What do you think?
Rate this book
Collaboration Begins With You: Be a Silo Buster
Collaboration creates high performing teams and organizations-and with today's diverse, globalized workforce it's absolutely crucial. Yet it often doesn't happen because people and groups typically believe that the problem is always outside. Bestselling author Ken Blanchard and his coauthors use Blanchard's signature business parable style to show that, in fact, if collaboration is to succeed it must begin with you. This book teaches people at all levels-from new associates to top executives-that it's up to each of us to help promote and preserve a winning culture of collaboration. Working a three-part approach, Collaboration Begins with You helps readers develop a collaborative culture that uses differences to spur contribution and creativity and turns everyone into an empowered self-leader.
Audio CD
Published October 12, 2015
20 people are currently reading
361 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth H. Blanchard
315 books1,861 followersKen Blanchard, one of the most influential leadership experts in the world, is the coauthor of the iconic bestseller, The One Minute Manager, and 60 other books whose combined sales total more than 21 million copies. His groundbreaking works have been translated into more than 27 languages and in 2005 he was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time.
Ken is also the cofounder and chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California.
When he’s not writing or speaking, Ken also spends time teaching students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego. Ken can be found at www.kenblanchard.com.
Ken is also the cofounder and chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California.
When he’s not writing or speaking, Ken also spends time teaching students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego. Ken can be found at www.kenblanchard.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 17, 2022
When communication is hard to come by, opportunities for collaboration may be lost at the expense of individual growth and innovation. Using a simple yet effective style, this book challenges readers to think synergistically about communication, invest time in building trust, and empower the development and leadership abilities of individual members of your team for the betterment of the whole.
As the authors describe, "Communicating openly goes hand in hand with empowerment. As trust and information sharing become the norm, first within our project group and ultimately within the organization as a whole, individual contributors will become more and more competent in their roles. Leaders will see and encourage this competence, creating empowered self leaders. When these individuals work together, sharing ideas and cheering each other on, they automatically empower each other to reach their goals."
A leader looking to create opportunities for connection/collaboration should focus on three things (explained more in the book): "who you are as a collaborator: your character and intentions; what you know: your beliefs and attitudes about collaboration; and what you do—your actions and behavior during collaboration."
Where do YOU stand on these three areas of collaboration? Are empowerment and collaboration things that you are known for? If not, you may unknowingly be siloing your team. To break the silo, give this book a try.
With kind regards,
Victor
Victor Ruiz, '20 Ph.D.
Yale University
As the authors describe, "Communicating openly goes hand in hand with empowerment. As trust and information sharing become the norm, first within our project group and ultimately within the organization as a whole, individual contributors will become more and more competent in their roles. Leaders will see and encourage this competence, creating empowered self leaders. When these individuals work together, sharing ideas and cheering each other on, they automatically empower each other to reach their goals."
A leader looking to create opportunities for connection/collaboration should focus on three things (explained more in the book): "who you are as a collaborator: your character and intentions; what you know: your beliefs and attitudes about collaboration; and what you do—your actions and behavior during collaboration."
Where do YOU stand on these three areas of collaboration? Are empowerment and collaboration things that you are known for? If not, you may unknowingly be siloing your team. To break the silo, give this book a try.
With kind regards,
Victor
Victor Ruiz, '20 Ph.D.
Yale University
October 12, 2015
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” – Helen Keller
As an avid gardener whenever I drive around neighborhoods I scope out the landscape in yards. It’s interesting to see the variety of styles, textures, and lack thereof. It amazes me when I see lines of beautiful homes on a street and invariably there are a few with minimal landscaping – like maybe a tree (dead) or two. There’s no cohesiveness between the landscape and home. The scene is disjointed. Now, I get that a lot of people don’t like to garden or feel that it’s a lot of work. However, any appraiser or real estate agent will tell you that a well planed and planted landscape can increase the value of a home by 10-15%. The home and landscape work together as a team – collaboration at its finest.
