| Put the LABOR
into Collaborating
The five of us assembled around two tables. We did not know each other prior to this workshop. We were told we would begin by creating the tallest structure possible in two minutes. Our models would be tested for sturdiness, balance, and resilience when the two minutes are up. This was our first collaborative step in what would eventually result in the creation of our Simple Guiding Principles. Simple Guiding Principles are one of the outcomes built to give visual, tactile, and verbal meaning to our collaborative effort to construct our shared corporate identity and strategies for heeding our changing business landscapes. We all came together because we each share a passion for breaking down barriers to collaboration, cooperative and effective teamwork, and collaborative leadership in the truest sense, meaningful decision-making and interpersonal communications that foster learning across the organization. Collaborate, collaborative leadership, collaboration—why are words like this getting more attention lately? Is collaboration a new idea? Is this a new organizational development model that has recently surfaced? Collaborating is working jointly with others, especially in an intellectual endeavor. Perhaps it sounds like something we've heard before, yet it has not been borne out in sustainable actions in your company or office. For many of us who are in people or the 'helping' professions, working jointly, collaborating with others is a common and essential element of our daily lives. Why? We're excited by the diversity of thinking and creativity that comes from 'working jointly' toward an outcome and solution. The event I began telling you about is a real-life example of a joint (or collaborative) effort that includes Play, Construction, and Imagination; to literally 'construct' or 'build' to express metaphorically strategies, motivations, ownership, team and/or individual identity, and more. We used LEGO™ bricks from LEGO™ Serious Play Executive Discovery, LLC (http://seriousplay.com/). I'm relating this experience because I sense that the concepts behind working together for mutual outcomes are finding renewed meaning among business leaders, educators, and organization development professionals. Naturally, a plethora of options are available to accomplish organizational development in today's marketplace. Our newer workers are full of teachings from Colleges and Universities that reflect collaborative efforts toward effective teamwork, essentially working WITH co-workers toward a shared outcome. We need to overcome what are now traditional barriers to effective collaboration: Cell phones, voicemail, email, PDAs, travel, more work per individual, and, of course, desire for family time. We can break through these barriers with actions that include true or real interpersonal communications. At a recent workshop, one of the team was having difficulty manipulating the LEGO™ bricks. A colleague offered to assist. One gave instructions and guidance. The other listened and gave shape to the words and impressions he heard. What transpired was a true, collaborative effort and collaborative result that went beyond a satisfactory solution. It brought an entire room together when everyone witnessed the results of the joint effort. New ideas or perspectives invite creative solutions that may not be possible without an ear toward LISTENING to what your colleague has to offer. It's time we revisit and then apply the concepts and practices behind collaboration to effect the results of collaboration. A variety of experiential learning tools exist to refresh, reawaken, apply, and practice collaborative decision-making. Today is once again an excellent opportunity to rejuvenate and reawaken the collaborative processes that likely already exist. Foster these efforts with practices that nurture. Within a sales environment, there are several examples or practices that foster collaboration both internally and externally. One must first acknowledge that sales people are inherently competitive amongst themselves (who can make the most sales on a sales staff) as well as when trying to get the prospect to purchase what is being sold. Sales people (those motivated to achieve goals set out for them) strive for results, and these results likely are expected to grow either monthly, quarterly, or yearly. This places great opportunity and great pressure on the sales person to perform. Sometimes the quest for performance and results overshadows the opportunities of a collaborative sales effort. The first step to a collaborative sales effort is to insure that your sales people are hired on the basis of their talents and skills for teamwork, listening skills, oral communications, leadership, and decision-making. Hire the right-minded folks who are capable of collaboration and what follows is more of what you wanted in the first place. The next step is to train sales people to imitate conversations and meetings with purpose and meaning. By this I mean that the sales person should make no contact with a prospect without answering the 5 'Ws' and an 'H':
Working WITH a prospect to relieve their dilemma puts the salesperson into a collaborative situation where problems are solved and purchased, not simply sold to meet a quota number. Each is working toward a mutually agreed solution. The "how can I get mine" approach is fulfilling to only one person's needs, and the object is always to satisfy both parties so that return business is more than likely. Internally, collaboration among sales people begins with the hiring process I noted earlier and from there takes many forms. An intranet can be a repository for marketing materials to be accessed by anyone and also is a place where information is used successfully but the sales staff can be categorized by topic and stored for ease of access. Frequent quarterly gatherings of the sales staff and related departments is a must for team-building and interpersonal communications exercises that keeps dialogue open and exchange of ideas and practices across the organization, an ongoing practice. These gatherings are not an expense, they are an investment in insuring your staff works together for the good of the organization, not just their own department. Collaborative team building requires a commitment by the organization at its highest levels so the commitment is not diluted or broken when outside influences or the economy does not cooperate. One should consider the following steps as building blocks for collaboration and team building:
John C. Moon, Founder, Hearthstone Coaching John is the originator of the FACE UP program and is an authorized facilitator of LEGO™ Serious Play products including Real-Time Identity™ and Real-Time Strategy™. Additionally, John facilitates workshops and programs at Babson College's Executive Education Center, and speaks in front of local and national groups about sales and improving interpersonal communications skills for sustainable results. © 2002 OnTrack Coaching & Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved. |