The Over and Under of Collaboration

Collaboration is a culture buzzword that comes up often in interviews with new prospective employees. Every organization wants to pride themselves on having a collaborative environment, and every employee wants to be known as excellent at collaboration.  Unfortunately, truly collaborative work cultures (where collaboration is consistent and purposeful, and a part of the attitude of all team members) are rarer than not.

True collaboration hinges on the idea that the organization - and all the individuals in it - are better together. Often, a collaborative culture is something leaders aspire to but never achieve, because everyone in the organization’s rank and file quickly realize that the only ideas that get done are the ones that come from the top. Why give input if you perceive that it will never go anywhere? Saying you have a collaborative culture means nothing if you never actually collaborate.

Another true killer of collaboration is over collaboration. This is what happens when everyone is invited to give input on every decision, and it can be devastating to the health of company. When a department head is required to fly even basic and fundamental decisions past everyone else, it not only slows down the speed of growth, but more importantly takes the creative wind out of the sail of the decision maker. High performing leaders feel underutilized and stifled when forced to crowdsource all of their expertise and decision-making ability.  

I’d love to know - do you feel like your nonprofit is a collaborative work environment? If so, what makes it that way? If not, what is missing?