Work is About Collaboration

Posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 by Frank Roche

We work together. We collaborate. Being in a company means that we’re all part of the same thing.

That’s why this interview in Sunday’s NYT with SunGard CEO Cristobal Conde makes so much sense. Here’s the lead question:

Q. What are your thoughts on collaborative versus top-down management?

A. Collaboration is one of the most difficult challenges in management. I think top-down organizations got started because the bosses either knew more or they had access to more information. None of that applies now. Everybody has access to identical amounts of information.

The rest of the article is well worth reading, as well. Mr. Conde uses Yammer at SunGard to communicate with employees internally. They’ve been using it for 7 months and it sounds like it’s working great.

Collaboration. It’s the new micromanagement.