Prabhakar Mundkur highlights the importance of collaboration and how teamwork is important to an organisation’s success
When one thinks of the iPhone one instinctively thinks of Steve Jobs. But did Steve Jobs invent the iPhone? No. Steve Jobs has his name on 313 patents in all, not all of them as breakthrough as you might imagine and only 7 are iconic, but none of them has only his name on it. It also has the names of several others who worked with him on the patent; which proves that team work is crucial to the success of a project.
Similarly when one thinks of the electric car, one can’t help thinking of Elon Musk. But if you go through the numerous patents applied by Tesla Motors you will always find a number of inventors’ names on the patent. And you may not even find Elon Musk’s name.
When this simple fact was mentioned in a LinkedIn #DailyRundown piece a few months ago it really made me think. Partly because I was reminded of a case where a key senior manager thought she was so brilliant that she started working alone and by excluding key members of the teamwork. Over time she had alienated most people at work. When I was consulted on this case and the reasons for successive failures on projects, my analysis was that projects failed because of lack of teamwork.
Why are people wary of collaboration?
There could be many reasons but certainly one of them is ‘over-inflated’ egos. When you think you are more important than everyone else and you are better than them, you tend to leave people out of important tasks. Your objective is no longer to build a team.
Some people feel threatened by collaboration. They obviously feel that if they work with others, credit will be taken away from them. But that has never been true. This mindset actually demonstrates that the person who is not willing to collaborate is insecure. Because when a company wins, everyone wins.
Unfortunately, in some companies, everyone wants to be a star. This narcissistic mindset is endemic to many corporate cultures today. But unfortunately, this attitude can pose a dangerous threat to your business and career if you are unwilling to work with others in a productive way. It can also pose a threat to your company. One should understand that collaboration isn’t about giving up your individuality. It’s quite the opposite. It is about realizing your potential. It is about bringing your many gifts to the table and sharing them in pursuit of a common goal.
Why collaborate?
Team Work is crucial to Success.
Collaboration is taking over the workplace. As businesses are becoming global, teamwork is being seen as being vital to organizational success. Today’s workforce is more collaborative than it has ever been in the past. In fact, the time that managers and employees spend collaborating has increased by at least 50 percent over the past two decades, according to the Harvard Business Review.
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” said Isaac Newton.
An Ernst and Young report has shown that “A work environment that doesn’t encourage teamwork is one of the top 5 reasons why people quit their jobs.”
As the HBR article, The Collaboration Imperative says “Countless efforts by companies to work together to tackle the most complex challenges facing our world today – including climate change, resource depletion, and ecosystem loss – have failed because of competitive self-interest, a lack of a fully shared purpose, and a shortage of trust. In other words, collaboration is taking over the workplace.”
There seems little doubt that the smart leaders of today will find collaboration a winning formula to success.
The author is a veteran advertising person, and now a prolific commentator and writer. He spent 17 of his 42 years in advertising with J Walter Thompson; working with the agency across 3 continents. He has also worked with Havas and Hakuhodo. He has recently started a videocast called ‘Turning Point’. Email: prabsy@gmail.com
