A Collaborative Culture Collaboration Is Not Something Organizations Do , But a Way of Being

In our complex environment, we find increasing instances and opportunities for both interand intra-organizational collaboration. With advances in technology, the world is becoming smaller and we are experiencing in very tangible ways that we are interconnected economically, socially, and politically. To solve complex problems as well as to harness greater opportunity, we must break out of our isolation and join with one another. The increasing number of large-scale partnerships across entire sectors of government, industry, and nonprofit, both domestically and internationally, is a testament to this movement. To be successful in this environment, organizations must learn how to collaborate well with others. As an organization development and change management consultant who frequently works with federal government agencies, I often facilitate change projects that result from mandates levied on agencies by oversight organizations such as the Government Accountability Office, Office of Management and Budget, and offices of inspectors general. These change recommendations often demonstrate real insight into the underlying problems an agency may be experiencing. However, my own preferences for participation and engagement cause me to believe that these recommendations would be even more powerful and relevant—not to mention more often implemented—if the agencies themselves were able to collaborate with the oversight organizations to examine the issues and formulate solutions. It was with this idea in mind that I began to research how organizations collaborate when one organization has power over another. Specifically, what factors enable collaboration within a hierarchical organization system? How are problems framed and who frames them—and to whom? How are solutions developed and who participates? What does collaboration feel like when one organization has legitimate power over another? This article is a précis of my research and consequent dissertation on interorganizational collaboration and power. The results of the research indicated that collaboration is not simply a series of prescriptive steps to follow when one organization wants to partner with another; instead, collaboration is a way of being. Collaboration is a behavioral result of having a collaborative culture, one that embraces particular values, principles, and behaviors that together, not only promote collaboration, but support an expectation of collaboration.