Why We Need Less Collaboration

Collaboration is one of those motherhood statement buzzwords that have seeped into our vernacular. It’s a vaguely positive thing that almost no one could dislike. The problem with it, like all other buzzwords, is that it is ultimately devoid of real meaning. It is used by people who aren’t able to articulate what they actually want. This is why I won’t be collaborating with anyone any time soon.

Collaboration

Collaboration sounds positive. It evokes an image of a group of people working earnestly together. They have one mind and no conflict. For anyone who has spent time with humans it should be obvious that that’s not how they actually work. People disagree. People wander and meander. We have different objectives. For a group of people to do anything together there needs to be some kind of structure. You need someone to lead or be in charge. If you can determine that relationship of the organisation then there is immediately a better term to define it. Are people trying to achieve some work task? Maybe they’re working together? Is there a manager then they’re not collaborating with their manager? They’re following the manager’s directions. Is it two individuals working together in a partnership?  Is it an agency arrangement or contract for specific services? Whatever it is, there is a series of rights obligations duties and structures that go along with it, and there is almost always a better and more accurate term than collaboration. 

Further, in many cases collaboration is used to hide the true nature of a relationship. I’ve had a number of requests to collaborate which have in reality have been requests to do work for free. Or perhaps it is the corporate-speak attempt to pretend that the manager’s unpleasant directions are instead some kumbaya fest of people working happily together. People are smart and can see through attempts to mislead them. Drop the word collaboration from your vernacular.

Reinventing

Everyone seems to be reinventing the world. They’re reinventing law, user experience and pizzas. No one seems satisfied in making incremental improvements to what they’re doing already. To reinvent something means totally creating it anew. If you’re reinventing law does that mean that you’re abolishing all of our cases, precedents, institutions and thousands of years of knowledge? If you truly have a revolutionary invention then it will generally speak for itself. If it’s going to be so different that anyone who sees it will understand that it is a reinvention, without you needing to say that. For example moving from a common law system to a civil law system would seem to be to be a total change in the law. If you had come up with such change then that would be a reinvention. In reality reinvention is used as a mealy-mouthed marketing message of newness, but used in circumstances where there is a lack of real substance. If you’re going to reinvent something, reinvent your marketing and properly describe what you’re actually doing.

Chiefs

I was very perplexed the first time I saw a company that had all chiefs and no employees. What were they the chief of? There was a Chief Executor Officer, a Chief Financial Officer, and a Chief Technology Officer. There was only three people. Not some multinational organisation with multiple departments for which they are each the head of. This was three guys who didn’t even have an office. There is a proliferation of a veritable alphabet soup of titles, each of which imply that the person is somehow important, and doesn’t actually do any work.

If you’re a manager then you spend most of your time supervising other people and organising them this is a particular skill set. If you’re the CEO of a large business then seeing to the organisational structure is an important and specific skill set. But if your entire organisation can fit in a taxi cab then you surely don’t need multiple people whose full time job is to oversee it.

Even more confusing is when people become a chief – something in order to obfuscate what they actually do. What is a Chief Product Ninja? What do they do? Is there a team of ninjas dressed in black masks and carrying throwing stars who work on products secretly in the night that they are in charge of? It’s not a criticism to be a small company or in a junior role. Your opportunity for advancement is in your control. Come up with a title that accurately describes what you do. It’s useful for yourself and for your clients and customers. In every organisation there needs to be someone doing work. It helps if you accurately identify what that work is.

Showing Support

Showing support is the catch-cry of armchair activism. It’s the idea that by changing your profile picture or signing a petition or mindlessly repeating some combination of words you are magically changing the world for the better. Yes, there are some instances where showing support might be particularly apt. In my view this is where the support is individualised. That is, if you’re providing encouragement to a small set of people who would be buoyed by that. Maybe your sporting team or your friend who is feeling down. But showing support for a cause is generally a vapid exercise in virtue signalling.

If you intend to do good for the world, go out and take an action. You could volunteer and help someone. You don’t even need to look too far, because everyone is facing their own personal demons. There are immediate friends and family and acquaintances that you could help today through small exchanges, assisting actions and your positive energy. Sure, you won’t get 300 likes for a comment, but you might see an earnest reflection of thanks from someone that you’ve helped. Actions always speak louder than words.

Do you like my reinvention of buzzwords? Let’s collaborate by showing support and subscribing to my newsletter.

Kind regards

Chief Writing Ninja,

Adrian