Template 8

Tips For Overcoming
Collaboration Obstacles

Name:

Date:

Purpose: To identify 10 obstacles to effective collaboration and ways to overcome them most effectively.

1. 1. Obstacle: Unrealistic expectations about collaboration as a process

Tips:

• • Identify individual expectations:
• ° Conduct a precollaboration survey.
• ° Conduct precollaboration interviews.
• ° Host a precollaboration meeting to explore expectations for accountability and responsibility from self and others.
• • Agree on group expectations about how to collaborate best with each other:
• ° Facilitate group agreement about what to expect realistically from the collaboration process.
• ° Discuss which expectations are achievable, and which ones are not.
• ° Agree on how to manage the collaboration process best, including roles and responsibilities.
• ° Offer the opportunity to assign a replacement person if participants are not able to agree to commit to the expectations for the collaboration process.
• • Identify key checkpoints when the group meets to assess and improve the collaboration process. Invite a collaboration specialist to meet with the group to present information about what to expect from a collaboration process:
• ° Offer advice to the group.
• ° Agree to consult with the group as needed.
• • Revise the collaboration goals to make them more achievable for the group:
• ° Make the goals SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
• ° Rank the goals as a group, in order of priority.
• ° Agree on the top priorities.

1. 2. Obstacle: Difficulty scheduling meetings that work for all parties

Tips:

• • Assign backup representatives in case one cannot attend.
• • Schedule multiple meetings in clusters to help members plan ahead for maximum attendance by all.
• • Agree on the minimum number of attendees required.
• • Determine scheduling procedures for changes and cancellations and enforce them consistently.
• • Rotate meeting locations.
• • Establish meeting time limits and enforce them.
• • Get agreement on the minimum number of meetings required to maintain one’s membership on the collaboration team.

1. 3. Obstacle: Lack of accountability and commitment to follow through on promises

Tips:

• • Require standards for maintaining membership on the collaboration team.
• • Create a team vision that all members are required to be accountable for supporting throughout the collaboration.
• • Create a “Collaboration Accountability Team” to help support members with mentoring, information sharing, advice, and access to additional resources that are available.

1. 4. Obstacle: Incompatible and dominant personalities

Tips:

• • Appoint a strong facilitator.
• • Don’t take it personally.
• • Communicate the importance of fairness for all to speak and participate equally.
• • Ask the group to identify ways to self-manage dominant behaviors.
• • Assign roles at meetings to encourage dominant personalities to speak less and more quiet personalities to speak more.

1. 5. Obstacle: Technology tools not integrated for everyone’s access and use

Tips:

• • Keep it simple by choosing technology that is easy to use.
• • Survey all parties to identify what technologies they use, prefer, and dislike.
• • Assign an IT specialist to be on-call for troubleshooting problems.
• • Test first before implementing.
• • Experiment with technology apps.
• • Ensure that the meeting location has maximum technology access.
• • Avoid the overuse of e-mails.
• • Create a file storage system for accessing and archiving key documents.

1. 6. Obstacle: Discomfort sharing knowledge and resources

Tips:

• • Set expectations from the very beginning about the necessity to share information pertinent to the collaboration.
• • Assign subteams with complementary skills and knowledge to work together.
• • Select meeting spaces most suitable for information exchange.
• • Showcase individual knowledge and talent at group meetings.
• • Create an internal knowledge and resource-sharing website for all collaboration partners.

1. 7. Obstacle: Lack of sponsorship from senior executive leaders

Tips:

• • Promote sponsorship to support and streamline decisions.
• • Recruit sponsors at the beginning to endorse the collaboration to support its success.
• • Make the sponsors a part of the team’s collaboration success story. Ask them to participate and help promote the collaboration team’s ideas and initiatives.

1. 8. Obstacle: Organizational bureaucracy restricting change initiatives

Tips:

• • Determine what processes and policies are involved and required.
• • Identify specific improvements for streamlining policies and procedures that slow down change.
• • Get commitment from bureaucrats involved to help streamline processes:
• ° Appeal to their interests.
• ° Ask for advice.
• ° Conduct a pilot test that they help sponsor and
  participate in.
• ° Use referent power to influence others by gaining more credibility by referring to someone they report to or respect.

1. 9. Obstacle: Lack of diverse membership and representation

Tips:

• • Identify diversity gaps in the group.
• • “Borrow” it: invite more diverse individuals to participate.
• • Change it: replace or add additional members intentionally, either full time or for specific meetings when needed.
• • Compensate for it: ask for independent feedback from interviews, surveys, or consultants to recommend ways to increase thinking and membership diversity, and allocate a budget for these if required.

1. 10. Obstacle: Change of leadership and membership within the collaboration team

Tips:

• • Review and refine the vision statement.
• • Appoint an orientation team to help newcomers adjust.
• • Appoint someone from within the team to mentor any new leaders and members.