Smart Collaboration, Heidi K. Gardner
Smart Collaboration, Heidi K. Gardner
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Smart Collaboration
How Professionals and Their Firms Succeed by Breaking Down Silos

Author: Heidi K. Gardner

Narrator: Tanya Eby

Unabridged: 8 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 06/02/2017


Synopsis

Not all collaboration is smart. Make sure you do it right. Professional service firms face a serious challenge. Their clients increasingly need them to solve complex problems-everything from regulatory compliance to cybersecurity, the kinds of problems that only teams of multidisciplinary experts can tackle. Yet most firms have carved up their highly specialized, professional experts into narrowly defined practice areas, and collaborating across these silos is often messy, risky, and expensive. Unless you know why you're collaborating and how to do it effectively, it may not be smart at all. That's especially true for partners who have built their reputations and client rosters independently, not by working with peers. In Smart Collaboration, Heidi K. Gardner shows that firms earn higher margins, inspire greater client loyalty, attract and retain the best talent, and gain a competitive edge when specialists collaborate across functional boundaries. Gardner, a former McKinsey consultant and Harvard Business School professor now lecturing at Harvard Law School, has spent over a decade conducting in-depth studies of numerous global professional service firms. Her research with clients and the empirical results of her studies demonstrate clearly and convincingly that collaboration pays, for both professionals and their firms. But Gardner also offers powerful prescriptions for how leaders can foster collaboration, move to higher-margin work, increase client satisfaction, improve lateral hiring, decrease enterprise risk, engage workers to contribute their utmost, break down silos, and boost their bottom line. With case studies and real-world insights, Smart Collaboration delivers an authoritative case for the value of collaboration to today's professionals, their firms, and their clients and shows you exactly how to achieve it.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Anil on September 08, 2019

"Collaboration helps firms grow their profits". The book has been written with private sector in mind as Heidi begins by sating that "firms have carved themselves up into silos". However, what the author goes on to convey makes a lot of sense for those working in the government where most of the Dep......more

Goodreads review by Tania on January 15, 2018

If I was a professionals services client server (lawyer, accountant, consultant, etc), I would rate this book 4-4.5 stars. I am not, but went into the read knowingly. The three stars are truly because of the specifics of the audience, not the content, which might be unfair. It gave me perspective in......more

Goodreads review by Ieva on June 01, 2017

The book might well serve as a handbook for managers and partners of any forward thinking professional services firm: legal, accounting, audit, financial, consulting. It offers numerous ideas how to improve client service and actually advance profits through various modes of collaboration within the......more

Goodreads review by Kate on July 22, 2023

It’s less for “professionals” broadly and more specific to consulting firms and the people who work in them. And not really about breaking down silos within an org so much as getting consultant stars to invite in other consultants on projects - more interpersonal than departmental. Which is all fine......more

Goodreads review by Karolina on October 28, 2018

Took me a year and a half to finish it... But if you're working in a professional service firm then it's a must-read! After reading this book I have a bunch of notes, remarks and ideas what to bring to my everyday life at the office. Inspirational would be the adjective to describe this blend of the......more