Communication is not Collaboration

This resource first appeared in issue #122 on 14 May 2022 and has tags Strategy: Working across an organization

Communication is not Collaboration - Matt Schellhas

Schellhas decries the tendency to assume that if groups aren’t working together, it’s because of a lack of communication, and so the solution is some joint meeting to keep each other informed (this can go even worse, and become… shudder … joint social activities). But communicate is not collaboration, and so more communication doesn’t necessarily lead to more collaboration.

To get two teams working together, Schellhas says, is not significantly different than getting one team working together:

Build enough psychological safety so that people can try something new, like trusting that other group
Set expectations
Back up those expectations
Provide constant feedback

and those actions don’t have to come from managers (although that does make it easier).