Tag Archives: collaboration

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Not Me!

Leave a comment
I fondly remember a very collaborative team I was part of more than a decade ago.  Our boss used to gather us together regularly and discuss upcoming activities and opportunities.
His goal was to assign work in a very democratic way.  The team would somehow collectively come up with the best assignments.  This approach did not elicit a lot of volunteers and often ended up with our boss just making the assignments.

Will the Spaghetti Stick?

Early on as I learned to cook I was taught to test when spaghetti was ready by throwing it against the wall.  It stuck, it was ready (spaghetti was a favorite dish of mine because it was so easy to prepare).

Tossing the ball (and hoping it will stick) might lead to successful outcomes, but passing the ball in a planned and scheduled way is far more likely to work well.
My aforementioned boss often tossed the ball into our court and regularly found it just bounced back.  His choice to work as a thoroughly integrated team through full-on involvement of everyone was well-intentioned if not well executed.

Rigidity Sucks

Setting the approach in stone and firing the ball at the troops demanding specific action or just tossing the ball and praying are two useful analogies to illustrate the best approach might well be somewhere in the middle.

Be prepared.  Do some planning advance but include both flexibility and real (not lip service) opportunity for feedback before casting the approach in stone.

Group determinations are the hardest to achieve but usually, they are the most satisfying.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Seeking Concensus

Leave a comment

Leveraging the skills and abilities of others in conjunction with your own can be frustrating.  Independence and belief in our own abilities and self-worth lead us to challenge the value of collaboration.

That is to say, while the quality and effectiveness of our achievements are greatly enhanced by acting en mass rather than independently it is not human nature to do so.

Interacting with Others

Going it alone can be very satisfying.  Individual accomplishments make us feel good.  Group accomplishments are still worth applauding and can be very satisfying but we are just a cog in the wheel.

A very challenging aspect of working with others is the need to attain a consensus.  This is a general agreement among all parties.  Making a unilateral decision and forcing it on others is so much easier.

Therein Lies the Rub

Leaders with granted power can abuse this privilege by taking the easy route.  That is rather than attaining consensus, which means the best ideas and knowledge all participants gets leveraged, they just override and push forward with their decision.

The disadvantage of this approach is simply that is has a lower likelihood of arriving at the best approach.  Intuitively the larger the information base, the combining of multiple processing power and the diversity of thought will provide better results than a single stream,

Albeit it slower, taking the extra time and effort to consult, discuss and achieve consensus will in most cases (outside of dire emergencies) produce the best results.

Granted power should not be used recklessly.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Visionary Thinking

Leave a comment

Typically, analytical thinking proceeds on a linear path.  Leaping to the end of the path without considering the check-points along the way can be innovative but risky.

Mixing a strategic thinker with an analyst and charging them with reaching a decision together can lead to some interesting results, that is, if they both survive.

Out of Step

When collaborators are approaching the problem from different perspectives, you can end up with a situation where some team members require patience while waiting for others to catch up to the obvious conclusion.

This can lead to arguments, frustration and could cause delays in moving forward to resolve the problem.  A result can be analysis paralysis.

This situation is way too common.  Stakeholders basically give up in frustration adopting the attitude  “it is what it is”, nothing I can do but accept the circumstances.

Bridging the Divide

In these situations it is important to first recognize the root causes of the delays.  Accepting the lack of a resolution can be an approach but it is seldom a good choice.

Collaboration among people with significant differences of perspective can be very difficult but not impossible.  The quality of the outcomes make it virtually always worth the effort to go for collaborative resolution.

Accepting the lack of closure because addressing the underlying disagreements, in a respectful and open way is too hard is never the best approach and just leads to frustration.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

I am important, Not!

Leave a comment

One of the a leaders greatest failures is a lack of humility.  Often the trappings of leadership, things like large offices, special assistants and inaccessibility, send the message “I am special”

A key to building a strong follower-ship through collaboration is to behave in a way that clearly proves you believe everyone is important, equally so.

  Check with my Assistant

I find nothing more demeaning than being asked to check with an assistant for time to talk to someone who is so much more important than you are they require assistance to control their access.

