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Book Review
Collaborate: The Art of We - Dan Sanker
Jossey-Bass; 2012; 190 Pages; ISBN: 111811472
brainstorming, teamwork, a common purpose, trust, a plan for achieving the goal, a diverse
group, mutual respect, a written agreement, and effective leadership.
The sixth chapter is aptly titled 'Stages of collaboration'. The author divides this chapter into
three sections, viz., three stages: getting started, implementing the plan, and evaluating the
outcome. The author expounds that not every collaborative project requires every action and that
tasks are certainly not always done in the order he has listed them. According to him, the first
stage - getting started - includes assembling the group, selecting or identifying a leader, defining
and agreeing on the goal, identifying measures of success, establishing roles and responsibilities,
agreeing on a working process, establishing a process for communicating with one another,
setting priorities, making decision, holding one another accountable, and developing an action
plan for achieving the goal. The second stage - implementing the plan - includes tracking and
monitoring progress, and revising the plan, if necessary. The final stage - evaluating the outcome
- includes determining what worked and what might have been done differently, and deciding on
the next steps.
In the seventh chapter 'Setting up for success', the author gives a further detailed explanation
of how to assemble a team for collaboration - he lists and explains attributes that make good
team members. He also illustrates how important it is to define and align the goal and explicates
how it can be put into action. He concludes this chapter by describing how to develop an action
plan and why it is important for the group to agree on a working process. This chapter is in
essence a continuation of the sixth chapter.
In the eight chapter, 'Strategies for a successful collaboration', the author drafts six factors
that aid a collaborative effort in being successful - establishing and maintaining trust, keeping
the communication channels open, using conflict productively, maintaining commitment, using
brainstorming to generate high-quality ideas, and getting a consensus on decisions.
The ninth chapter, 'The role of technology and social media in collaboration' steps away
from explaining collaboration independently. In this chapter the author demonstrates the role that
technology plays in collaboration. He reiterates that even though the latest technology is
discussed in the book, it will probably be outdated as soon as the book is published! The
technologies he discusses are cloud computing, mobile technology, social networking, etc. He
also stresses the importance of choosing tools depending on what needs to be accomplished as a
result of the collaboration. He concludes by discussing technology and collaboration in two
organizations- General Electric (GE) and the Mayo Clinic.
The tenth and final chapter in this book, 'Fostering a collaborative culture in your
organization', delves into how the collaborative mind-set must be ingrained into the culture of
the organization(s). The author emphasizes that the tools themselves don't provide successful
Learning and Pertormance Quarterly, 1(1), 2012
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