CREATING A COLLABORATIVE CULTURE

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“This is not about fuzzy, holding hands around a campfire, kumbaya stuff. That’s not what values and culture and mission is about. This is about building an organization for success. This is about winning. This is about doing the tactical things to make sure your organization and your people are aligned around the same thing.”

-Justin Moore, CEO of?Axcient

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Rogers, AR, January 28, 2022 (Article 5/5) – This article is my last installment on building company cultures to be a strategic advantage.?Today the focus is on creating a collaborative culture.?

?Do not keep it to yourself

Collaboration does not mean keep ideas to yourself to avoid ruffling feathers.?A true team helps each other be better and shares the victories.?That said, capitulation does not equal collaboration and can kill true innovation.?Encourage passionate and respectful debate of ideas until the decision is final.?That tension forges, reshapes, and pressure-tests ideas to make them stronger.?

However, once a decision is made, employees must coalesce around its flawless execution whether they agreed with it or not.?Research shows that a mediocre idea executed well will outperform a great idea poorly executed every time.?After all, collaboration does not mean everyone is always happy with the outcome.?It does mean they are consulted, heard, and included whenever relevant and possible.

?“Engendering a culture of trust also does wonders. This is because, even if you have a heated argument, as long as you keep in the back of your mind that the people you’re arguing with do have the best in mind for the company and wider team, you’ll always be able to make it to the end and remain friendly.”

?– Patrick Campbell, Irish journalist, humorist and television personality

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?A higher standard

Collaboration means holding each other accountable to a higher performance standard.?Expectations must be clear so employees can be held accountable for their output.?Calling out sub-par performance in a professional, constructive, and non-public manner is a professional development learning opportunity. ?When done correctly, it is the epitome of collaboration.?It respects the people directly impacted and the co-workers not directly involved too.?This accountability can and should come from subordinates, peers, and managers.?

Measure & reward collaboration

If what is measured gets done, then compensation structures should reward collaborative behaviors.?Annual evaluations should reflect the quality of individual personal performance coupled with how their company, division, or function achieved its goals. ?This structure fosters common objectives making it in the employees’ financial interest to help others succeed while also preventing individual employees from shirking responsibilities.? In the movie The Untouchables, Al Capone waxes poetic about his favorite sport baseball being a combination of individual achievement when batting and teamwork when fielding. ?So, even a crime organization in the 1920’s realized this paradoxical relationship’s value. ?

?Build bonds beyond work

Contrary to popular belief, familiarity breeds trust. So, in the age of zoom meetings, make every effort to bring people physically?together regularly.? Building personal relationships among and across teams through shared experience and personal relationships is key to deeper understanding, trust that gives the benefit of the doubt when things get hairy, and ultimately collaboration.?

This does not mean everybody must work in an office side-by-side or see each other weekly.?By no means.?It does mean that planned periodic in-person collaborative strategy meetings, trainings, team building, etc. where people focus on each other and make the most of their time together become increasingly important.?

Getting people together outside the office for team building and celebration can build stronger relationships, increase trust, and smooth working challenges.???In fact, fewer focused interactions can be much more impactful than occupying the same space daily with no real and meaningful engagement.

“Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people.”

-Steve Jobs, Former CEO of Apple

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Finally, teams need to celebrate wins together.?Awarding teams should be the norm with individual awards being the exception.?

In conclusion, culture is an expression of leadership.?Value people, demonstrate care for them and their careers, and provide meaningful opportunities to contribute; they will reward you with their best selves every day.? The company will become that elusive engaged workplace where people accomplish more than they ever thought possible and are inspired to return ready for bigger challenges each new day.? In turn, employees will share those positive vibes with your customers helping to build better loyalty there too.?

?Creating an innovative and collaborative culture focused on developing people is the best way?I know to drive better business results while positively impacting broader society too.

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“Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything for better or for worse”.

- Simon Sinek, Author & Leadership Coach

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I hope you have enjoyed this series of articles on creating culture as a strategic advantage.?Please share your thoughts, comments, and experiences.??

*All opinions expressed are solely mine & do not reflect those of any entity named or unnamed.?