Great leaders encourage interactions with everyone.  They do not hold their positional importance in high esteem but rather value their followers more.

After all without followers you cannot be a leader.  You can definitely lead effectively without large offices, special perks and  an army of personal assistants, although admittedly these things are nice to have.

Humility Wins

The key is to be consistently humble in everything you do and not lord your greatness over others through boastful behaviour. You must both believe and act like your time is not more important than that of someone else.

The historic trappings of leadership, think emperors and other monarchs, do seem to have benefit from the leaders perspective, not at all from the followers.

When you are charged with facilitating everyone to become great recognizing and drawing out their personal greatness requires you to remain on their level.  They must feel and return your empathy to receive the gift of greatness it is yours to grant them.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Resolving Issues

Leave a comment

Conflicts between humans are normal.  Expecting to live in a conflict-free environment is probably desirable but not realistic.  For most of us encountering an important topic or problem for debate or discussion is a daily occurrence.

Interacting with others to resolve issues can involve emotional responses and can lead to distress not directly associated with the issue.

Focus on the Problem

It is not unusual for us to support our positions by attacking our opponents.    This usually fails and just causes the discussion (or debate) to escalate.

The real issue is lost in the blame game.  It is human nature to be first to ensure it’s clear someone else created the problem.  Unfortunately, while this might feel right, it definitely is not the best way to achieve issue resolution.

When discussing a topic, if you are really seeking a solution, it works best to focus on the problem.  Discussion points that include names or pronouns (e.g., you, he, she, them) typically contain some attack or validation at the expense of others.

Adversarial

When the conversation includes comments on other peoples behavior, no matter how accurate you think your perspective is, the other person might not agree with you and even if they do it could be perceived as an insult.

The solution to working with others collaboratively is relatively simple.  Without reference to other actions or faults, the focus stays on point, ie, how to address and resolve the issue.

When you believe you about to referencing another person, this almost always involves a name or pronoun.  Catch yourself before it’s too late and you are more likely to attain your objective.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

The Right Answer

Leave a comment

Some problems have many possible resolutions.  In these cases, there is often no “right answer”.  A plethora of options exist and each will provide the desired outcome.

The multitude of options often leads to fervent discussion, even argument.  I am often amused when listening as an independent observer, how, ultimately all parties are basically arguing semantics with the conclusion consistently the same.

Who Cares

Human nature, that is the natural instinctual behaviour for most people, dictates that we want to be accepted.  This causes us to care when our solution is not recognized as the best.

Since it is often the case that no solution is necessarily the best this can (and does) lead to non-productive behaviour (usually by all parties to a discussion).

Caring, that is having strong feelings or concerns associated with something translates to being accountable for your own thoughts and actions and is generally a good thing.

In the case where collaboration is the best course of action, ownership can get in the way of achievement. The best course of action can be side-tracked by emotions.

In these situations, it is most helpful if the focus is on the outcomes (what we are trying to achieve) as opposed to an individuals self-worth.

A workable solution

In situations with a number of good options all being elegantly proposed by passionate individuals, I suggest we focus on anything that works and resolves the issue.

Our own personal feelings should be set aside so we may concentrate on achieving a result that benefits everyone.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Leadership Approaches

Leave a comment

Which approach to leadership gets the best results, leadership from the top or collaborative leadership?  Trick question, the answer is both.

Balance is the key here.  When to be directive and when to collaborative depends on a multitude of factors.  Not only when to employ a particular style is important but also the sequence, collaborate before direction from the top.

Lead from the Top

Top down leadership refers to a heirarchical structure with the fewest resources and the greatest power at the pinnacle.  Simplistically there are two classes of people in the organization, leaders and followers.

This approach can be very effective, basically the leader telling the followers what to do leveraging their power to get it done, granted by dint of their location in the heirarchy.

Collaborative Leadership

In this case there is no hierarchy.  Some roles may have more authority or power but getting things down is participatory and involves everyone.

Those with greater skills and earned power (e.g.,trust and respect) may catalyze the team, that is get things going without direct participation, but no-one is unilaterally directing.

Collaborative approaches tend to have superior outcomes. The effort to achieve the results is more efficient and of a higher quality.  This results from stronger buy in (driven by personal accountability) and the leverage of a diverse set of skills and capabilities.

