Articles

  • Collaboration on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

    I’m glad to see that Design News published an article in its May 15 issue about how global collaboration is making a difference for Boeing on the 787 Dreamliner project. You can read the article here. The article even includes a photo taken for The Culture of Collaboration book of Boeing’s Global Collaboration Center in Everett, Washington.

    The Design News article provides useful insight into how Boeing uses Dassault Systemes’ product lifecycle management tools including Catia, version 5. In the book, I describe the interplay of tools, environment, and culture in Boeing’s global collaborative enterprise (GCE) and delineate three levels of collaboration at Boeing. The book also explains how Boeing maximizes mirror zones (see my March 16 post).

    Incidentally, the book defines the global collaborative enterprise (GCE) as a collection of interdependent companies that engage in shared creation of value, often in real time. Boeing is an excellent example of a GCE in that Boeing and its global partners work together seamlessly as if there were no geographical boundaries. But there’s an automobile company that is also setting the standard for GCE’s. Can you guess which company?

    Categories: , ,

  • Collaboration, Mergers and Acquisitions

    The acid test for collaboration is mergers and acquisitions. Getting two organizations with different cultures to work well together while tying the knot presents significant challenges. The key is to instill collaborative culture. As I noted in my April 12 post, which you can view here, the lack of collaboration has likely derailed such mergers as Daimler-Benz and Chrysler.

    The lead story in today’s Wall Street Journal by Ellen Byron tackles Procter & Gamble’s $57 billion acquisition of Gillette, which I cover in The Culture of Collaboration book. The gist of the story, which requires registration to view here, is that combining the oral care units of P&G and Gillette involved particular complexity. Gillette’s Oral-B unit preferred meetings, while P&G’s Crest team liked memos. While P&G/Crest deliberated more, Gillette/Oral-B made relatively quick decisions.

    Both meetings and memos have limitations in merging two geographically-dispersed organizations. Meetings require scheduling and travel. Memos are one-way, asynchronous and anti-collaborative. The most effective tools for integrating two companies are often real-time tools including instant messaging, web conferencing and videoconferencing. Presence brings these tools to life by showing which colleagues are available and by enabling instant connections through text, voice and video.

    Ironically, I describe in the book how P&G and Gillette used presence-enabled tools extensively while managing the merger. The desire for spontaneous decision-making and problem-resolution drove the use of the tools. However, the tools took hold because P&G extended its highly-collaborative culture to the Gillette team, which was generally receptive. Judging from the Wall Street Journal story, there may have been pockets of anti-collaborative behavior during and after the merger. However, the broader story, which The Wall Street Journal article did not address, is that the P&G and Gillette merger is succeeding because of collaboration.

    Categories: , ,

  • Collaborative Leadership

    Matt Villano’s excellent column headlined “Want Recognition? Share the Limelight” in Sunday’s New York Times business section tackles the “I” vs. “we” dilemma in the workplace. Use “I” to describe success, and you’re a selfish narcissist, to paraphrase the column. Use “we” and you get less credit than you may deserve.

    Nevertheless, “I” has no place in a collaborative culture. Few successes are the work of one person. Unfortunately, too many organizations embrace star cultures in which people are rewarded for competing with colleagues. We can create much greater value through collaboration than through internal competition. Fortunately for the bottom line, star cultures are becoming passé.

    And there’s a clear link between tools and culture. Presence is the ability of a person or device to connect with others and to display levels of availability. IM buddy lists introduced us to the concept. Now we can connect with colleagues and business partners directly from spreadsheets, documents and line-of-business systems. We can begin with text chat and, when appropriate, escalate into voice or video interaction.

    As we extend collaborative culture through presence-enabled tools, we are becoming more “we” oriented. In The Culture of Collaboration book, I describe the collaborative culture at the Mayo Clinic. Mayo extensively uses collaborative tools including videoconferencing and web conferencing to extend—rather than create—its collaborative culture. And Dr. Glenn Forbes, CEO of the Mayo Clinic’s Rochester, Minnesota campus tells me that at Mayo people are very uncomfortable using the word “I.”

    Categories: , , ,

  • Toyota’s Leadership

    In his story entitled “From 0 to 60 to World Domination” in the New York Times Magazine this week, Jon Gertner makes some excellent observations.

    Gertner notes that production and sales figures tell only part of the story of Toyota’s success. The other part is cultural. Gertner characterizes the Toyota Way as the company’s culture of efficiency and problem-solving. However, the reason Toyota is efficient and can solve problems is the company’s Culture of Collaboration. 

    At Toyota, hierarchy plays less of a role than at many other organizations—and flat organizational structures are part and parcel of the Culture of Collaboration. Many Toyota leaders have worked on the production line and have sold cars. Therefore, leaders respect people on the front lines and people at all levels contribute to decisions. When I was conducting research for the book, I experienced first hand the fundamental role that collaboration plays at Toyota.

    Toyota extends the Toyota Way and the Culture of Collaboration through its innovative application of collaborative tools. Interactive video plays a role. Using videoconferencing with a variety of task-specific tools, Toyota has created a rich product design and manufacturing environment.

    Categories: , ,

  • IndustryWeek Features The Culture of Collaboration

    IndustryWeek, which provides excellent targeted content to the manufacturing sector, is featuring The Culture of Collaboration book this week. Besides the author Q&A that appears on its web site, IndustryWeek is pushing the content to more than 30,000 email newsletter subscribers. I appreciate IndustryWeek’s interest in the book and the topic.

    The Q&A gave me an opportunity to hit on some of the book’s central themes including the shift to real-time collaboration and the move away from the pass-along approach to work and decision-making. IndustryWeek asked me about Six Sigma’s role in collaboration and how to build trust among multicultural collaborators. And I used The Dow Chemical Company as an example of how Six Sigma has enhanced the collaborative culture. I also described how Dow uses tools to extend—rather than create—its collaborative culture.

    Dow uses over 300 collaborative rooms called iRooms. These rooms link Dow people in forty-three countries via an IP network carrying video, voice and data. The iRooms provide a range of capabilities including Polycom videoconferencing, audio conferencing, shared digital whiteboard and application sharing. But the point I make in the Q&A—and in the book—is that an organization’s culture must become collaborative before tools can make a big difference.

    The IndustryWeek Q&A also describes how BMW and Boeing build trust among multicultural collaborators.

    Categories: , , ,

  • Collaboration’s Sullied Past

    I’ve been fielding lots of calls this month from HR people who are working on realigning their organizational cultures around collaboration. Collaboration is suddenly the initiative du jour. Seizing on this trend, many marketers are positioning products as collaboration solutions. These products range from copying machines to furniture.

    But collaboration wasn’t always a good word. In The United States during World War II, the word meant conspiring with the Nazis. Edwin Black has written a fascinating investigative series for The Jewish Telegraphic Agency called “Hitler’s Carmaker.” The series (registration required) describes the alleged relationship between General Motors and the Third Reich. The words collaboration, collaborate and collaborator appear repeatedly in the series and in spin-off articles that Black has written, namely the one in the January 7, 2007 edition of The San Francisco Chronicle illustrated with an iron cross with the words “GM: Collaboration with Germany was Pervasive—and Persistent.” Clearly, the connotation of collaboration in these stories is different from the word’s current meaning.

    While the skeletons of collaboration’s past periodically fall out of the closet, the new positive consciousness for collaboration is significantly impacting business and society. Manufacturers are slashing time-to-market. Scientists are developing disease cures in record time. And through the use of collaborative processes and tools, we can come together in real time to solve problems and make decisions.

    Categories: , , ,

ABOUT

Email Me

CATEGORIES