Teams or, worse still, individuals who work in a vacuum are a formula for stagnation. Organizations must ensure there exists a “dense network of lateral connections” that help “stitch together far-flung divisions with little or no top-down direction.”
Opportunities to work together must explicitly be arranged, such as annual learning visits to other branches or departments. But more importantly, leadership must promote collaboration on both a formal and informal basis.
This can be accomplished directly through policy, such as a “share everything” policy on transparency. It also helps to design “healthy competition” between teams in reaching particular goals that makes collaboration natural, easy, and fun.
