Pacific Innovation & Leadership

What Happens to Collaboration?

If only we could cooperate together better at work, it just might be a better place to have fun and be more productive. But as we all know collaboration doesn’t come easy anywhere, anytime. Do you understand why?

To understand we have to look at corporate culture. Some workplaces encourage cooperation but perhaps many more promote a spirit of competition. A classic example of this was the two cultures at Sony and Apple, when the iPod was being developed. At Apple there was a clear goal in mind with each division devotedly focused on that single goal. Information sharing was high and there was clarity of purpose as each group went about their business. At Apple collaboration pre-existed their products and in fact flourished as they went about their work. By contrast each of Sony’s divisions had its own ideas about what to do on its product Connect It was as if they were contraindicated (to borrow a medical term) to each other; they were so conflicted in how to develop the product they seemed to work against each other. Sony’s mess turned into a market disaster whereas the iPod became one of the success stories of the decade. The iPod’s progression transformed Apple from an average company to an amazing story. The fruit of their collaboration became a world changing product that has become an ordinary part of everyday life for so many around the globe. Sony’s people worked against each other; Apple’s people energized each other and have been producing amazing products ever since then.

The first lesson about collaboration is that it occurs in a corporate culture that is by design operated in a spirit of cooperation – - an environment where people want to work together, take pride in what they do together and celebrate in big and small ways at each progressive inch of their successes.

What happens when stakeholder requirements are ignored by big companies already known for its innovation?

Just being good at the moment is not enough to stay on top of an industry. New ideas must continue to be sought out and implemented. To not be implemented or not implemented fully is innovation idea folly!
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Let us look at the cellular phone industry. Motorola was initially an industry leader and dominated the market. Then Nokia took over industry leadership. Blackberry came by and blew away the narrow-minded efforts of Nokia. But then Apple virtually bankrupted Nokia. Now Samsung’s Galaxy is giving Apple a stiff run for its money as it gives end-user stakeholders (SH) many new delightful and frustration reducing features.

How is Samsung achieving impact? By putting out a new size of device that is bigger than a cell phone but smaller than a tablet. The tablet is just too big to carry around most of the time while the phone is too small to be able to work on like a computer (although smart phone users do it albeit in a somewhat frustrating way). Apple’s policy of not going to that type of an intermediate size is hurting them.

How did Apple grab Blackberry’s market? The SH had an initial need for security of intra-corporate communication but Apple is able to provide that kind of security and yet do so much more. Blackberry concentrated on incremental improvements to its product instead of seeing the grand picture of what was possible to do with the communication device such as turning it into a computer now known as a smart phone. The ability to carry around a computer in a very portable and easy fashion without aggravation removed a deep-seated frustration for the general public and far exceeded the simpler desires of a very narrow business market.

Similarly, Nokia took advantage of Motorola’s very narrow focus on its current economic/performance engine while it’s inability to make radical or disruptive change was ignored. Nokia moved out into a new S-curve, a new performance engine: a small and sleek highly comfortable device replacing a big and bulky monstrosity-to-use cell phone even though those same cell phones were becoming incrementally smaller.

When stakeholders’ deep-seated frustrations are ignored somebody will fill the gap with a frustration-reduction solution. When the SH requirement or need is critically important to what they commonly do, then the rate of acceptance of a frustration-reduction device will be exceedingly rapid and produce huge new markets. Detecting both critically important SH activity that is being met with a matching deep frustration is the basis for radical or disruptive innovation. When such detection techniques are repeatedly used then a world-class innovation company will come on the scene and become exceedingly difficult to displace or compete against – – they become a stakeholder’s dream company.

So who seeks to intimately know the critical frustrations of a company’s many stakeholders?

Destructive leaders stubbornly rely on what worked for them in the past. When they find their company in decline, they revert to what they regard as tried-and-true methods. They do not consider how much the environment has changed. Instead of considering a range of options that fit the new circumstances, these leaders point to their past successes as the only point to reference. They cling to past “defining moments” – - what they are best known for and makes them special. They become unable to learn because they have learned one particular lesson too well.

Charismatic Dominance

Destructive leaders are consummate spokespersons, obsessed with the company image. They regularly display their remarkable charisma before the media. Their public persona inspires confidence amongst all employees and stakeholders. The problem is amongst the addictive accolades, their management efforts become shallow and ineffective disguised by the appearance of accomplishing things. The line between talking good performance and demonstrating same becomes blurred. Devotion to public relations leaves little time to attend to the critical details of the business. Further, as the company’s image becomes their top priority these leaders encourage financial reporting practices that promote that image. Financial accounting becomes a control tool. The culture becomes one of the entire company supporting public relations.

All Ahead Full

Destructive leaders underestimate obstacles. Typically they become so enamored with their vision of what they want to achieve, they completely underestimate the difficulty of actually getting there. When the real obstacles surface, they recklessly plunge full steam ahead into the abyss. Awesome expansion is rammed forward amidst a sea of bright red ink. They fail to hold back or reevaluate their course of action often because of an enormous need to be right in every important decision they make. Admitting to fallibility is not an option but believing in their own magic is. Recognizing that escalating commitment is getting out of hand becomes impossible. Courage in the face of adversity can be most devastating, and in fact, foolhardy.