From my experience, most people assume that the entire goal of collaboration is to get something done, hopefully better and faster than when they work by themselves. But what most people don’t understand is that when we seek to collaborate with others, we have to give up control, i.e. controlling all the details, controlling other people, and even controlling the outcome of certain situations. This is not talked about when it comes to collaboration, and yet it is the source of so many problems when collaboration does not go well.
To solve the many problems that come with the desire for better or improved collaboration, we have to think of the concept as a combination of two things, each intertwined and impacting the others. First, as I noted earlier, collaboration is a mindset. It’s how we think about the process of working with others. Second, it is a set of behaviors that result in this thing we ultimately call collaboration. Now, some people define collaboration as either a mindset or a set of core behaviors. They are not willing to embrace “the Genius of the AND,” referencing the work and research of Jim Collins.
I think one of the biggest challenges is not the mindset issue. Most people can understand the reason for collaboration once it is shared and discussed. But, they often struggle with how to actually do collaboration. People can slowly get their mind around the idea that collaboration takes sharing, coordination, co-creation, and accountability. For many, this makes sense, but once the meeting has started, or the project charter is defined and then the project is initiated, then various problems surface and they surface quickly.
Recognizing that collaboration is a set of behaviors, we need to unpack and explore the various key behaviors within it. The first behavior is to work as one team. The challenge with this idea is that very few people have worked on a highly functional team. Most have only worked in single leader work groups where everything from problem-solving to decision-making has to go through a single leader. In order for members from various teams to come together and to collaborate well with others, the first step is relationship building. People need to trust each other and to have a relationship-centric approach to collaboration more than a solutions focus and a “get it done” focus. Over time, a relationship centric approach builds the capacity to collaborate through multiple problems, adaptive or technical, and through multiple complex and complicated situations.
The second behavior is to communicate clearly and effectively. Most leaders think this translates into speaking clearly and often. However, the best and most effective forms of collaboration I have witnessed over multiple decades, always starts with better listening rather than better talking. The goal, referencing an old Stephen Covey adage, is to “seek first to understand, second to be understood.”
This concept makes sense only if one grasps the difference between having an awareness of what is going on vs. having an understanding. When people begin the journey to effective collaboration, they start from the place of being unaware. Often, those involved are coming together for different reasons. Some have a goal in mind and others have a problem they are trying to solve. Many times, they are using the same words but holding fundamentally different definitions as to what they mean. The result over time is significant miscommunication or misinterpretation around key information.
The other problem that experienced leaders understand is simple, but not easy. Awareness is not understanding. We can be aware of a problem or a goal, and at the exact same time not fully understand it. If you are a parent of teenagers or have been a parent of teenagers, this makes complete sense. People who understand something see the holistic implications of what is taking place and recognize the interdependencies and connections of people, systems, structure and culture. They understand that today’s problems and challenges often reflect strategic decisions made 5 - 7 years ago.
Thus, people, who seek successful collaboration, start by building trusting relationships and then focus on effective communication. They build understanding by creating clarity about four specific things. First, making sure all involved are clear about the purpose or why behind the need to collaborate. Second, they hold a common understanding and/or picture of what done well looks like during and after the period of collaboration takes place. Third, they understand the plan of action that requires collaboration. Fourth, they understand their role in the plan of action. These four things are the foundation of their clarity and understanding and are then transformational to their ability communication effectively, before, during and after collaboration.
The third behavior is to make effective decisions. Most people think of decision-making as a binary process, i.e. made vs. not made. Those who in engage in successful collaboration frame decision making as a four stage process, namely preparing to make a decision, making a decision, executing a decision, and evaluating a decision. It is the sum of all four steps that builds trust at a group level plus understanding, clarity, and ownership of the decisions being made.
One critical element to effective decision-making, and ultimately to effective and successful collaboration, is that all involved think through the impact and precedent being set during the decision making process. All involved know this is important because they recognize that on any given work day, someone may be suffering from strategic blindness, namely that they can not see the company’s strategy or strategic intent at the company level rather than just at the department level. Or they are suffering from context blindness, namely they can not see the environmental context within which the whole organization is working and moving through. Thus, when the discussion of impact and precedence happens during decision-making, those involved in effective collaboration check to make sure they are not missing something that over time could become a strategic problem or an operational blunder.
Along with the above three key behaviors, there is one other element that is critical to successful collaboration, namely the role of managers, and leaders. It is this group of people who can make or break collaboration. Their actions can create the right kind of work environment or a toxic work environment. Referencing the work of Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Truth About Employee Engagement: A Fable About Addressing the Three Root Causes of Job Misery, formerly called The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (and their employees) (Jossey-Bass 2007), effective people in management and leaderships do three specific things. First, they really know their people. Second, they help people know who their work impacts and how. Third, they help these same people also know how to assess their own progress or success. It is the combination of these three factors, which are all highly influenced by the actions of people in management and leadership positions, that create the environment for effective collaboration to take place.
In summary, the need for collaboration within a company is mission critical to being successful given the challenges within the current market place. We all know we need to solve problems faster and to innovate more quickly. The goal is to create better solutions and results. Effective collaboration is the pathway to these outcomes. Once all understand what it means, then those involved can quickly come together and work with others to do things that move the company in the right direction.
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