Fall is a great time to be outside. The heat and humidly of summer is gone and in many parts of the country the colors are incredible. Wander around your yard a bit with a new set of eyes. Imagine that you are a buyer looking to buy your house. What do you see? Is there a seamless collaboration between the style of your home and the landscape? Do your gardens, even if minimal, blend and flow with your home? The neighborhood? Does your house reflect your taste and the yard? Does the landscape support and enhance your home? If not, winter is coming and it is the perfect time to get busy on paper and plan some changes for next year.
Think how your home and landscape can complement one another. How can they better collaborate together to reflect your taste or that of your neighborhood? Pick up some books or magazines from the library for ideas. Landscapers are typically slow in the cold months and most will happily assist you with planning, often at reasonable prices. Ask your garden friends for their thoughts and ideas. In short, collaborate to make change and enhance your yard.
Collaboration is key in many areas of our lives. We see it in our gardens, neighborhoods, relationships, and our jobs. Take some time this week to take notice of how collaboration is all around us, or not. I’m guessing that many of us love the idea of collaboration, but see it lacking where we work. The concept is great in theory but tough to carry out in most organizations. There are often too many individual agendas or a focus on who contributes the most and can climb the ladder the quickest. Some companies reward these behaviors through their reward system or management style. Guess what? Collaboration begins with you! We can’t count on our employers to create collaboration; we need to step up as individuals.
I just finished the new book Collaboration Begins With You Be A Silo Buster by Ken Blanchard, Jane Ripley, and Eunice Parisi-Carew. In the usual Blanchard style this book is written in a story format which makes it an easy and memorable read. This book is perfect for anyone. It’s a reminder that we all have a responsibility to create and promote a special culture of collaboration in everything we do. We can’t rely on our employers to do this. We all need to take the leap to act in order to have an impact. Individually we can bring people together with our own style to make a difference and produce results.
I love the simplistic and memorable process the authors introduce to bust silos and bring people together. It’s easy and a 3 prong approach: The heart, the head, and the hands.
• The Heart: This is who you are as a person and leader. It involves your character and intentions. It makes sense doesn’t it? You bring the inside out and impact others. We all do this every day. We show our love to our family. We nurture safety and trust.
• The Head: This is what you know. It’s your knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes particularly about collaboration. This is where you involve others to create a clear purpose with sound values and goals.
• The Hands: This is what you do. It’s your actions and behaviors. It’s what you do to empower others and build collaboration. Empowerment begins with you before it can be given to others. This is where you talk with others to build consensus.
Clearly none of these “parts” can function without the other. You need your heart, head, and hands to bring about change and build collaboration with others. Collaboration Begins with You effectively leads us down the path of collaboration with a variety of interesting characters. We see their insecurities and struggles. We earn how they change inside and effectively reflect that change onto others. We quickly see how the efforts of the whole are greater than the one. We see growth that brings about a collaborative culture, empowers others, uses differences to share a vision, and turns everyone into an empowered leader. Collaboration truly starts from within and emerges to destroy silos and build consensus.
Blanchard’s new book is well worth the reading journey. You will learn about yourself and others as you learn how to better collaborate. The book is an easy journey and offers a collaboration self assessment and best practices to lead you down the path. Stop bemoaning silos and begin change with a first step towards collaboration.
Please get that landscape in shape next spring too! You never know who will be driving by………
As an avid gardener whenever I drive around neighborhoods I scope out the landscape in yards. It’s interesting to see the variety of styles, textures, and lack thereof. It amazes me when I see lines of beautiful homes on a street and invariably there are a few with minimal landscaping – like maybe a tree (dead) or two. There’s no cohesiveness between the landscape and home. The scene is disjointed. Now, I get that a lot of people don’t like to garden or feel that it’s a lot of work. However, any appraiser or real estate agent will tell you that a well planed and planted landscape can increase the value of a home by 10-15%. The home and landscape work together as a team – collaboration at its finest.
Fall is a great time to be outside. The heat and humidly of summer is gone and in many parts of the country the colors are incredible. Wander around your yard a bit with a new set of eyes. Imagine that you are a buyer looking to buy your house. What do you see? Is there a seamless collaboration between the style of your home and the landscape? Do your gardens, even if minimal, blend and flow with your home? The neighborhood? Does your house reflect your taste and the yard? Does the landscape support and enhance your home? If not, winter is coming and it is the perfect time to get busy on paper and plan some changes for next year.
