At Indigo New Media we build digital collaborative hubs – so now you’re probably asking – ‘have they gone completely bonkers? How can they talk about not building collaboration on technology?’

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Here’s the thing. We’ve worked with many organisations and for the most part, the collaborative technology that we bring really excites them, but the truth of it is that the technology is an enabler. There are some seriously important steps that need to take place both before and during the early implementation of the collaborative platform.

Among these are; collaborative leadership, a commitment to inclusion and silo-busting, an ongoing strategy to building a more matrixed and flatter organisation and a focus on building trust.

Collaboration is about people and not about technology. The technology becomes a great enabler of the vision, but when people are not engaged, as good as the technology is, it will not make collaboration happen.

Collaborative leadership starts with trust. When the culture is right in the organisation, leaders should be in a position to trust that the results of cross functional collaboration will serve the best interests of the organisation.

There is much more to be explored around the collaborative leader and leadership, but that deserves a blog of its own. On a last note I will share a recent YouTube clip that I watched on collaborative body language.

The team in question agreed to work over a weekend and brainstorm business challenges. They were casually dressed in takkies and t-shirts. The leader arrived late in an Italian suit. What this told the team was that it was not that important – or else he would have been on time and his dress code said, “I have all the answers”.

This topic has so much depth to explore that the blog will continue to do just that.

Janice Scheckter is MD and Co-founder of Indigo New Media.