MIT Sloan Management Review - 09.2019 - 11.2019

SLOANREVIEW.MIT.EDU FALL 2019 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW 19

COLLABORATION IS A CRITICAL COMPETENCYin organizations these days, especially given
how much of our work is project driven, done virtually, or both. But it’s a difficult skill to
develop. Collaboration requires patience when we are pressed for time — and a willingness to
learn from one another when it’s often easier to hunker down and focus on our own tasks and
deadlines. And for those of us who contribute to several teams at once, collaboration can
become all-consuming, taking a toll on energy and performance. Competing interests and
interpersonal conflicts have a way of interfering with the greater good as well.
How, then, can managers get their people working together productively? In the opening
article of this special report, Rob Cross, Thomas H. Davenport, and Peter Gray explain how some
companies are using analytics and machine learning to understand who really needs to col-
laborate and why, and how to get better results from those interactions. Such tools can help
organizations scale approaches that are working well in isolated areas, create nimbler teams,
integrate networks to spark innovation across silos, reveal where connectivity is draining time
and energy, and pinpoint social capital enablers of retention and high performance.
Strong leadership matters, too. As Ethan Bernstein, Jesse Shore, and David Lazer have found
in their research, leaders can increase their organizations’ and teams’ collaborative yield by set-
ting an optimal rhythm. It turns out that hyperconnectivity is good for information sharing, but
it’s not so great for problem-solving, which requires periods that are free of interaction. By alter-
nating between the two states, groups can get the best of both.
Leaders must also confront their teams’ undiscussables — the things people won’t or can’t
talk about — to promote inquiry and learning among colleagues. Through their consulting en-
gagements, Ginka Toegel and Jean-Louis Barsoux have observed that four types of undiscussables
often hold groups back. They describe how companies they’ve worked with have dealt with each
type to foster open discussion and improve team functioning. —The Editors

SPECIAL

REPORT

20

Collaborate

Smarter,

Not Harder

29

Improving

the Rhythm

of Your

Collaboration

37

It’s Time to

Tackle Your

Team’s

Undiscussables