Cultural Assumptions and Challenges

Updated on 25 December 2010 by Lokesh Datta

In an uber-connected world, with globally-dispersed teams, understanding and respecting cultural differences can be critical to the success of collaboration efforts. “Americans tend to believe that they've reached some sort of pinnacle in the way they practice choice.” Says Sheena Iyengar in her TED talk, The Art of Choosing. Sheena outlines three assumptions on choice by Americans and questions the validity of these assumptions across cultural boundaries.

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If You Can’t Pass the Ball, You Can’t play!

Updated on 25 December 2010 by Lokesh Datta

So said Coach Dean Smith to Michael Jordan in his freshman (first) year at the University of North Carolina (UNC)! As we know now, Michael went on to become arguably the greatest player in the NBA history, leading his team, the Chicago Bulls, to six championships. Coach Smith could see the talent and leadership potential in Michael but that was not enough. Michael could play a key role on the team, but Michael also had to learn to collaborate effectively with his teammates, to be a winner. As the Coach knew, all players, not just the presumed best, have individual roles to play, in collaboration with others, to achieve the mission of winning. Individual excellence is expected and appreciated; however, it is necessary but not sufficient.

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You Couldn't Do This By TelePresence

Sometimes you just have to be there ...

 This is Michael Sampson's idea! Thanks Michael!

What lessons can we draw from this about virtual vs. face-to-face?

Update on 25 December 2010 by Lokesh Datta

See Related Posts:

• The Four Ps of Effective Collaboration
• The 4Ps of Effective Collaboration - Redux
• Second Life as Collaboration Tool
• A Taxonomy of Collaboration Tools
• Collaboration Is More than Team Building and Management

Sources of Complexity in Collaboration

Updated on 25 December 2010 by Lokesh Datta

Despite its growing importance, we see a “collaboration gap” between the desired versus current state of collaboration in the enterprise. Managing complexity in collaboration to successful conclusions is a key to promoting a culture of collaboration in the enterprise. In this post, we identify the sources of complexity in collaboration using empirical evidence. The data used in this post comes from our primary research, Assessing the State of Collaboration: Return to Essentials.

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Comments on the State of Collaboration

Updated on 25 December 2010 by Lokesh Datta

Here we list the comments we received on the State of Collaboration from our survey respondents. We undertook this study on the State of Collaboration to understand and assess current practices in collaboration and future outlook on collaboration. Over 450 respondents participated in the survey conducted by All Collaboration in January and February 2010.

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