Is Your Special Project Team Collaborating Enough?

To execute major initiatives in your company or department, you need special project teams that are large, virtual, diverse, and specialized. Yet these very characteristics can destroy team members' ability to work together. For example, as team size grows, collaboration diminishes. How to encourage collaboration? Start by using coaching to reinforce a collaborative culture throughout your group. For example, for each new hire, provide a list of everyone in the organization the newcomer should meet. Suggest topics he should discuss with each person on the list, and explain why establishing the relationship is important. With these steps, you send a strong message that you expect people to work together.

Adapted from the Harvard Business Review article, "Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams,"