Collaboration

collaboration

In: Collaboration, Leadership

When you start working with someone new there are ways to make the fresh collaboration super effective. As Rebecca Zucker writes in HBR, before starting a new project, step back and get to know each other a little better. The way we collaborate can foster creativity and innovation but it also has potential to slow progress with meetings and communication required to keep everyone on the same page. In 2014 a Stanford study found that working together boosted intrinsic motivation, with participants persisting up to 64% longer on challenging tasks.  “Working with others affords enormous social and personal benefits” Gregory Walton, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stanford 2014 The process of collaboration can lead to overload as Cross, Rebele and Grant wrote in 2016. “At many companies, people spend around 80% of their time in meetings or answering colleagues’ requests, leaving little time for all the critical work they must complete onContinue Reading

magic ingredient

In: Collaboration, Culture, Leadership, Team Diversity

Search on the term Cognitive Diversity in Teams and you will find hundreds of scholarly articles on the topic in journals, as well as editorial articles in magazines from all over the world. So what is cognitive diversity and why is it a magical ingredient for teams? Highly diverse teams bring a wealth of thinking, creativity and opportunity as the article author Richard Bliss states “diversity in the workplace or on a team is a competitive advantage. It’s also something that is not easily copied or replicated”. So why is it so hard to build a diverse team and get them to work effectively together? Well that is because that same diversity of thought can generate friction and cause conflict through the debate of alternative opinions. The greater the wealth of different opinions and diverging thoughts the harder to corral and align for critical decisions. This topic is tackled inContinue Reading

In: Collaboration, Effective Communication, Virtual Teams, Working From Home

Synopsis of an article from Harvard Business Review, by by Justin Hale and Joseph Grenny, Published 9th March 2020 The authors make the argument that too often meeting attendees check out. When everyone is in the same room there are techniques we all use to bring the attention back to the speaker but how do you do that on a virtual meeting. Here are 5 rules that can really help sharpen the focus in your next virtual meeting. The 60 second rule – In the first minute of the meeting do something with the group to make them experience the problem. It might be a dramatic story, compelling statistics or a powerful analogy. The goal is to ensure that the group understands the problem before you discuss or try to solve it. The responsibility rule – when attending a meeting we all have a role, you need to provide clarity on the engagementContinue Reading

Ways to Lead

In: Collaboration, Leadership, Trust, Virtual Teams

Synopsis of an article from Forbes, by Benjamin Laker, Published 6th July 2020 In this article Benjamin looks at ‘Respect Trumps Harmony’ a new book from Rachel Robertson who also published ‘Leading on the Edge’ which is an account and the learnings from her expedition to Antartica. The key points that Rachel makes are that now is the perfect time for leaders to reset, redefine and to clarify. To re-set the cultural boundaries, to redefine the rituals and clarify team expectations. Establish what worked in our old rituals and behaviours and what should be ‘ditched’. Three tools that any leaders can use: No TrianglesPractice only having direct conversations to build respect and collaboration. ‘‘We had a simple rule that went ‘I don’t speak to you about him, or you don’t speak to me about her.’ No Triangles go direct to the source”, Rachael said. Manage Your Bacon WarsAs you returnContinue Reading

In: Collaboration, Crisis Management, Leadership, Trust

Synopsis of an article from Chief Executive by Dale Buss, Published 1st July 2020 This article interviews Stew Leonard, CEO of the Northeast Grocery Chain and learns from the practical changes he put in place for the US group as the pandemic has transformed how people work. “No one ever really gets tested until a crisis happens,” Leonard told Chief Executive. “Then some people rise to the occasion. It’s like when people are going through tough times in their life: Some friends avoid them, but others knock on their doors and say, ‘How can I help you?’” Leonard explained how his store managers and leaders worked to build trust with customers and with staff. They did this by continuing to trial ideas and communicate the best practices as they went. Leonard established a number of principles for his team and shared them across the leadership team with an ‘informal scorecard’ to trackContinue Reading

Best_Practices

In: Collaboration, Teams

Synopsis of an article from The Heart of Innovation by Mitch Ditkoff published 26th June 2020 In this article Mitch outlines 10 reasons why Best Practices are often not shared. Why don’t people like to share what works and the best ways to get things done. Command and controlThe hierarchy of organisations often stops sharing; because ideas shared freely and widely have potential to change the status quo. Sharing and applying those learnings from another part of the business can see credit going to a competitor, the perception of new work or re-work. Lack of a clear or compelling vision for successKeeping teams aligned and working effectively is a critical to a teams effectiveness, with out a strong impetus for change most people will stay with the traditional practices and not seek to learn or grow. Lack of a sense of interdependenceA common reason people don’t share best practices isContinue Reading