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Tao of Collaboration: We all think ourselves straight shooters, good listeners, and people who appreciate and support each other. But saying so doesn't make it true.
Leader's Edge, April 2008
Fast Focus
- Can't find success through collaborative efforts? Poppycock!
- Practice the fundamentals: Listen generously, speak straight, be for each other, honor commitments and appreciate others.
There's much industry talk about the demise of the independent agency
due to the aging of the insurance workforce and the dearth of new talent
coming up through the ranks to take over our businesses. Is there some
truth to this? Maybe. But let me be contrarian and say, Bunk! And
furthermore, Hogwash!
Or, to put it in today's language: That's wack!
There's no truth to the rumor that we're all getting too old and there's
nobody to take over for us. We are simply not approaching the question
properly.
You're never too old to listen, or to mentor, or to praise a job well
done. You're never too young to speak honestly, or to follow through, or
to support your co-workers.
Sounds simple, right? As the leader of your firm, simply putting those
ideas into action can bridge the gap between your, ahem, mature staff
and those more recent members doing the front-line work. It's a matter
of being inclusive and aligning all team members toward the same
objective. In a word, collaboration.
In last month's "Financial Aficionado" article, I explored a list of 30
fundamentals that an extremely successful firm uses to define its
culture. Among those are five core commitments and practices known as
"The Collaborative Way." Let's explore that further.
The Collaborative Way
"The Collaborative Way" is not a new-wave trend. Rather, management
consultant Lloyd Fickett created it over a two-decade period while
consulting with privately held firms going through rapid growth, mergers
and acquisitions, competitive challenges and other market pressures.
(Sound like the insurance industry?) From Fickett's work, The
Collaborative Way emerged as a powerful structure for creating an
environment of collaboration, and it has given companies an essential
competitive advantage.
Lloyd Fickett & Associates developed the concepts when working with a
client, Rodel, a company providing products for the silicon computer
chip industry. The owners of Rodel recognized that the growth rate and
strategic nature of their market meant they would soon face bigger
competitors with more resources. (Sound like your dilemma?) Spurred by
this situation, a new way of working together emerged at Rodel that
would give the company the edge when facing tough new competitors and
enable Rodel to remain the leader in its market.
For further information about the history of The Collaborative Way and
Lloyd Fickett & Associates, visit www.collaborativeway.com. And add to
your "must read" list the book, The Collaborative Way—A Story
About Engaging the Mind and Spirit of a Company, by Lloyd Fickett and
Jason Fickett.
Collaborative Practices
In its simplest form, The Collaborative Way is creating an environment
that provides mutual understanding and a common language for the
workplace, thereby producing a powerful structure for ongoing coaching
and learning.
It includes five key practices that enable people to work powerfully
together as a team.
They are:
- Listening generously
- Speaking straight
- Being for each other
- Honoring commitments
- Acknowledgment and appreciation.
These five practices are deceptively simple because so many people
deceive themselves into thinking that they do them. We all want to think
we're straight shooters and good listeners, that we appreciate and
support each other, and that we always honor our commitments. But saying
as much is not enacting The Collaborative Way. The key to success is
weaving these tenets into the company's focus and organizational
direction. Just as we must do when enacting a strategic plan, we must
clearly define and work from common short- and long-term objectives and
goals.
Before you get into living those five fundamental tenets, start by
developing the company's focus and direction, and into that mix add
inclusion and alignment.
Inclusion. The ability to include your employees in the big
picture is critical. As in any strategic planning process, the inclusion
of others in the decision-making process results in better and more
informed decisions. Being inclusive also makes it easier to gain the
support to implement decisions and reinforces employees' ownership and
accountability.
Alignment. Building alignment with employees versus forcing
management's view or decisions on key matters is also critical to
collaborative success. Alignment must become the standard mode of
operation for any firm.
Five Points to Better Business
So now we come to the five fundamental points. Once you've said
poppycock to the notion that your business is on the skids and you've
put in place the basic framework for a collaborative success, you must
develop habits and work practices that enable the framework to, well,
work. It's a matter of weaving these five interpersonal practices into
your inclusive, well-aligned work activities.
- Listening generously. Most people listen by habit, meaning
they hear only what they want to hear, which is what supports their own
view. This is a sure way to destroy the ability to work together. When
collaboration is called for, our natural tendency is to argue against
each other and try to sell our own idea. It often results in a no-win
scenario.
Conversely, listening generously addresses the shortcomings in the way
we normally listen. The Collaborative Way counsels that we must learn to
listen for the contribution in each other's speaking versus listening
from our own assessment, opinions and judgments. The ability to learn to
listen creates an environment of mutual support throughout the company
that results in:
- Giving our full attention to the speaker
- Being curious and willing to be influenced
- Setting aside our prejudices, preconceived notions and conclusions
- Not waiting for an opening to argue our point nor thinking about a
rebuttal.
Benefits include coming more quickly to good ideas and more-informed
decisions, and then implementing them more quickly. Listening generously
also makes productive use of conflict, leaves fewer mistakes and
misunderstandings, and creates a greater understanding of customers'
needs.
- Speaking straight. The way we speak generally involves
"playing it safe," and going for that safety results in vague or false
impressions. If you hold a meeting without productive conflict, due to
insufficient input or management believing that they have buy-in from
key team members, you very often will reach a bad decision. However, the
realization that a bad decision has been made is not determined until
after that decision has been enacted, which affects morale and
productivity. Speaking straight means to speak honestly in a way that
puts forward what we are up to. Make clear and direct requests. Be
willing to surface ideas or take positions that may result in conflict
when it's necessary to reach our objectives. The practice of speaking
straight gives companies the ability to deal with issues head-on, which
leads to faster and more effective decision making and, in turn,
improves productivity. The support and practice of speaking straight
will result in:
- Speaking up when we have something relevant to contribute
- Speaking honestly while making a contribution
- Bringing up issues that need addressing, even at the risk of
conflict and discomfort
- Making clear, direct requests and getting committed responses.
One benefit is a more productive meeting. Also, a higher quality of
collaborative thinking will result in better decisions. By dealing with
the real issues up front, initiatives will be implemented faster.
Employees will feel respected and part of the team.
- Being for each other. Mutual support and teamwork are the
bedrock of a company's success, yet we often focus on personal success.
This results in competing with each other, rather than working as a team
for the overall benefit of the company. If things go wrong, we're faced
with the "blame game" instead of focusing on solving the underlying
problem.
"Being for each other" means supporting each other's success. Each staff
member needs to operate from the point of view that we're all in this
together and that it is not our goal for one person to "win" at the
expense of someone else or to the detriment of the enterprise itself. We
need to inspire everyone to look for each other's greatness and instill
the desire for each person to provide rigorous support to the others
when needed. The result will be a stronger work environment and a
stronger company. Committing to this practice will make a significant
difference and result in:
- Support for each other's success
- Re-direction of gossip into productive discussions
- Quick and efficient addressing of performance issues
- Quick cleanup of issues or misunderstandings that affect working
relationships.
Benefits of being for each other include a better focus on the true
competition—other companies—rather than competing internally
against each other. Your people will work better as teams, and it will
be a healthier environment for attracting and retaining talent. Finally,
employees will feel respected and part of a team.
- Honoring commitments. When commitments are not honored, it
is human nature to get defensive and once again play the "blame game."
Morale plummets and cynicism rises. The word "honor" itself is sullied.
A surefire way for a team to lose its momentum and drive is to let
commitments slip and not deal with them.
Does this sound familiar? "Well, if he did not meet the deadline, why
should I?" Honoring commitments simply means you will do what you say
you're going to do when you say you're going to do it. End of story.
However, if (or when, because it is inevitable) a commitment cannot be
fulfilled, others dependent upon that commitment must be notified early,
and a new commitment must be agreed upon.
The practice of honoring commitments provides a powerful tool for
accomplishing individual, team and company goals. Honoring commitments
holds people to a higher standard and means taking responsibility for
that commitment from conception to realization and all steps in between.
It means acknowledging and addressing breakdowns. This standard is
required from both sides of the commitment; both the maker and the
recipient are active participants in its success or failure. The
environment you create by practicing honoring commitments results in:
- Ensuring that only clearly defined commitments are made
- Immediately communicating when fulfillment of a commitment is at
risk
- Quickly and effectively addressing commitments that are not kept
- Effectively supporting each other in fulfilling commitments.
When commitments are honored, a prime benefit is greater effectiveness
at implementing change. You create a winning environment that people
want to work in. Higher productivity ensues, due to greater cooperation
among employees and among business units. Customer satisfaction
increases.
- Acknowledgment and Appreciation. People feel unappreciated
when there is little acknowledgment, and they tend to do only the things
they have to do. They are unlikely to take on bigger tasks or the
riskier roles that could be critical to the company's productivity and
innovation. Lack of appreciation also contributes to the unproductive
complaining that people do about their jobs, their work environment and
their co-workers.
Conversely, positive feedback is a tremendous energy source. Regularly
give, receive and ask for meaningful appreciation and acknowledgement.
Establishing acknowledgment and appreciation in a company is key to
realizing the full potential of the workforce. Acknowledgment and
appreciation are most powerful when everyone in a company is looking to
give kudos to others, regardless of the direction. When acknowledgment
and appreciation becomes a company-wide practice, people will:
- Give acknowledgment that is specific and meaningful
- Receive acknowledgment openly and express thanks
- Request acknowledgment be given when they notice it missing
somewhere else in the company
- Take on things they would not normally do.
From this, many benefits accrue. They include a more committed and
energetic workforce, a more satisfying and positive work environment,
the ability to attract and retain top talent, and increased
effectiveness in implementation of change.
Where is your agency on the demise curve? Is it helplessly mired in the
spiral of an aging workforce with no one being groomed to take over?
Horse hockey! Take a lesson from The Collaborative Way, and you can
build an operation that will be dynamic, responsive and supportive. I
challenge you to try these methods and see if you don't experience
enhanced productivity and innovation, improved loyalty and satisfaction,
and better results and profits.
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