|
 |
 |
Women & Leadership Australia eNewsletterAugust 2009 |
||
Book review: Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Australia
Collaboration is the culmination of Morten Hansen’s 15 years of research and experience. His research on collaboration started when he was working on his PhD at Stanford in the US and wanted to solve the puzzle of why some teams had good collaboration while others got it wrong. Using clear examples from various industries – Apple, Sony, HP and the FBI – he highlights the destructive and productive sides of collaboration, and presents his theory of ‘disciplined collaboration’ – collaboration that leads to better innovation, better sales or better operations. Each main point is supported by diagrams while surveys are put in at opportune moments – such as where he highlights the four barriers to collaboration and how to overcome them – providing the tools and the framework for managers to evaluate when collaboration is good, the barriers to it and then how they, as an individual, can become collaborative focused. In addition to presenting ‘disciplined collaboration’, he covers the reasons for collaborating, the four barriers to why teams don’t collaborate – The Not-Invented Here Barrier, The Hoarding Barrier, The Search Barrier, and The Transfer Barrier – and then the solutions for breaking down each of the barriers. A strong point of this book is his recognition that the same principles apply to each solution but have to be tailored for the individual organisation. His interest and intrigue on this subject are obvious through the amount of research and the clearly presented statements and real-life examples. The book’s structure has been thought out properly without being rushed – unlike many other similar-themed books on the market. As such, Collaboration is a clear, easy to follow book that presents apparent thoughts and statements. The end of chapter summaries provide an extra neat tie-up of the main points iterated in the chapter. With the last quarter of the book dedicated to the research behind the book, notes on the book, the appendix and bibliography, it serves to highlights the amount of work and research that Morten Hansen has drawn on and strongly backs up the statements presented throughout the course of the book. The academia of the book could well have been the book’s downfall, considering how research intense it is. But with its practical focus, Morten Hansen has managed to present a book that excels at being an intensive guide and framework for establishing ‘disciplined collaboration’ in any organisation. Without a doubt, this is a book that every manager should read and keep on hand.
Our rating: 10/10 By Ben Zipper, Co-editor, Women & Leadership Australia eNewsletter
|
||
|
||||||
Book author: Morten Hansen
