Collaboration

Mick, Keith shine a light

March 7, 2011

Despite their tumultuous relationship, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards decided in 1989 to thrash out how they would hold their band together. Why? Because they were better together than apart.

One way you can increase productivity of knowledge workers is by breaking down time barriers. That is, build in time for them to share knowledge. Example: Boston-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals discovered that researchers didn’t have time to share lessons from experiments. So it dubbed a small group of scientists “knowledge intermediaries.”

The risks of going it alone

July 9, 2010

Say the name Burt Bacharach and people think “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” “The Look of Love” or any number of pop hits he wrote with lyricist Hal David into the 1970s. But, although Bacharach was the more famous of the two, he learned how valuable teamwork is.

Microsoft takes competition too far

May 14, 2010

A little healthy competition can be, well, healthy. Internal competition allowed to go too far, though, can be destructive. Dick Brass, a Microsoft vice president from 1997 to 2004, says that at Microsoft, internal competition has created a dysfunctional corporate culture in which big, established groups prey upon emerging teams.

From crayons to water guns: Liven up boring meetings

February 12, 2010

In the downturn, productivity is everything. Small business owners are turning to creative solutions for making conference-room time productive. Here are three examples from “Boring Meetings? Get Out the Water Guns”:

You need more than a gut reaction

February 12, 2010

Leaders sometimes go with their gut when making a decision. Just make sure yours isn’t the only gut being consulted, suggests Reid Carr, president of Red Door Interactive. Here’s one tactic for pulling in the intuition of others:

Never fly solo; use a wingman

January 11, 2010

We all have our blind spots. For a pilot, that spot is the six o’clock position, and it’s the job of a wingman to “check six,” or keep an eye on a pilot’s vulnerable spot. Stretch the metaphor to the workplace, and it’s the leader who could use a wingman, says Air Force fighter pilot Rob “Waldo” Waldman.

8 guidelines for new ventures

June 1, 2006

8 things to keep in mind.