I recently coached a leader frustrated by the lack of teamwork and collaboration between her and her peer’s teams.
Senior Director: The tension is palpable. There’s definitely an air of blame, and each team member is trying to prove their value. Why don’t they respect each other and work together productively?
Me: How well do the team members know each other? Not what each other is responsible for, but who each person is - what’s important to them? What are their strengths and values?
Senior Director: Hmmm. Good question. Honestly, some people know each other, but not well. We’re under immense pressure, so everyone is focused on completing the work. We don’t take the time to talk about those things.
Me: How can you expect someone to trust and respect you if they don’t even know who you are and what’s important to you? What if you invested the time upfront to build connections and lay the groundwork for trust versus spending the time down the road trying to recover and establish connections in an untrustworthy environment?
Whether you are leading a new team or finding yourself in a position where trusting collaboration isn’t the go-to behavior, consider these practices:
Get to know the individuals for their strengths and values. Ask questions such as: How would your peers describe your greatest strengths? What are your values - your guiding principles for your life?
Establish team norms for working together. Ask what behaviors will help us create an environment of trust and collaboration. To set the tone, capture all responses and start meetings with a reminder of these agreed-upon behaviors.
Talk explicitly about conflict. Ask when we disagree, because we will, how do we want to do that respectively? What behaviors tell me that you are addressing the conflict with positive intent?
Be clear about your definition of collaboration. Nothing is more frustrating than teams coming together without understanding their role in the collaborative process. Am I here to offer input? Are we brainstorming? Are we making a decision together?
Start each meeting, project, or initiative with a shared vision of success. What does success look like at the end of… this meeting, this project, or this initiative?
Want a worksheet you can use in your next team meeting to learn about each others’ values? Email me at Linda@Glasstalent.com, and I’ll happily share!