Paraphrasing Mike Tyson is probably not my strong point, but I’m struck by the challenges I’m seeing with companies doing their best to make collaboration happen in the brave new world of hybrid working.
The pressure to make collaboration happen often falls disproportionately on line managers….and this can make an already stressful job that bit more pressured. However, everyone in the room can play a part in oiling the wheels of collaboration (even when we’re not all in the room, so to speak). Here are a few tips:
- Pause before diving-in with your opinion or solution. Take a moment to consider the dynamic in the room and the problem that you are collectively trying to solve.
- Use more spacious language. Definitive statements make it less likely that people will offer ideas and thoughts because they worry about offending your ‘rightness’. Using phrases like ‘perhaps what is happening is’ or ‘it seems to me that’ or ‘what do you think about what I’ve just said’ can be helpful in creating constructive dialogue.
- Give your boss a break. Collaboration is a skill and practising it with a group of people (perhaps on a screen) can be challenging at the best of times. It can help to own your part in making collaboration happen, instead of assuming that the person running the meeting will do what’s necessary.
I am privileged to be able to work with Alex Hayward and his team at Lattitude Consultancy on a regular basis to evolve my skills in the areas outlined above.