From Teamwork to True Collaboration: How Emerging Leaders Multiply Their Impact

If you’re in leadership today, you’ve noticed how much more is being asked of you to collaborate across teams. Since COVID-19, hybrid and remote work, distributed teams, and cross-functional expectations have multiplied collaboration. But more collaboration doesn’t always mean better collaboration.

In one of our recent Emerging Leaders peer sessions, we heard this repeatedly:

“I’m being asked to collaborate across departments more than ever. Teamwork doesn’t cut it anymore; people expect real collaboration: ideas, consensus, and shared responsibility.”

Recent studies back this up: remote/hybrid work has surged since 2020, and though collaboration networks have weakened in some dimensions (especially between disparate teams), expectations for cross-group, high-impact collaboration have increased.

What’s the Difference: Teamwork vs Collaboration

• Teamwork usually means defined roles, assigned tasks, clear leadership, working together toward a goal.

• Collaboration is more emergent: sharing ideas, more fluid roles, co-creation, building consensus.

Our clients emphasized that emerging leaders need to recognize which mode they’re being asked to play in, and shift accordingly.

The Three Critical Skills Emerging Leaders Must Master

Skill	What Your Peers Said	Why It Matters in Today’s Leadership Landscape
Strategic Collaboration	“Knowing when to engage stakeholders, which partnerships are worth the investment.” Self-awareness: knowing your style & limits.	In a complex environment where leaders juggle cross-functional projects, competing goals, and limited resources, not every task should be collaborative. The best leaders choose partnerships that add real value and align with organizational priorities.
Time Management	“I’m getting more requests to collaborate; how do I keep up and still get my own work done?”	Today’s leaders face overflowing calendars and endless opportunities to engage. Clear priorities, success metrics, and disciplined review cycles ensure collaboration doesn’t become a time sink.
Effective Delegation	“As I move up, I can’t hold all threads.”	Leaders can’t scale impact without trusting others. Delegation builds team capacity, frees up leaders to focus on the highest-value work, and ensures collaboration happens at the right levels.

Putting It Into Practice: A Roadmap

1. Map Demand for Collaboration — List the collaborations currently expected of you (cross-team, cross-function, remote). For each, ask: • What value is added? • What effort / cost? • Could it be done differently (smaller team, more asynchronous, fewer meetings)?

2. Assess Self & Organizational Fit — What is your working style (fast, reflective, need for clarity vs ambiguity)? What are your organization’s collaboration norms? Where do incentives / metrics help or hurt collaboration?

3. Design Collaborative Routines with Boundaries — Decide how often to meet, in what format (in person, virtual, hybrid), set agendas, guard against “meeting overload,” track outcomes.

4. Delegate Intentionally — Identify tasks (esp collaborative tasks) that others could lead; define scope and goals; support without taking over.

Conclusion

Collaboration has become a defining feature of modern leadership. But in today’s environment—marked by complexity, speed, and competing demands—more collaboration doesn’t automatically mean better outcomes. Emerging leaders who develop the ability to collaborate strategically, manage their time wisely, and delegate effectively will not only navigate this complexity, they’ll multiply their impact.