What is collaborative personnel and organisation development?
Moving away from separate units leading a life of their own, towards collaborative work across departmental and divisional boundaries, calls for different capabilities and structures within the organisation. Personnel and organisation development in innovative companies is therefore challenged to support such changes to organisational structures. For an organisation to become collaborative, organisational structure, HR systems and HR development processes need to interlock, so that integrating collaboration processes can be built.
In collaborative organisations, personnel development shifts its focus from classic individual support towards network-based learning across teams. What matters is breaking down departmental silos, sharing knowledge, building social skills and enabling staff to work together in self-organisation. Performance and appraisal systems designed for cooperation, recruitment and development systems covering collaboration and performance topics, and collaboration guidelines are all useful here.
Creating the fit between the individual and the collaborative organisation is then the task of personnel development. Collaboration competence can be developed further through, for example, qualification in collaboration skills and mindsets near- and off-the-job, deliberately cross-functional participant groups in specialist and leadership programmes, and personal network development and analysis.
The capabilities
A cross-functional organisational culture that empowers staff and management to successfully lead laterally and allows cross-divisional project teams to act effectively as frontier workers thanks to appropriate collaborative structures and supporting processes.
The challenge
Every organisational structure has to deal with the challenge of separate units developing a life of their own, adding to the formation of “silos” . This lack of collaboration occurs when units think and act in ways that solely serve their own interests rather than the interests of the whole organisation. How can HR systems and HR development support the prevention of units drifting apart and how can collaboration processes be better supported?
Our consulting services
Together we will create a roadmap for the development of your collaborative HR development processes in collaboration with you. This alone, already conveys a strong message of the idea of organizational collaboration.
- We look at the current key success factors in the organization’s collaboration processes as well as any potential areas of improvement in cross-functional collaborations.
- The cross-divisional perspective is introduced into the overall strategy and goal-setting processes, performance management and leadership feedback.
- Strategic human resource development helps optimize cross-functional skills and ways of thinking through collaboration-oriented HR selection processes and development of collaboration skills on- and off-the-job as part of job rotations, task forces, communities of practice, connector roles and trainings.
Examples of collaboration tools & methods
A collaboration space provides a “container” that can absorb collaboration dynamics and connect collaboration partners with collaboration tasks.
Action Learning is based on bringing experts and managers from different organisational units together to work on their own joint project or help solve overarching tasks and issues within the organisation.
While the cross-functional, interdisciplinary group works on pending issues, it also reflects on its learning experiences
- By themselves, on their personal mindset, ways of thinking and response patterns and their potential needs for training & development as specialists and managers.
- With the group on their collective patterns that enable or hinder collaboration.
- With the organisation about the conditions that enable or hinder developing solutions for the project.
The knowledge gained during these processes is translated into concrete actions (fast cycle prototyping). Through implementation, new experiences for learning can be made. This provides feasible solutions for the upcoming project and builds momentum for the further development of staff, management and the organisation as a whole.
Large groups allow for a variety of perspectives, ideas and solutions to flourish. They create a commitment through collaboration in real time. We develop and facilitate these dialogues in a variety of ways and different methods like e.g. Open Space, Appreciative Inquiry, Future Search or Real Time Strategic Change Conferences.
All members of staff and managers make their knowledge and experience available on a case-by-case basis. They advise each other based on a clear structure with concrete practical questions. This allows them to develop tailor-made solutions and build a growing learning culture.