“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
“Coming together is the beginning; staying together is progress; and working together in collaboration is success.” – Henry Ford
Recently, I sat in on a zoom session with the owner of a small service-based company and some of his staff as they considered internal business processes related to invoicing and tracking. Two of those most directly involved were hostile. One was slightly more dominant and the other somewhat resigned. Neither directly cleared their interpersonal challenges even though one of them acknowledged ongoing issues between them.
During the session, I observed the struggle and that no one was stopping to address it. The owner and others on the call were quiet. The two employees kept struggling with neither one acknowledging what the other was saying and no one stopping the exchange to address the lack of trust, respect and the poor communication. One said to the owner, “I’m only going to be here a few more years so I will do whatever you want me to do.”
The owner said he wanted them to determine the answer rather than him. He wanted this but did not directly acknowledge the challenges or put in place any support to improve their skills in accomplishing the collaboration he wanted. This troubled relationship had been going on for some time and was worsening. I heard the COO say that morning, “I had to let (name of one of these people) vent so she would not quit.”
After the zoom call ended, I said to the owner, “You have a problem that will not get better on its own. If I asked these two people, ‘On a scale of 1-10, with 10 indicating nothing unresolved and 1 indicating the relationship is in crisis, what would you give this relationship?’ my guess is that neither of these two people would give the relationship more than a 1 or 2.” He said, “I know. I agree.”
I also said, “When your COO said he had to let one of them vent, I bet this was not what we call “healthy venting”, but rather gossip-as-venting.” He said, “I agree. I know at least one of the other staff members has aligned herself with the person who was venting.” Gossip, triangulating (pulling people into divisive, us-against-them camps) and relationships deteriorating are common effects inside of many organizations. Not only do these scenarios hurt those directly involved, they are stressful and a source of discouragement for everyone else.
As a business owner, it is essential you consider the cost of neglecting collaboration, because low trust and unchecked hostility will not stop without the needed skills, tools and support strategies to improve relationships. Gallup describes such hostility as actively disengaged; in about 15% of staff, costing about $15K per person, per year. Also, others often then shift to disengaged status, neutralizing profitability as they deliver the minimum to get a paycheck, leaving only 25-30% who fully engage, profiting the company about $30K each, per year.
Despite this business owner being aware of these struggles, so far, he has not done anything to address them. To do so requires his people learn new concepts, terms, tools, support strategies and processes. An investment of time and money is required as is possible discomfort in the new, while disrupting the status quo. Yet, to avoid doing something is to hope problems will go away when in fact, they will most likely only get worse.
In today’s world with the added stress of increasing complexity, speed of change, new technologies, political unrest, economic challenges, globalization and more, you cannot afford to ignore collaboration. Without it, you may have all the right ingredients for your business but it may still FAIL. I’m here if you need help with this because collaboration is a necessary competitive advantage, especially as the world evolves.
This article is published in my column The Extraordinary Workplace in St. Louis Small Business Monthly, June, 2026
