we can’t manage collaboration well until we acknowledge that it’s fundamentally dangerous.
A great article by Nilofer Merchant who lists eight reasons why ‘collaboration’ is dangerous:
1. Not knowing the answer. => Vulnerability
2. Unclear or uncomfortable roles. => Roles versus functions – the importance of a social architecture.
3. Too much talking, not enough doing. => The illusion of democracy.
4. Information (over)sharing. => It’s about filter failure (both: power- and information-filters)
5. Fear of fighting. => The importance of understanding and decoding resistance.
6. More work. => Leaders will need to get their fingernails dirty.
7. More hugs than decisions. => The clash between authority and influence.
8. It’s hard to know who to praise and who to blame. => The importance of social validation
I fully agree on the conclusion she draws: “we can’t manage collaboration well until we acknowledge that it’s fundamentally dangerous.” This sheds a light on the new types of resistance we can expect when implementing collaboration models such as Social Architecture.
