Leading Across Boundaries: Creating Collaborative Agencies in a Networked World

4. The Partners Have an Open, Credible Process

The word process generates a wide range of reactions from organizational types. For some it’s a long four-letter word, an excuse for a lack of action and bottom-line results (“process for process’s sake”), or a rigid focus on bureaucratic rules rather than results. Others see process as the key to producing results: good processes produce good products. In terms of effective collaboration, there’s no question that a credible process is a key to success. For one thing, nobody knows whether a collaborative venture will work at the start, so the best predictors of success are often (1) the abilities of the person leading the effort, (2) the abilities of the people at the table (and their track records), ...