Authentic Collaboration

Innovations will increasingly occur at the “seams.” This is especially true for innovations required by the so-called “grand challenges” of society (e.g., global warming, terrorism, incurable diseases, etc.) and even the grand challenges of our commercial enterprises (e.g., sustainable packaging, hydrogen vs. carbon based technology, etc.).  I suspect it has some truth to the not-as-grand innovation challenges of companies as well.

We have been hearing this prediction from many different quarters. Most recently we heard it from David Kelley (of the design firm IDEO and now at Stanford University); but David added an interesting implication. If more needed innovations will arise from the spaces “in-between” traditional disciplines or classical functions, we will need not only deep expertise—“deep” in knowledge within the respective function or discipline; but we will also need experts who can quickly establish, build and maintain what we would like to call “authentic collaboration.”

Kelley referred to this “T-shaped” capability in those who have technical depth (the vertical part) and an ability to connect with others outside their immediate expertise (the horizontal part). We have observed this ourselves repeatedly, especially in our collaborative invention practice.

The evidence is all around us. Procter & Gamble is changing the way it thinks about research and development. For P&G, it is no longer simply R&D; it is now C&D (connect and develop), by which they mean not only good lateral thinking abilities, but also experience and competence in networking with others, inside and outside the company. Henry Chesbrough’s Open Innovation is a manifesto for authentic collaboration, drawing heavily from the experiences (good and bad) of Xerox PARC. The open source movement, so instrumental in the development of the Linux operating system—the first legitimate rival to Microsoft’s de facto monopoly, is another example.

Nanotechnology may be itself an “interdisciplinary discipline”—a perspective and science that due to both size and geometrically induced functionality—cuts collaborative channels across multiple and varied disciplines, forging new conduits between need streams and innovation streams. If we were to look at any of our client’s various innovation efforts over the past several years, it would be safe to say that the “in-between” space played a significant role.

If skills in authentic collaboration are going to be increasingly critical for innovation efforts in the “seams,” what are the essential elements of authentic collaboration?  We would appreciate hearing your views. In the meantime, here is a start at what makes for authentic collaboration, whether within the boundaries of a company or across its borders:

• Sufficient over-lap: As a practical matter, there need to be a sufficient over-lap of interest, motivation, experience and/or even expertise for authentic collaboration to occur. Without at least some degree of over-lap, collaborations are difficult to sustain for long enough to get results. Furthermore, while diversity of expertise is a necessary characteristic of the mix of expertise assembled for any sustained or ad-hoc innovation effort, it is possible to have too much diversity, making it difficult for participants to conduct anything more than transactional kinds of interactions—far from collaboration.

• Trusted sharing: As our body’s vascular system distributes oxygen through the blood stream—critical the health of the body’s subsystems and organs, so the often tacit, two-way exchange of intelligence, experience, ideas, knowledge and skills—the “oxygen” of our innovation efforts—is distributed and flows in direct proportion to the trust between players in the network, community of practice or organization. When trust is lacking, the “veins” constrict, slowing down the free exchange of ideas, knowledge and intelligence, and starving our innovations efforts of their essential oxygen.

• Empathy: When actual or potential partners are so absorbed in their own needs and objectives that they have little room or patience left for understanding and accommodating the interests of the other, collaborations will become transactional, at best. And while transactional relationships can be quite useful and productive, the demands of innovation efforts—especially innovations “in-between”—require relationships with more depth, commitment and longevity. Authentic collaboration requires give and take. All take or all give is typically short lived. Innovation efforts are more about influence than control, and there typically place a premium on relationship skills more than transactional skills. 

Authentic collaboration (some born out of so-called ‘creative collisions’), may undoubtedly have other additional elements, some viewed as essential. However, the most productive collaborations—at least those related to innovation efforts—occur in the context of a “community of practice.” These networks of practitioners get established, built and maintained largely on the authentic collaboration that occurs within them.

The Institute for Research on Learning coined the phrase “community of practice” several years ago when it discovered that real learning occurs in a social context—in essence, “in community.” Furthermore, practical learning, upon which successful innovations efforts are so heavily dependent, is learning that derives from one practitioner working with another, engaged in solving a problem together. Hence, “community of practice.” 

It is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify, measure or place a value on the communities of practices that exist (and form and reform) within our companies, and even those that cross the borders of our companies. However, as the social capital that is so essential to sustaining a stream of innovations, communities of practices, and the authentic collaboration they are built with, may be the hidden treasure few of our enterprises can do without.  

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We have been exploring and charting these innovation networks, communities of practices, and collaborations with subscribers to the Innovation Practitioners Network. For more information, please call us at (415) 387-1270 or visit our website at innovationsthatwork.com.

This article was originally published in Innovating Perspectives in September 2004. For this and other back issues of our newsletter, please visit our website at innovationsthatwork.com or call (415) 387-1270.