Collaboration

Collaboration improves performance in most things that we do. This is true of sports teams and equally true of businesses and organizations. Cooperation, not competition, is the way to gain the most significant advantage for your 'team'. Alfie Kohn provides a simple explanation for us to realize this; trying to do well and trying to beat others are two different things.

Recently, I recalled this focus for collaboration while I have been discussing the best strategy for approaching "Configuration Management" (one of the key disciplines described by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library - ITIL). Configuration Management is all about 'collaboration'. It is dependent on the cooperation of most members of any IT organization if it is to succeed. When IT people realize that they are successful when others succeed, then the entire organzation begins to rally around each others accomplishements. This is really the distinction between Leadership and management.