Masters of Collaboration
BusinessWeek picks up on the move to collaboration in the creative and sometimes ego-driven world of product design.
“Just as forward-thinking engineering firms have worked to team up with design partners to offer a holistic output to clients, many design consultancies have responded to the seismic shifts in technology and culture by adopting a radical, collaborative approach—in stark contrast with the magician/know-it-all designer type of old.”
I did pick up one of the common misconceptions about collaboration in this article. That is, collaboration means big teams. But at the same time collaboration is not universally good. This quote sums up both ideas.
The process-driven, collaborative approach does have its detractors. “The danger is that it becomes very flat and very unemotional,” says Yves Béhar, founder of Fuseproject in San Francisco. “You need personalities and points of view, and points of view come from people, not processes,” Sapper adds: “You do not need big teams to create innovation; as a matter of fact, big teams often act as brakes to innovation.”
[via CPH127]
Shawn, author of Putting Stories to Work, is one of the world's leading business storytelling consultants. He helps executive teams find and tell the story of their strategy. When he is not working on strategy communication, Shawn is helping leaders find and tell business stories to engage, to influence and to inspire. Shawn works with Global 1000 companies including Shell, IBM, SAP, Bayer, Microsoft & Danone. Connect with Shawn on: