Harvard Professor, David Perkins, in his latest book, King Arthur's Round Table, discusses the importance of "organisational Intelligence" and how its absence leads to coblaboration rather than collaboration.

Professor Perkins defines "organizational intelligence" as "how well people put their heads together in a group, team, organization, or community".

When he talks about "developmental leaders", who he contrasts with "authoritarian leaders", Perkins means leaders, often not the most senior in the organisation, "who show through their conduct what it is to think and work well with others, and who guide and coach others informally in patterns of collaboration."

Perkins coined the term "coblaboration" out of exasperation and suggests three defining characteristics:

1. a chaotic pattern of conversation that does not advance much


2. huge time wasted on minor issues


3. groupthink (i.e., when people agree too easily and thoughtlessly on something)

Perkin's suggested cures to 'coblaboration' include good facilitation skills and reserving group conversations for the right situations.

To buy the book.

Bioteams Books Reviews

Animal Instincts in the office

May 29, 2006 | article by Ken Thompson in Book Reviews (37)

Just because we might have selfish genes it does not mean we have to behave selfishly; nature knows when to be nice as well as nasty and nepotism occurs in the biological world too with equal destructiveness as our world. This is according to Richard Conniff author of The Ape in the Corner Office and reviewed in the UK Guardian Newspaper (27 May).

Buy it now from:
Amazon.Com
Amazon.Co.UK

Comments | Permalink

continue reading

Click here to check all Bioteams book reviews