Collaborative results exceed sum of parts

Collaboration is an important word in business today. It represents a mindset and a method of operating. It requires leaders to understand, value and incorporate input from diverse perspectives.

According to Wilson Learning Worldwide, “The mindset of collaboration is to combine talents and integrate differences to achieve innovative outcomes. … The focus is on ‘we.’” It is an effort is to achieve solutions that rise above individual and functional interests.

Two mindsets work against collaboration and are often the starting point for employees. Perhaps you will recognize your company culture.

“Individualism” is a mindset focused on winning for the sake of victory. It promotes an environment where the focus is on “I,” and the way people operate is competitive. Decisions are often autonomous and delivered in a directive manner. Problems are hushed up to avoid losing position or status.

The hardest part for individualists is making the leap to a common purpose above personal interests, which is a necessary component of a collaborative mindset. It is shared vision and purpose that creates the “we” in problem solving and pulls individuals together.

“Groupism” is a mindset in which it is important to get along with each other for the sake of harmony. The focus is on “you,” and the method of operating is cooperative. Consensus is the preferred approach to decisions.

Groupism is often thought to be collaborative, but it is not. People tend to hush up problems to avoid relationship tension, which shuts off important contributions and shows little respect for diversity. It is difficult to break because employees aren’t accustomed to taking risks.

Regardless of how a culture is currently operating, the way leaders function is key to establishing a collaborative environment. Leaders must contribute their own value and facilitate team members’ contributions as a standard way of doing business.

Start by making decisions using a collaborative approach rather than announcing, “The organization will now be collaborative.” People simply will not trust new behaviors until they see them demonstrated consistently over time. Even at that, sometimes employees don’t respond as expected; they may see contribution as a burden rather than an opportunity.

Wilson Learning recommends that leaders consider four different decision approaches for creating a collaborative environment.

Autonomous: The leader makes the decision based either on information he or she already has or on information gathered by employees.

Consultative: The leader shares the problem with employees and discusses it with the whole team. While the leader is influenced by others, the final decision is made by the leader.

Joint: The leader and employees share in the decision-making process. Making decisions by consensus means that everyone expresses themselves, feels heard by others and can support the decision.

Delegative: The leader assigns the problem to one or more employees who then have the authority to make the decision.

In a collaborative environment, multiple decision approaches are utilized and communicated depending on the issue; there is no right approach for all situations. An effective decision-maker explores his or her reasoning and assumptions, and considers the payoffs and costs of each approach.

Try this exercise: List your critical decisions in a column down a page, leaving room for notes to the right. For each decision, note your current approach and consider the benefits and consequences of the other approaches.

Ask yourself, “How might a different decision approach yield more positive results from employees and solve the problem more effectively?”

Unfortunately, leaders often perceive that it takes more time to involve employees in decision-making, or they think employees are not capable of contributing at their level. I can’t count the number of times I’ve witnessed this short-term perspective and its long-term negative consequences.

If an organization is going to compete locally, nationally or globally it should take very seriously the challenge of collaborating internally. It must pay attention to the approach leaders take to decisions, not just the decisions themselves; it must decide how to decide.

Linda Bower is a speaker, executive coach and human performance improvement consultant in Rogersville.