Same people can perform differently in different environments. Our goal as people leaders is to drive the culture in a direction of fulfilment and high performance. For that collaboration is a key.
I’ve observed many teams and experimented for many years so that now I can share training techniques that enable both leaders and employees to work well together, learn from one another, and overcome the barriers that get in the way. They make ideas of the leadership stick as they get support from the teams.
Instead of setting open offices, we need to focus on psychological aspects. Sustained collaboration has common mental attitudes: widespread respect for colleagues’ contributions, openness to experimenting with others’ ideas, and sensitivity to how one’s actions may affect team members and team goals.
The task for leaders is to promote an outward focus in everyone. People should not fixate on what they’d like to say and achieve — instead of what we can learn from others. The successful collaboration means there’s a time to listen and explore others’ ideas, a time to express your own, and a time to critique ideas and select the ones to pursue. The following techniques help people connect more fully and consistently.
1. Teach your colleagues to listen
We get into conflicts that could be avoided, miss opportunities to advance the conversation, alienate the people who haven’t been heard, and diminish our teams’ effectiveness. In my experience tendency to speak instead of listening gets worse as we climb the corporate ladder. Leaders often have the urge to interrupt or dominate a conversation, make it about themselves, or solve their conversation partners’ problems, instead concentrating on the implications of their words. We fail to listen because we’re too focused on our own performance, or convinced that our ideas are better than others’.
Listening can be improved by these practices:
- Focus on the listener, not on yourself.
- Ask open questions.
- Find your own tendencies in a regular “self-checks”.
- Become comfortable with silence. This means communicating attentiveness and respect while you’re silent. Avoid negative or judgmental nonverbal signals when you disagree with someone and use positive body language. It’s a challenge for those who are in love with the sound of their own voices.
- Consider creating a class “Listen Like a Leader”.
2. Train to Practice Empathy
Being receptive to the views of someone we disagree with is no easy task, but when we approach the situation with a desire to understand our differences, we get a better outcome. When team members focus on conveying empathy more than on sharing their opinions, everyone feels more satisfied with the discussion. Showing empathy also makes others more likely to ask you for your point of view. Collaboration proceeds more smoothly.
- Expand thinking of another person. When asking questions don’t use them as a means of touting your own ideas. Instead, they’re supposed to help the presenter think through the problem differently, without offering judgment about the presenter’s perceptions or approach or those of other questioners.
- Look for the unspoken. You may say: “I’ve noticed your are not 100% certain about your idea. Are there any risks that we should consider?”
3. Promote Feedback culture
People need the courage to have tough conversations and offer their views. NVC (Non-violent communication) is a key. I’ll share a feedback training in the following posts.
4. Teach people to lead
- Teach people how to lead by energising the group while following the course in an understandable way.
- Learn to delegate. Use a four-quadrant “skill-will model,” which explains how to tailor delegation to the abilities and motivation of those being handed control.
5. Teach people to follow
Most of people would score their ability to make decisions and their ability to collaborate higher than average. Unfortunately, our overly optimistic self-perception drives our decisions about whether to allow others to have control. Teaching people to work with dedication on the best idea which is not theirs’ is a key to successful collaboration. Senior colleagues should be open to ideas from newbies and be ready to follow their ideas too if they happen to be better.
6. Speak with clarity
When we communicate with others, psychological research shows, we are often too indirect and abstract. Our words would carry more weight if we were more concrete and provided vivid images of goals. And our statements would also be judged more truthful. In any collaboration there are times for open discussion of ideas and times when someone, regardless of whether they are in a leadership position, needs to cut through the confusion and clearly articulate the path forward.
Conclusion
These techniques create a positive dynamic: Teammates start feeling more respected and in turn are more likely to show others respect. And respect fuels enthusiasm, fosters openness to sharing information and learning from one another, and motivates people to embrace new opportunities for working together.
Attributions: Collaboration vector created by vectorjuice – www.freepik.com