I think it's very easy when we're trying to move fast as a business to over-focus on the process and under-focus on the environment that enables speed to happen. And here I'm really talking about the culture in which a team is operating. If it's culture that is characterised by trust, which enables a greater degree of implicit communication, unity and autonomy then we're more likely to be able to progress at pace. There is less chance of mis-alignment through individual action, or micro-management, or unnecessary explanation, updates, reporting or supervision, which slows everything down. Similarly, if it's a culture that embraces 'psychological safety', one where staff feel like they can be their true selves in the workplace, and one that enables healthy debate, questioning and dissent, then there is less chance that we waste time with unnecessary company and team politics which again, slows stuff down.
Which is why I liked this matrix (above) from Joe Turner, which is designed to express the real building blocks of collaboration, representing it as a 2 x 2 with mutual trust and respect on one axis and comfort with dissent on the another. In order to create the conditions for true collaboration you need both.
Everyone talks about the increasing value of collaboration in companies (particularly to help cut across organisational silos) but it's not as easy as just sitting down at the same table. If we're truly to enable collaboration at scale right across an organisation, and capitalise on it as a force for change, then we absolutely need to be conscious of the cultural characteristics that support it.
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