Think how your home and landscape can complement one another. How can they better collaborate together to reflect your taste or that of your neighborhood? Pick up some books or magazines from the library for ideas. Landscapers are typically slow in the cold months and most will happily assist you with planning, often at reasonable prices. Ask your garden friends for their thoughts and ideas. In short, collaborate to make change and enhance your yard.
Collaboration is key in many areas of our lives. We see it in our gardens, neighborhoods, relationships, and our jobs. Take some time this week to take notice of how collaboration is all around us, or not. I’m guessing that many of us love the idea of collaboration, but see it lacking where we work. The concept is great in theory but tough to carry out in most organizations. There are often too many individual agendas or a focus on who contributes the most and can climb the ladder the quickest. Some companies reward these behaviors through their reward system or management style. Guess what? Collaboration begins with you! We can’t count on our employers to create collaboration; we need to step up as individuals.
I just finished the new book Collaboration Begins With You Be A Silo Buster by Ken Blanchard, Jane Ripley, and Eunice Parisi-Carew. In the usual Blanchard style this book is written in a story format which makes it an easy and memorable read. This book is perfect for anyone. It’s a reminder that we all have a responsibility to create and promote a special culture of collaboration in everything we do. We can’t rely on our employers to do this. We all need to take the leap to act in order to have an impact. Individually we can bring people together with our own style to make a difference and produce results.
I love the simplistic and memorable process the authors introduce to bust silos and bring people together. It’s easy and a 3 prong approach: The heart, the head, and the hands.
• The Heart: This is who you are as a person and leader. It involves your character and intentions. It makes sense doesn’t it? You bring the inside out and impact others. We all do this every day. We show our love to our family. We nurture safety and trust.
• The Head: This is what you know. It’s your knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes particularly about collaboration. This is where you involve others to create a clear purpose with sound values and goals.
• The Hands: This is what you do. It’s your actions and behaviors. It’s what you do to empower others and build collaboration. Empowerment begins with you before it can be given to others. This is where you talk with others to build consensus.
Clearly none of these “parts” can function without the other. You need your heart, head, and hands to bring about change and build collaboration with others. Collaboration Begins with You effectively leads us down the path of collaboration with a variety of interesting characters. We see their insecurities and struggles. We earn how they change inside and effectively reflect that change onto others. We quickly see how the efforts of the whole are greater than the one. We see growth that brings about a collaborative culture, empowers others, uses differences to share a vision, and turns everyone into an empowered leader. Collaboration truly starts from within and emerges to destroy silos and build consensus.
Blanchard’s new book is well worth the reading journey. You will learn about yourself and others as you learn how to better collaborate. The book is an easy journey and offers a collaboration self assessment and best practices to lead you down the path. Stop bemoaning silos and begin change with a first step towards collaboration.
Please get that landscape in shape next spring too! You never know who will be driving by………
December 28, 2019
This book makes you think. I learnt from this book.
July 23, 2024
Inspiring fictional and factual merger of stories and information. Well written book to push you to think right on better ways of collaboration and its impact. Thanks for this interesting take
September 30, 2018
Uninspiring
October 16, 2015
This book provides a fable case study of an environment where employees are empowered to create, collaborate, and do their jobs. They are able to showcase their abilities without the barriers of hierarchy. As a leader I prefer to organize the world in a lateral fashion, seeing people on an equal plane. This enables an integration of everyone just like that of the applications of an Apple MacBook Pro. I believe in a lateral playing field where everyone leads from where they. This book enables the reader to understand how to do his or her job effectively without added steps of approval, but with the collaboration of others. Just like when I drag a picture directly from iPhoto into Pages. Both are independent programs with different roles and responsibilities, but integrate easily when needed. In other words, "Collaboration Begins With You!"
The flat organization supervises employees less while promoting their increased involvement in the decision-making process; Just like the MacBook Pro needs less computer application knowledge and allows the user to be creative. It also removes excess layers of management and silos and improves the coordination and speed of communication between employees; Just like the Mac platform involves fewer steps, collaboration encourages an easier decision-making process among employees. If you want to collaborate or create a culture of collaboration, you will want to read "Collaboration Begins With You!" Let the silo busting begin!
