How to Make Collaboration Self-Sufficient in Your Organization

Collaboration is the lifeblood of modern organizations. But here’s the hard truth: most collaboration only thrives when someone is constantly tending it—nudging teams to talk, reminding people to share updates, refereeing when silos form. Left alone, it often withers. That’s not sustainable.

The real goal? Collaboration that’s self-sufficient—built into the culture, flowing naturally across teams, and strong enough to survive without a designated “collaboration babysitter.”

But how do you get there?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic as Microsoft and other technology giants go through round after round of layoffs, often impacting those that lead community externally and drive collaboration internally during the first rounds. I think this is a massive impact, with devastating downstream impacts.

Let’s talk about what separates organizations that need constant community management from those where collaboration is just how things get done. Below are five practical, culture-shaping strategies that will help you build collaboration that sticks—without the constant handholding.

1. Make Visibility the Default, Not the Exception

One of the biggest blockers to self-sustaining collaboration is information hoarding—whether it’s intentional or accidental. Teams often operate in silos because they simply don’t know what others are working on, or because their tools and habits are built for privacy over transparency.

Solution: Flip the default.

• Use tools that favor open-by-default work (think: shared documents, open Slack channels, public project boards).
• Encourage teams to narrate their work. Short updates, progress snapshots, or “working out loud” rituals build a shared understanding without needing a meeting.
• Reward visibility. Make heroes out of people who share progress and ask for input early.

When teams can see each other’s work, they’re far more likely to connect the dots, spot overlaps, and collaborate without needing a manager to broker the introduction.

2. Standardize the Collaboration Rituals

Collaboration flounders when it’s left to chance. Some teams overcommunicate; others ghost each other. Cross-functional efforts stall because there’s no common rhythm or expectation around how to work together.

You can fix this by defining and scaling simple, repeatable rituals for collaboration.

Think:

• Weekly async updates that follow the same format company-wide.
• Monthly cross-functional syncs between departments that need to stay aligned.
• Decision memos with a common template, so everyone knows where to look for context and input.

These rituals act like “collaboration muscle memory.” The more they’re embedded into how work happens, the less people need to be reminded to do them.

3. Design for Cross-Team Encounters

It’s easy to collaborate with the people you see every day. It’s much harder to collaborate with someone in another function, on another floor, or in another timezone—unless you’ve built systems that bring people together naturally.

So make cross-pollination part of the system.

• Set up internal communities of practice that cut across departments (e.g., a UX center of excellence (CoE) that includes product managers, designers, marketers).
• Use rotating team members or “collaboration liaisons” who temporarily embed in other teams to build relationships and transfer knowledge.
• Create spaces (virtual or physical) for informal cross-team chatter—shared lunch-and-learns, internal showcases, or demo days.

These encounters build trust and familiarity, which are the fuel for spontaneous, unforced collaboration.

4. Build Collaboration into Performance Metrics

If collaboration isn’t part of how people are evaluated, don’t be surprised when it drops to the bottom of their priorities. Culture follows incentives.

Want collaboration to feel natural and expected? Tie it directly to how success is measured.

• Include “collaborative behaviors” in performance reviews: things like contributing to cross-team projects, mentoring peers, or proactively sharing knowledge.
• Highlight successful collaborations in all-hands meetings or internal newsletters.
• Make it part of leadership expectations. Leaders who work in silos set the tone for everyone else.

This creates a feedback loop: collaboration gets recognized, so people prioritize it—without needing to be chased or reminded.

5. Kill the Hero Culture

This one’s big.

In organizations where individual heroics are celebrated over shared wins, collaboration dies quietly. People hoard credit, rush to finish solo, and avoid cross-team work because it feels like a risk to their own recognition.

Instead, celebrate collective success.

• When projects land, talk about how teams worked together—not just who led the charge.
• Encourage “we” language in recaps and reports.
• Normalize asking for help. Make it a strength, not a weakness.

Culture change starts with the stories you tell and the behavior you spotlight. When you kill the hero myth, collaboration becomes a safer, smarter path to success.

Collaboration Shouldn’t Be a Chore

If collaboration in your org feels like an uphill battle—or worse, like something that only happens when someone is actively policing it—that’s a red flag. While it’s true that sustainable collaboration comes from systems, culture, and expectations that make working together the easy choice, not the exceptional one.

You don’t need to hire more community managers to keep collaboration alive. You need to:

• Make sharing easy and expected.
• Build rituals people can rely on.
• Create space for serendipity.
• Align incentives with collaborative outcomes.
• And most of all, design a culture that values connection over control.

Get that right, and collaboration becomes less like a project you have to manage—and more like second nature.