There are so many books and speeches/seminars on leadership, yet there are so few leaders. The demand for great leadership has never been higher. Today, the pace of change in business is dramatically faster than in previous times. Top executives in firms today report fiercer competitive business environments and more globalized patterns of operations than ever. Technological advances continue to significantly impact both communication infrastructures and the strategic business decisions that executives make in terms of trade, resources, and competition.

To successfully meet these new business challenges and trends, leaders and future leaders must: (1) be savvy conceptual and strategic thinkers, (2) possess deep integrity and intellectual openness, (3) find innovative ways to create loyalty, (4) lead increasingly diverse and independent teams over which they may not always have direct authority, and (5) have the maturity to relinquish their own power in favor of creating and fostering collaborative approaches inside and outside the organization. Yes, to be effective as a leader and future leader you must think about leadership in a vastly different way than you have in the past. And, you must act differently, than you have in the past.

Building and sustaining collaborative teams and positive synergies is a critical leadership competency….certainly more so now than in years past. In many respects, if a leader possesses this skill it can be a game-changer for themselves, their teams and organization. So, how can leaders overcome the challenges of cultural barriers, silo-based functions, and distance to become a cohesive, goal-achieving team? The simple answer is Trust and Creativity. And, it must start at the top. The tough answer is how to craft and execute a plan that fuses a variety of perspectives based on unique tactical objectives to achieve strategic corporate goals.

Trust-Building

The first step toward building a successful collaborative environment is to create a level of trust among the team members. Many of the challenges that slow the trust-building phase are based on previous negative "group think" experiences. Although, there are powerful success stories; too often, cross-functional/cross-cultural teams served to promote an executive political agenda with very little tactical organizational support to champion program fulfillment. It is essential team leader’s work with the entire collaborative group to set clear goals that are in direct alignment with corporate strategies.

The second step toward establishing trust is to acknowledge each team member's strengths and contribution. Again many of the challenges that inhibit collaborative success are based on past experiences during which people may have seen collaborative conference calls become a platform for a single individual with a single idea. Dissenting opinions were not encouraged. Since the participants saw no value outcome from their participation, victory was given to the unchallenged single strong voice.

Building & Sustaining Creativity

Acknowledging and encouraging participation of all team members is important when stimulating creativity among a geographically dispersed team. Distance, time zone, and cultural factors may appear to be difficult challenges when team leaders are trying to encourage innovative "out-of-the-box" thinking. On the other hand, distance, time zones, and culture can be a tremendous asset since the variety of perspectives produced by the team's diversity and extended thought windows enrich collaborative thought processes.

The first step toward encouraging creativity within a collaborative environment is to take advantage of the “extended thought window”. Virtual teams/workgroups must expand brainstorming beyond a single room papered with flip charts and sticky notes. The Japanese business culture visualizes a collaborative workspace called the "Ba". This is not necessarily a physical space, but a place where people's thoughts and ideas converge in the shape of a continuous spiral. Although the basic concept of brainstorming remains the same, the execution shifts as the virtual work team works to rise beyond the challenges of time and space.

A distributed brainstorming session can be thought of a series of overlapping events that merge individual and group processes. The process is launched by the team leader sending a message to all designated participants explaining the goal of the project, the reason they were chosen, any static requirements, a series of thought-provoking questions, and a request for pre-meeting feedback of any additional parameters or thoughts for which advance thinking would enhance the group brainstorm session. Another suggestion is to invite individual contact for anyone who questions the purpose of the project or participation.

This preparation stage is very important in that it gives team members time to evaluate the request for collaboration and feedback. People whose native language is different from the facilitator have time to decipher any vernacular terms, work through any potential misunderstandings, and prepare an effective set of suggestions and recommendations. People who work in different functional silos may have some of the same difficulties with vernacular and priorities.

Allowing people an average span of seven to ten days to prepare for the collaborative session can shave months off traditional cross-functional time frames because all participants arrive for the first session with an organized set of thoughts to share.