Comments on: Collaboration Is So Overrated

By: Ron Shevlin

Ron Shevlin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:04:40 +0000

Ninja: Thanks for commenting, and for the honest admission. Your generation is no different from previous generations in that it tries to find ways to distinguish itself from other generations. (Did that make sense?). One way that Gen Yers try to distinguish themselves from other generations (this is based more on my observation than on any scientific research) is by claiming to be collaborative.

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Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:42:36 +0000

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By: CU_Ninja

CU_Ninja — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:00:29 +0000

I hate to admit it, but many of the previous comments are correct. Many in my generation use arguments for collaboration as a way to get out of actually accomplishing anything. Although, I do have a feeling this will change over time as we come into leadership positions ourselves. Once we are on the hot seat, and are the one’s who are held accountable, I’m sure sure we’ll be singing a much different tune.

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:34:12 +0000

I don’t care who made the observation… whether it be Gen-Y talking about themselves, or some other generational expert reflecting on Gen-Y. The world is so desperate to apply labels and definitions to Gen-Y that they don’t realize how ridiculous the terms and descriptors being used actually sound.

“Gen-Y is collaborative,” the Authority Figure says. And the crowd goes “Ooooohhh! Ahhhhh! Brilliant insight!!”

Phhbbbt…

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:29:58 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by rshevlin: New blog post: Collaboration Is So Overrated. (I’m not gonna win any new GenY friends w/ this one) http://bit.ly/bnB5i8...

By: Matt Fagala

Matt Fagala — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:04:30 +0000

Good post. I have found in my short career that collaboration works well on some processes or parts of a project. Although, if you really want to get things done, you need a benevolent dictator to push things along and provide clear direction. I love this quote from the CEO of a CU I visited a few years back: “Everyone will use the new system, including those that replace the one’s that don’t”.

By: Jim Novo

Jim Novo — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:23:29 +0000

My experience is the “sharing” approach to collaboration yields weak outcomes that take way too long to produce.

Participants love it because you can’t “blame” anybody for this end result – you know, it was a “shared” outcome.

Hey, wait a minute, is that good?

By: Ron Shevlin

Ron Shevlin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:52:33 +0000

It’s not chutzpah. It’s totally predictable and expected. Did not the Boomers — when they were Hippies — claim to be changing the world thru peace, love, and rock n’ roll? Were they not the ones who were tuning in, turning on, and dropping out?

Every generation wants to cast off the sins of their predecessors. I don’t fault Gen Yers for walking around claiming to be “collaborative” (and, by implication, “superior”). I’m just calling them out on it.

By: Doug Brockway

Doug Brockway — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:20:57 +0000

I think Denise’s comment is wonderfully understated.

In a vein similar to your fine post, Ron, I was watching a promo for a social media marketing book this morning. Lots of key words rotating on the screen and an emphatic yearning for how different this all is in the sense of “no one has ever communicated, collaborated or listened in this way before.”

It leaves me cold. Then I had a “flutter” of insight, or I wondered if instead of creating something entirely new with social media we’re just going back to the old ways, dare I use the metaphor, the ways of the village, where you spoke directly to those you bought from and sold to and knew everybody’s business etc., etc. The industrial society with its structures and its hierarchies and its mass media gets in the way of that… Well, deals with interactions in another way.

On how important Gen Y is to all this, assume for a second that social media is transformative. It takes a bit of chutzpah for a generation of people to claim that its doing so because of their character. I say its doing so while they happen to be there. Its like what one of the internal CFO’s at Fidelity once told me. All of the exec’s walked around with their big egos because of the big numbers they were throwing up. At the time the Dow was going up 1,000 points a year. He said “its all just market action.”

By: Ron Shevlin

Ron Shevlin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:01:25 +0000

Ted: You wrote: “Excellence often fosters conflict. And conflict is perceived as lack of collaboration.”

Amen. And trust me when I tell you that nobody — and I mean nobody — has learned that more painfully than I have over the years.