Operational Empowerment: Collaborate, Innovate, and Engage to Beat the Competition

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Working Toward a Common Goal

Nurturing Internal Collaboration

So far, we’ve discussed the power of various sources of external collaboration for a business, both with its customers and suppliers, but what of internal collaboration? Over a decade ago, I was managing a team of professionals whose role it was to purchase products and services from suppliers and contractors to the business. Their role, although important relative to managing company spending, was governed almost solely by engineering. Virtually everything purchased, with the exception of dispensable items like paper and pencils, was identified, sourced, and qualified by engineering. As engineering was a separate department reporting to a different business unit, there were ...