Collaboration Imperative Executive Strategies for Unlocking Your Organization's True Potential [Hardcover]

RON RICCI (Author), CARL WIESE (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 19, 2011

Do you want to lead the kind of company that can quickly seize any opportunity and solve any problem? The Collaboration Imperative: Executive Strategies for Unlocking Your Organization's True Potential offers valuable executive strategies to unleash the hidden assets trapped inside your company-from talent and experience to the right answer and the next big idea. Free these assets through increased collaboration and you build a world-class organization that can tackle market opportunities with lightning speed.

Written by two seasoned Cisco executives, Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese, The Collaboration Imperative outlines actionable strategies for how you can:
Create a culture that encourages collaboration
Build processes to streamline collaboration from top to bottom
Use collaboration technology to achieve tangible results

In The Collaboration Imperative, you will learn:

Why collaboration is the biggest opportunity of the next decade
How you can become a chief catalyst for collaboration
How to develop authentic communicators at every level
How to get teams aligned and working toward a shared vision
How to make the most of meetings in an increasingly dispersed work world
What technologies are available to foster collaboration
Which common business activities are most ripe for collaborative transformation
How to ensure the maximum return on your collaboration investments
How you can become a truly collaborative leader

Collaboration Imperative includes case studies from a number of leading companies-from General Electric to Duke University to Best Buy and more. It also features interviews with collaboration thought leaders such as Morten Hansen (author of Collaboration), Thomas Malone (author of The Future of Work) and Andrew McAfee (author of Enterprise 2.0).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 246 pages
• Publisher: Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA; 1ST edition (December 19, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 098394170X
• ISBN-13: 978-0983941705
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #859,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Getting Collaboration Right February 7, 2012

By Kevin Perkins

I was recently complaining to a friend about how much time was being wasted on useless meetings with one of my clients. Upon suggesting I read The Collaboration Imperative, my friend promised me it wouldn't be another one of those re-tread "Business Idea-Of-The-Day" books. Having read so many those jargon-filled volumes over the years, I was not particularly expecting a whole lot. But after checking out the first few pages, I was honestly looking forward to how the authors were planning on fleshing out their premise...

The bottom line is, with so much technology and so little time, were all innately collaborative by default, right? Well, truly the biggest barriers to collaboration are not technical in nature at all! They are cultural and organizational, whether you're working in a start-up or a massive multi-national. Having worked in both, the idea of embracing contrarian ideas in your process accelerates result gathering, and thus the ability to make informed decisions. Of course this requires leadership and resolve from management to lead by example. No more "silo syndrome", fiefdoms, and looking at resources as "stuff", but tools.

As a technology guy, I particularly liked the authors' "collaboration API" concept that they developed--especially for making meetings productive. No more "Who called this meeting?" or "What's the agenda?" questions. A simple exchange, engage, or inform platform is available to maximize everyone's time and accomplish intended goals. I highly recommend this book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ricci and Wiese show the way January 25, 2012

By Tom Stephenson

Ricci and Wiese present a compelling case on why the way we work is undergoing radical change for the better. The days of hierarchical, silo'd business processes are behind us as new collaborative ways of working allow (and often force) much more fluid and rapid interactions. The upside (which they show through many detailed vignettes) is considerable in terms of business outcomes (cycle time, cost, quality) as well as increased employee satisfaction and engagement.

In a day where transactions costs and operations are squeezed tighter and tighter it is the interactions between knowledge workers that will create sustainable competitive advantage. In the book I particularly liked the connection between management practices (especially the discussions on transparency and accountability), culture and the underlying technology. None of these alone can create the new working model for the future.

Well done, I look forward to seeing the dialog on more company examples. This really brings the concepts to life for me.

The Collaboration Imperative

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Collaboration Imperative January 18, 2012

By Jeff Klein

In the Collaborative Imperative, Ricci and Wiese deliver a treasure trove of insights, information and practical tools to catalyze collaboration. The authors outline the cultural, process and technological dimensions of collaboration, in a densely packed, elegantly designed and easily navigated guidebook for executives, leaders and team members. The Collaborative Imperative is both a call-to-action and a playbook for flourishing in the Age of Collaboration.