The Culture of Collaboration

Web Conferencing, IM and Network Security

I recently had a compelling collaborative session and conversation with Robert de Monts. Robert contacted me after reading my article in NetworkWorld entitled “Real-Time Collaboration Gets Real.” Robert has an executive background in the network security industry and was on the original Dassault Systemes team that implemented Catia design tools at Boeing. As I describe in The Culture of Collaboration book, Boeing has a unique approach to collaborating with partners. Now Robert is the vice president of marketing and business development for Imera, a company founded by Jaushin Lee and Budi Sutardja, two former Cisco technical managers.

Imera is a security play in the collaboration space. The company’s TeamLinks platform provides “on-premise” vs. hosted web conferencing and instant messaging. This involves buying hardware and software. The focus is on security, compliance, enterprise controls, and federation. TeamLinks has particular relevance for extended enterprises in which companies collaborate regularly with business partners. These partners may be spread around the globe.

With TeamLinks, each participating enterprise in the “ecosystem” controls user-level access to information. Authentication, authorization, and auditing of end-users takes place within the IT department of each enterprise. And each participant can collaborate with external colleagues within the federation without compromising enterprise network security.

There are certainly other web conferencing and IM products that can be used across enterprises, but often security problems preclude the use of all features when collaborating with people outside the firewall. Imera’s emphasis on security for external collaboration among business partners is impressive.

Collaborating with Cuba

On a flight from Montego Bay, Jamaica a couple of weeks ago, I was passing the time by monitoring pilot/control tower communications. United Airlines lets passengers eavesdrop on Channel 9 of the airline’s audio system. As the plane left Jamaican air space, the controller signed off with a customary “Good day.” Shortly thereafter, I heard a female Spanish accent. The plane was entering Cuban air space, and the pilot had established a link with Havana air traffic control. There was constant conversation as the Cuban controller guided the pilot in his ascent. This collaboration continued until the Cuban controller handed off the pilot to controllers in Miami but not before signing off with a friendly “Buenas tardes.”

It makes absolute sense, of course, that U.S. commercial airline pilots collaborate with Cuban air traffic controllers as planes enter and leave Cuban air space. Nevertheless, the U.S. embargo suggests that Cuba is an enemy of the state. So, in effect, the United pilot was collaborating with the “enemy.”

In the business realm, competitors are often considered enemies. Does it make sense to collaborate with competitors? Sometimes. Consider the many joint ventures among competitors and such consortiums as Exostar in the aerospace industry. Exostar lets competitor/partners and suppliers collaborate asynchronously through team rooms and synchronously through web conferencing. It’s a situation in which people may be collaborators in the morning and competitors in the afternoon. The acid test of whether collaborating with competitors makes sense is whether the collaboration creates value for all of the collaborators.

Toyota's Leadership

In his story entitled “From 0 to 60 to World Domination” in the New York Times Magazine this week, Jon Gertner makes some excellent observations.

Gertner notes that production and sales figures tell only part of the story of Toyota’s success. The other part is cultural. Gertner characterizes the Toyota Way as the company’s culture of efficiency and problem-solving. However, the reason Toyota is efficient and can solve problems is the company’s Culture of Collaboration. 

At Toyota, hierarchy plays less of a role than at many other organizations—and flat organizational structures are part and parcel of the Culture of Collaboration. Many Toyota leaders have worked on the production line and have sold cars. Therefore, leaders respect people on the front lines and people at all levels contribute to decisions. When I was conducting research for the book, I experienced first hand the fundamental role that collaboration plays at Toyota.

Toyota extends the Toyota Way and the Culture of Collaboration through its innovative application of collaborative tools. Interactive video plays a role. Using videoconferencing with a variety of task-specific tools, Toyota has created a rich product design and manufacturing environment.

Collaborative Leadership for Harvard

In naming Drew Gilpin Faust its first female president, Harvard University is choosing a candidate who has never led a university. What Faust brings to the table, however, is scholarship and collaborative leadership. In Harvard’s news release and in countless news stories about the appointment, the adjective collaborative appears.

Faust is the dean of the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, the smallest of Harvard’s schools. Her collaborative approach appealed to the search committee which wants to heal the wounds of a campus divided by her predecessor, Larry Summers. Besides his controversial comments about women’s aptitude, Summers has been accused of having a controlling leadership style.

Increasingly, organizations seek collaborative leaders. Dictating policy without inviting input into decisions is old news. Creating value requires putting aside titles and hierarchy. Real-time collaboration tools such as instant messaging and spontaneous web and videoconferencing support this shift by encouraging people regardless of title or function to solve problems, brainstorm and create value on the fly. I know one software company CIO who has ruffled some feathers by using IM regularly with people several levels down. But the organization’s culture is catching up with her collaborative leadership style.

For any manager wondering whether collaborative leadership enhances careers, the story of Drew Gilpin Faust should provide at least a hint.

Telepresence and Collaboration

Suddenly, telepresence is all the rage. HP and Cisco have introduced telepresence systems, and Polycom has followed suit by acquiring Destiny Conferencing Corporation. Tandberg has jumped in with its version of telepresence.

Now the media is racing to write about telepresence. The typical angle is that videoconferencing has stumbled repeatedly, because of technical hassles and a sub-optimal user experience. With new, high-end telepresence systems now available, journalists are raising the question: has the time for interactive video finally arrived?

The broader issue, however, is the relationship between telepresence and collaboration. Sure, a more intuitive experience encourages us to communicate through video. But the best tools, strategies and processes fall flat without The Culture of Collaboration. The most collaborative cultures already use video, despite the limitations of standard systems.

Videoconferencing and telepresence by themselves are simply meeting tools useful in many situations. What is infinitely more compelling, though, is the blending of real-time, interactive video with other tools that let us develop, design and produce products and services collaboratively regardless of distance. In the manufacturing sector, these include advanced computer-aided design (CAD) tools. In the entertainment and post-production industries, tools include animation or digital effects programs.

Telepresence lets us share the same virtual space, but creating value in that space requires collaboration.