Somewhere, in the back of my mind but where I can't quite reach it, I have a sense that "collaboration" means something negative.  Maybe it's from the Joseph McCarthy era? Did those who "named names" get labelled as collaborators? Is it an old Commy expression for those who were co-opted by capital when they were actually members of the proletariat?  It's one of those memories, though. And it haunts me, as collaboration becomes a more and more common word in my vocabulary.

In part, it's because as a consultant, I'm continually collaborating, at least with clients.  But mostly, wearing my other hat, as president of a web company, I sell collaboration, and using the web to do it.  And the product we seem to find ourselves developing is collaboration software: tools that allow people connected by the Internet to work together collaboratively. 

Surely collaboration isn't new.  Perhaps what is now called collaboration used to be called teamwork.  Although, teams are still important -- groups united by a common purpose, it usually means.  And members of teams collaborate.  Can anyone else collaborate? Why do we have this new word? And is there anything new besides having to do the teamwork over distances? Is collaboration just "virtual" teamwork?

It's ironic that just as experts have identified that in order to encourage collaboration in a physical office settings, people need to be within a certain number of feet from each other (less than 50 feet, as I recall), the world is requiring us to work with people we've never met who may be three or four time zones away. In fact, they may be from different countries, with several people using a second language to communicate.  I wonder, often, if we are expecting too much.

Is collaboration with strangers possible? I, of all people, know that one can achieve intimacy electronically, having married a man I met and courted electronically.  But it took a huge investment of time.  Time being so short, and time zones being what they are, and technology being as limited as it is, it's unlikely that we'll see the emergence of all-day virtual "retreats", with ice breakers, and team-building exercises. Does that mean there are electronic equivalents? Does the same thing happen, but based on what people read of each other's, rather than what they see and hear the other do?

These are the questions that haunt me today.  Can I find ways to work with and even lead virtual teams that are more satisfying for everyone, myself included? And if I can't, why am I recommending this method of working to others? Or is it a choice, or an inevitability?  Oh well, at least I get paid to think about these things.  It's hard to complain about that!

Next entry

Archives