The Future of Collaboration

This is not a romcom although corporate life is not short of comedians – just not the sort that would make you laugh out loud.

„There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.“ – Advice from Motilal Nehru to his granddaughter Indira Gandhi née Nehru

The Egalitarian Slide

The French philosopher Julia de Funès has been examining workplace changes. She observes a slide into egalitarianism that prevents recognizing different abilities and competencies, believing this is perilous for organizations and society at large.

Working together doesn’t mean duplication, free-riding, or groupthink. These are all common side effects of teamwork as ordained, yet they persist because they serve interests beyond productivity.

Crew Work: A Better Model

Instead of teamwork, I prefer describing coordinated co-work and mutual but anchored participation toward a common task as crew work. Everyone has their clear function as a starting point, may transgress by discussing thoughts and interactions, but never gets unhinged from their field of origin. Fertilization is desired; abandonment or leaving topics in orphanage is not.

The Path Forward

This can only be a general and incomplete conceptualization. The key is recognizing that:

• True collaboration requires clear structure, not vague togetherness
• Diversity matters only when it is or leads to diversity of thought
• Individual excellence enhanced by coordination beats forced teamwork
• The wine of collaboration sometimes needs the water of reality

As we move forward, especially with AI entering the workplace, we must ask: are we creating better teams, or just more sophisticated ways to avoid addressing fundamental organizational dysfunction?