To Collaborate or Not to Collaborate that is the Question

I have a confession. I do not function well on a committee. The challenge for me is that many times, I think I know the right answer and I do not have the patience to wait for the group to come to a conclusion.

So I appreciated Joe Rominiecki’s post today on the Acronym Blog titled, “Collaboration for collaboration's sake”.

He writes, “assuming collaboration is always positive puts a greater value on process than it does on results. It ought to be the other way around. Surely collaboration is great in the right situations, but not all the time.”

So his post makes me feel a little bit better about my aversion to committees.

However, over my career I also know that over confidence can be a big trap. Often I don’t know what I don’t know. This is expressed really well in an old proverb that says, “The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly” (ESV Pr. 26:16).

Which do you find the biggest challenge in your organization – too much or too little collaboration?