The Collaboration spectrum

Intro

However tough your work is, two things will continue to make it your work of choice: it's work you believe in, with people who have each other's backs.

Everything in leadership is done in pursuit of collaboration. Delegation. Prioritisation. Communications. Constructive conflict. Championing the vision. Accountability. Adaptability. Attitude. You name it, it's all designed to strengthen collaboration i.e. bringing everyone together and pointing them in the same direction.

So where is your team on the Collaboration spectrum - using the model above for guidance - and how good do you need to be?

What's the issue?

1. Some work doesn't directly require teamwork. Meeting your daily outbound calls target. Fixing a boiler. Checking a contract. Some people much prefer independence and eschew teamwork. Unfortunately for them, even solo tasks are almost always tributaries that will join with others downstream.

2. Some people have the illusion of being in a team because they occupy the same space. That might be a physical space such as an office, or an intangible space such as a holding company. But being on the same organogram or payroll doesn't make you a team.

3. Forbes quotes Kaplan and Norton's finding that 95% of employees don't understand the strategy. That's a problem as a team can be defined as a group of individuals working towards a common objective. If they don't know know what they're aiming at, they're aimless.

4. Even those who do share a common objective may not be passionate about it. The diligent photocopier salesperson who really wanted to be an actor. The founder CEO who just wants to sit in their lab inventing stuff. They're motivated to do a good job, but 'good' is a lot different from moving heaven and earth to achieve something that has true meaning for them.

Consider this

1. The difference between an ok performing team and a high performing team is that the latter believes in what they're doing and who they're doing it with.
2. The highest levels of collaboration are essential for the highest levels of performance. So do enough of your people believe in your purpose, vision and strategy to sweep everyone else along with them?
3. Do you want to and need to take your organisation from Team to Tribe? If so, what's getting in the way of next level collaboration? Is it poor delegation, accountability etc? Are your systems and processes gluing people together, or are they building silos?
4. Yes, there's always going to be an element of chemistry within high-performing teams that cannot be fabricated. I don't need all my fingers to count those teams I've worked with, and I'm still friends with those people decades later. But, there are always ways to collaborate better with anyone who's up for it.

Try this

Imagine if your leaders were prepared to risk changing how they lead to help turn their team into a tribe. What do you think it would feel like to be a part of that? And what do you think you could achieve?