Both Approaches?

Sounds like collaborative leadership is so much better why is there a need for leadership from the top.  Because, the direct approach is sometimes needed.

For example when collaborators flounder and a single direction can not be arrived at strong direction from the top may be the onlyway to move forward.

On the whole though the best balance between percent use of collaborative and directive leadership is probably in the 90/10 range.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Leadership Pyramid

Leave a comment

Human organizations typically have a single accountable role that leads them.  This applies whether the group focus is political, corporate, social, charitable and so on. 

The concept of having one leader accountable, that is the place where the buck stops, is an endemic design that repeats itself through the ages. 

Co-Leaders

A simple definition of leader is the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.  Significantly by definition we consider the term leader to be singular.  

This is a simple way of defining accountability and limiting our own responsibility.  When something bad happens we can point to the leader saying “They are in charge, they are responsible for the consequences.”

The use of a single leader gives us the ability to defer accountability with clarity and having multiple leaders would make this confusing and potentially obfusticate the issue.

This likely is a key contributing factor as to why we have not seen many instances of co-leadership (there are some) or even multiple leaders. 

Efficiency and Effectiveness

Surprisingly, although teamwork is often recognized as more efficient than individual effort and ultimately producing higher quality results, we stick to our old standard of a single leader at the top. 

For many of us, it is easier to follow than to lead, taking direction requires less effort than participating in developing of the strategy and than supporting the execution (i.e., leading).

And so, albeit a model that logically is not optimal – that of a single leader overall – is the model we stick with.  Interesting, a simple and obvious innovation yet few organizations can make it happen.  

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Inclusion

Leave a comment

When interacting with others to achieve an objective through the process of collaboration, a key consideration is who to include. 

As a rule of thumb, the more people involved the longer it takes to achieve a conclusion.  The quality of the result can be impacted, theoretically more input leads to a stronger foundation for action.  

The shifting balance

Fast or slow, high or low quality are considerations but there is not always a direct correlation between involvement (who and how many) and the results.  

The balance between who to involve and when is very much dependent on the context of the situation.  The important aspect is considering the balance before starting the collaboration. 

Additionally as information is uncovered or objectives are modified it may make sense to shift the participation balance. 

Participation Roles

When working collaboratively it is important for the participants to be clear on what is expected of them.  Being inclusive does not mean full mandatory participation by all the stakeholders. 

Feedback can be solicited through a number of methods from face to face meeting to a casual water-cooler conversation.  

Effective collaboration is often founded on planning (as with so many things).  That is who should be part of the process, when and what is their role.  

Thinking this through before beginning work on the objective is will enable the collaborative processes to proceed efficiently. 

Ultimately, planning for inclusion, making changes as things progress, is the better approach and more likely to avoid disgruntled stakeholders whom were not fully communicated with in advance (but thought they should be). 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Getting Help

Leave a comment

Relying on the assistance of others should neither be a fallback position nor something that is to be avoided.  I am reminded of a Warren Zevon classic rock song with the classic chorus:

Send lawyers guns and money, the shit has hit the fan

Warren Zevon

As implied by the desperate tone of the line, and supported by the rest of the lyrics, this plea for help arrives when the problem has escalated to out of control proportions.  

Waiting too long can make the assistance untenable. 

Not a sign of Weakness

Collaborating with others, enabling everyone to play a role and encouraging it, helps the chances of achieving success. 

I am great because I did it myself, this is of course heroic but typically not sustainable and very susceptible to failure.  We all have our kryptonite, that is something that can defeat us.  

Actually, accepting help gratefully, encouraging it, creating an environment where we all want to help each other as a standard methodology can be far more productive (and sustainable) than the hero approach.

Appreciation is key

Help accepted reluctantly is recognized by others and is a sure way to discourage this behavior.  Giving and getting assistance does have a component of personal gratification and acknowledging and complementing the helper supports this.  

It is basic human nature, supported by human nurture for most people to want to help others.  Environmental factors can impact others natural instinct to be helpful but absent those, it is a natural practice for most. 

We should not deny it or feel threatened.  Giving and accepting help, is a best practice for everyone.