Note from Art: I’m excited to feature another great guest post from Hay Group here at Management Excellence. As I mentioned in my intro note to the first post with Scott Spreier (The Trouble with Leadership By the Numbers), I was a happy customer of Hay’s in a prior lifetime. I’m thrilled that they’ve reached out to provide us all with a compelling read once again. This one is by Rick Lash is director of Hay Group’s Leadership & Talent Practice in Canada and co-leader of the annual Hay Group Best Companies for Leadership study.
Success in Collaboration-From an Unlikely Source-by Rick Lash, Hay Group
Have you seen the video showing traffic at an unsigned, unsignaled intersection in India? It’s mesmerizing – a portrait of chaos in motion.
An astounding variety of vans, cars of all sizes, three-wheeled auto rickshaws, scooters, motorcycles, bikes and even pedestrians surge back and forth across an expanse of pavement with no lane lines, no traffic lights, no signs – and no apparent rules. The opposing streams of traffic speed up, slow down, bunch up and stop dead as vehicles attempt to thread their way across the intersection, dodging and weaving through the confusion. Drivers make U-turns and occasionally head the wrong way to navigate around oncoming vehicles. You’re certain you’re going to see a terrible collision, yet it never happens. The drivers, riders and walkers all seem to know the unwritten rules that govern this chaotic bit of blacktop, and act accordingly.
I suddenly realized I was watching a primer on how to succeed in organizational collaboration.
Why is collaboration so difficult? Like that intersection, effective collaboration is governed by rules that may not be clear to the inexperienced. Players come and go, challenges and obstacles can appear from any direction, and no one seems to be in charge – or everyone is.
It’s a baffling situation for many managers – and no wonder. Most have earned their success by getting things done in competition with others at their level across the organization. They’ve developed a set of skills and competencies that have served them well in this competitive arena.
When they’re asked to participate in a collaborative effort, they’re suddenly expected to cooperate effectively with people they once competed against, and may again soon. It’s no wonder that many managers approach collaborative assignments with apprehension, fear and a white-knuckled grip on the wheel.
But it doesn’t have to be so. The same unwritten rules that help drivers thread their way across a challenging intersection can help you successfully navigate the challenges of collaboration.
1. Be clear about your destination. When you nose into that “collaboration intersection,” know exactly where you want to end up – and make it clear to those involved in the collaboration with you. Collisions are much less likely if your partners know where you’re headed. And most importantly, know when to get in and when to get out.
As a corollary, be sure that collaboration is the best way to achieve your goal. Not every business challenge requires a collaborative solution – and if you can reach your destination just as quickly without collaboration, go for it.
2. Accept that you’re not the only one driving. For a collaboration to succeed, the partners involved have to achieve a measure of mutual trust. That means not only being clear about your goals, but also understanding and respecting your partners’ goals as well – and being sure that they can mesh successfully. Until you reach that point, proceed with caution. Once you’re all in sync, you can accelerate on your project, dart through the obstacles, and follow through on your objectives.
3. Know when to lead and when to follow. If you’re a leader involved in a collaboration, your natural inclination is to lead – and with a mindful application of initiative and nerve, you can assume a leadership role, even if you have fewer resources than some of your partners. But you also have to know when to take a back seat. Sometimes, following close behind that big truck is the fastest and safest way to get through.
4. Know exactly how fast you can move. Many collaborative efforts are undertaken to accelerate innovation in fast-moving markets. Knowing how quickly you and your partners can deliver – and keeping to your timetable through the process – avoids conflicts and prevents disappointment. Collaborative tools, many enabled by new and emerging technologies, can help speed up the process and keep everyone on schedule.
5. Talk to people who have traveled the same road. If you’re used to managing and controlling your own resources – and competing against your peers to get them – you’re probably going to need a bit of an attitude adjustment. You may have to hone new leadership competencies, or at least recalibrate those you already have.
If you’re new to collaboration, seek the advice of a mentor who has been there. If your partners are new, try to guide them and help set the ground rules that will engender productive collaboration behaviors.
Sometimes, collisions in collaboration are inevitable. But if you know the unwritten rules, you can avoid most of them.
—
About Rick Lash: Rick Lash is Director of Hay Group’s Leadership & Talent Practice in Canada and co-leader of the annual Hay Group Best Companies for Leadership study. Rick works with executives to build the leadership capabilities needed to execute their organizational strategy. He specializes in organizational change, succession planning and leadership development; working with leaders and senior teams to refine their capabilities and create lasting change and improved performance.
Leave A Comment