Leadership is Dying a Slow Death

“Hey! Did you hear what happened to leadership?”

“No. What happened?”

“Collaboration killed it!”

For the past 15+ years, I’ve been working with amazing leaders around the country from diverse sectors, at different stages of their careers, and with markedly different “styles.”  At the same time, collaboration has emerged as the moral compass for every leader worth their salt.  Sigh…  There lies the problem.  Leaders are struggling to figure out how collaboration and leadership can effectively co-exist, interact, and be mutually supporting.

I get it.  I get it.  We need to collaborate to achieve better outcomes and greater impact.  Collaboration can accelerate change, spur innovation, and encourage employee retention and loyalty.  It creates greater flexibility in teams, gets to the root causes of problems, increases learning, and creates spaces to share information.  According to a 2009 study by Frost & Sullivan, the average return (value) from collaboration is about four times the initial investment.  Much like equity (as in fairness), collaboration in its purest forms is a good thing, maybe even a great thing if you are about being bigger, faster, smarter, stronger, and better at doing what you do.  At the same time, misguided attempts to lead collaboration can make leaders ineffective, indecisive, and mealy-mouthed.

Collaboration is not rocket science.  It literally means working with others to achieve or accomplish something — but does working together mean that a leader (formal or informal) should shy away from taking action or “making the call?”  Does collaboration require leaders to consult everyone imaginable on every decision?  Does it require leaders to reach consensus in every situation?  Should collaboration prevent leaders from stating their true opinion, exercising their best judgment, or trusting their gut, particularly if they are counter to the views and ideas of their collaborators?

Well, that seems to be how some leaders interpret collaboration in a time when invoking “team,” “we,” and “collective” are the means by which leaders are judged by their peers and others.  The degree to which we collaborate, or rather the perception of it, seems to be the basis for assessing our character as leaders.  With that type of misguided and misplaced scrutiny, it is no wonder that I witness leaders from all walks shying away from speaking boldly and acting decisively while at the same time apologizing for making required decisions.  I’ve found myself compelled to explain why I had to make a decision without input or counter to recommendations provided by collaborators—even though I know better, even though I know I did what needed to be done based on the bigger picture.  Too often, I’m on the brink of apologizing for leading.

Collaboration doesn’t require leaders to go against our knowledge, information, or instincts, nor does it require us to agree with every input, opinion, or data point.  Collaboration calls on us to:

1. Identify the right collaborators based on their skills, knowledge, influence, position in the world, view/vision, trust, relationships, opportunities for the future, and wisdom. Collaborators might even include the “unusual suspects.”
2. Solicit ideas and inputs from the right people for the right reasons. Use their engagement wisely and meaningfully.  Inauthentic collaboration can be destructive.
3. Make it clear that ideas and inputs are welcomed and valued and they will be used when possible and as appropriate—which may not be in every instance. Consideration of ideas and inputs doesn’t guarantee agreement.
4. Communicate throughout the collaborative process, how or by whom final decisions will be made. People tend to forget this when they have a vested interest in the outcome and they are not the one “making the call.”
5. Seek consensus up to the point where it is no longer a viable solution, particularly if a decision or action is required within a specific timeframe.
6. Share information.
7. Be flexible and open to the evolution of thoughts and ideas; the fluidity of roles and responsibilities, and the possibility that common problems require uncommon solutions – sometimes generated by someone other than you.
8. Keep control without being controlling.
9. State your opinions, ideas, and views clearly and with strength. Speaking up doesn’t have to be to the exception of hearing everyone else.
10. Be strong and unapologetic about your strength! Misguided collaboration can weaken even the best leaders.  Demonstrating strength doesn’t disqualify you from being a phenomenal collaborator.
11. Not every situation is appropriate for a collaborative process while others are “made” for it. Be intentional and strategic when deciding the best approach to achieve your goals.

I am hopeful that reports regarding the demise of leadership at the hands of collaboration are premature and overrated (even by me) and that instead, we can breathe new life into their relationship.  Good relationships are about balance.  Let’s strike one between leadership and collaboration.