Dr. Byron Ernest
The flat organization supervises employees less while promoting their increased involvement in the decision-making process; Just like the MacBook Pro needs less computer application knowledge and allows the user to be creative. It also removes excess layers of management and silos and improves the coordination and speed of communication between employees; Just like the Mac platform involves fewer steps, collaboration encourages an easier decision-making process among employees. If you want to collaborate or create a culture of collaboration, you will want to read "Collaboration Begins With You!" Let the silo busting begin!
Dr. Byron Ernest
December 17, 2015
I would like to thank the authors for writing this book that i won a free copy on goodreads first reads.
I was very impressed with this book and felt that in such a thin copy it gave a big punch of information.I agree that collaboration always begins with you,the person reading this,not someone else cause then nothing will ever work.this book is a story line based on what a person learns from when a big part of his job fails.He is then thrown into a ideal of what can make his company exceed or fail and that his sister in law guides him to find the answers.while i know that in most cases this would just be another story,i believe that this book should be used for any company as a guide to learn what not to do and what to do .
I most like the back section on the tools and resources to create collaboration.It brings the reader in to decide what he or she might do.
I think this book was wonderfully written and i recommend this book to any business person who want to achieve everything.......
I was very impressed with this book and felt that in such a thin copy it gave a big punch of information.I agree that collaboration always begins with you,the person reading this,not someone else cause then nothing will ever work.this book is a story line based on what a person learns from when a big part of his job fails.He is then thrown into a ideal of what can make his company exceed or fail and that his sister in law guides him to find the answers.while i know that in most cases this would just be another story,i believe that this book should be used for any company as a guide to learn what not to do and what to do .
I most like the back section on the tools and resources to create collaboration.It brings the reader in to decide what he or she might do.
I think this book was wonderfully written and i recommend this book to any business person who want to achieve everything.......
January 8, 2016
I received this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program!
Like the majority of Ken Blanchard books, this work centers on a fictional story/fable about a manager who challenges the top down/authoritarian leadership approach used on a project that did not meet expectations.
The book is an easy read, and is filled with passages that describe the benefits of a more collaborative approach, as well as lines out a concept map for enacting the approach. At the end of the book, there is an assessment activity that can be used to determine where you and others are at.
I really liked this book, and found myself considering how the limiting culture of the protagonist's company was similar to some of the situations I have found myself in at work. Even though I am still on medical leave, it has given me much to consider and several ideas I hope to suggest to my colleagues!
Like the majority of Ken Blanchard books, this work centers on a fictional story/fable about a manager who challenges the top down/authoritarian leadership approach used on a project that did not meet expectations.
The book is an easy read, and is filled with passages that describe the benefits of a more collaborative approach, as well as lines out a concept map for enacting the approach. At the end of the book, there is an assessment activity that can be used to determine where you and others are at.
I really liked this book, and found myself considering how the limiting culture of the protagonist's company was similar to some of the situations I have found myself in at work. Even though I am still on medical leave, it has given me much to consider and several ideas I hope to suggest to my colleagues!
January 16, 2016
I received this book for free from Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review...
This book is entertaining just as much as it is informative. The author does a brilliant job writing it, and getting his point across, providing you with excellent advice and detailed information. This book is definitely worth giving a try.
This book is entertaining just as much as it is informative. The author does a brilliant job writing it, and getting his point across, providing you with excellent advice and detailed information. This book is definitely worth giving a try.
November 3, 2015
Review of book after winning through goodreads. This isn't a typical book I would read for enjoyment. So glad I did. Lots of helpful information that I have now shared with coworkers and my management.
January 4, 2016
Some good ideas to increase collaboration in an organization. I would have appreciated more "meat" concerning overcoming resistance. It only take one "un-collaborative" manager to drag it down for the entire concern.
April 3, 2016
This book has been so helpful to me and a few colleagues. Wonderful. Won courtesy of Goodreads.com
May 20, 2016
good motivation, just what I needed
May 29, 2016
This book couches the tenets of collaboration in a narrative form. Interesting approach!
October 9, 2016
A basic read it has to be said; but it does make you self-reflective when the main concept explored in this book is framed in this way: "collaboration begins with YOU". This soft skill is valuable.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews