Faster Better DoodleThe dictionary describes ‘collaboration’ as a noun and it means ‘the action of working with someone to produce something.’ But that seems rather bland. When we add a little colour, we describe collaboration as ……

‘Bringing people together with a purpose of achieving something in the best way they can, with the intention of using all their wisdom combined.’

As its definition implies, collaboration should harness everyone’s contribution and see you achieving results much faster as you combine people’s strengths and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Except, you know that course of true collaboration doesn’t always run smoothly. It can be a bumpy road when competition rears its head. It’s probably best to start by saying that we’re not knocking healthy competition. In our experience, healthy competition inspires us to bring our best game. But if we’re actually on the same ‘side’ and competition means ‘I win: you lose’ then it’s unhealthy and counter-productive.

I win: you lose

What competition can look like……     

A group of people can form ‘micro cultures’ and actively work against each other, not with each other. Sides are drawn up, each trying to find fault with the other so that someone comes out on top. When something goes wrong they are each quick to point an accusing finger and blame the other side.

Individuals don’t like each other. There might be unpleasant past history or at least some lack of understanding and empathy about the other person’s situation. There is reluctance to help one another and in fact people may actively try to sabotage each other’s efforts. Satisfaction comes from scoring points, coming out ‘on top’ and seeing the other person diminished as a result.

Secrecy is another common weapon. Competing sides don’t really tell each other much. There’s little shared sense of where they are going and in the confusion, each group does its own thing (easily justifying their actions due to the lack of clarity). Activity continues, mini teams do their own thing and sometimes they get in each other’s way. It’s awkward, tense, frustrating and frankly, pointless!

Time and energy that could be used to achieve positive results, is misdirected and used trying to emerge as the winning team. It’s an all too common experience for people working in organisations everywhere, but it’s not all doom and gloom. 

SIX things you can do to make collaboration work, without competing 

  1. Encourage everyone involved to share their plans, goals, dreams and ideas.
    Tell people what you have in mind and why this is important to you (and them). Tell them what troubles you, talk about the possible solutions you’ve come up with so far and get their feedback on your thoughts as often as you can. Encourage them to do the same. In this way you will understand more fully the motivations and aspirations of members of the group, your thinking will have been further shaped and people will also start to think on your behalf. 

Collaboration encourages ideas to be shared, built upon, shaped, combined, re-combined and strengthened.  

  1. Talk about the expectations you have of each other.
    Share openly the things that you need from others in the group. Listen hard to what others want and need and be prepared to take action to make sure these expectations are met. Be honest about what engages and inspires you and about what frustrates you about collaborating with others. Don’t just do this once. Keep the dialogue going as you develop as a group, and do it informally too. 

Collaboration encourages the right conditions for everyone to thrive  

  1. Embrace the opportunity that group diversity provides and invite everyone to offer their opinions and ideas.

Maximise the impact of your collaborations by inviting and encouraging full participation. Allow everyone to take a turn to contribute, be curious, ask for their ideas and really listen to the replies with all of your attention. Allow people to share their candid opinions and value them for doing so.

While there may have been very specific reasons for a person being part of the collaboration in the first place, keep in mind that they don’t have to stay in that box. By encouraging them to play around the edges of their responsibility it’s possible that these contributions will accelerate the overall performance of the team, or take you in unexpected but valuable directions.

On a practical level, taking turns to speak in group situations is not only good manners and conducive to meaningful discussion but it’s a sign of social sensitivity, a trait of high performing teams. There’s some research to support this too. 

Collaboration encourages diverse opinions that give strength to goals and results

  1. Enjoy the experience of collaborating and give people time to become good at it.

Become comfortable letting people contribute as much as their competence and enthusiasm will allow at that moment in time. As confidence and trust builds within the group you’ll notice previously hidden skills, knowledge and experience rising to the surface and being shared. 

Collaboration builds confidence and trust over the long term

  1. Keep talking, it’s not possible to over communicate
    Informal communication should be a constant background hum. People should be talking all the time about what’s happening and about the progress that’s being made. Encourage diverse and fluid communication between many people rather than having a restrictive formal process as the dominant route for communication. Ensure that individuals don’t become a bottleneck for communication and do whatever you can to make it flow continuously like a gentle stream. Structured communication methods and be used to supplement the informal to fill in any gaps and make sure nothing slips between the cracks. 

To add a little oomph to this point, there’s a study from MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory which indicates that how well a team communicates informally is a strong predictor of their success.

Collaboration ensures that everyone is up to speed with what’s going on and allows them to contribute in the best way they can 

  1. Assume that everyone has a positive intention.
    It’s easy to be suspicious and to doubt people’s intentions but it serves no purpose other than wasting our time and energy and holding back team performance. By keeping our focus on the strengths that individuals bring to the collaboration, we can reduce the time wasted speculating about people’s motives and spend more time on finding out how people can achieve individual AND group success, not one OR the other.

Collaboration opens up the opportunity for individual AND group success

The catalyst for compiling the six steps you’ve just read, were real experiences we’ve had working with groups of people who come together to achieve something more than they could possibly hope to achieve alone. As we have new and different experiences, then so our thoughts on what works and what doesn’t will evolve in line with them. Here we’ve described the downside of unhealthy competition and the upside of collaboration. How does your experience compare?

“To succeed takes more than the desire to win. It also takes the acceptance that we could fail.” Simon Sinek