The Business Architecture Specialist (BAIS) Certificate is proof that you’ve begun your business architecture journey by committing to the industry’s most meaningful and credible business architecture training program.

  • Business Architecture Professional
  • When you earn your Business Architecture Professional (BAIP) Certificate, you will be able to design and implement a governance structure for your organization, develop and optimize business processes, and manage business information effectively.

BA CertificationCertification

  • Make the most of your hard-earned skills. Earn the respect of your peers and superiors with Business Architecture Certification from the industry's top BPM educational organization.

Courses

 

Certificates

  • Digital Transformation Specialist
  • Earning your Digital Transformation Specialist Certificate will provide you with a distinct advantage in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. 
 

 

  • Digital Transformation Professional
  • The Digital Transformation Professional Certificate is the first program in the industry to cover all the key pillars of Digital Transformation holistically with practical recommendations and exercises.

Courses

Certificate

  • Agile Business Analysis Specialist
  • Earning your Agile Business Analysis Specialist Certificate will provide you with a distinct advantage in the world of agile software development.

Courses

Certificate
  • DAS Certificate
  • Decision Automation Specialist
  • Earning your Decision Automation Certificate will empower you to excel in the dynamic field of automated decision-making, where data-driven insights are pivotal to driving business innovation and efficiency.