The perils of collaboration

In this blog of mine, lets delve upon a very interesting topic known as collaboration and why we have very few people actually collaborating

Firstly I don’t think that there is no more of a reason to reflect and deflect the blame of less collaboration to the management or leadership no more for not addressing the “’ what is in it for me””. Kudos to the leadership / management of the organizations who have invested, incentivized & nurtured the environment where collaboration can foster. This I believe has been one of the significant changes in the outsourcing industry around the world. They have done more than what is required and henceforth the focus of this topic shifts to people like us.

The”” I DON’T WANT TO COLLABORATE”” attitude – This is the only reason on why the concept of collaboration fails. Its that people just DON’T WANT TO. Now this is a toxic behavior and contagious and therefore contaminates the entire well established, well nurtured ecosystem. People come up with this don’t want to collaborate because of multiple reasons

a)?People are shy, nervous, Jittery – Especially the new folk. They are filled with inhibitions and what if scenarios. What if my idea or thought is na?ve? What if I become a butt of jokes? What if I offend someone? – Its perfectly fine. As the saying goes – no thought or idea is a bad one. Its better to shed your inhibitions and speak up and getting shot down rather than not speaking up at all – unless you are literally practicing Ronan Keating’s song – You say it best, when you say nothing at all ??

b)?????The fear of not being recognized for the thought shared – Many a time it would have happened in the past that one may not have got the credit or the pat on back or may have been a victim of plagiarism and these things continue to happen. Hence the better way of doing this is when you put up your hand and share your thoughts and ideas, also put up your hand that you are willing to enable these for others. That way you are accepting responsibility and accountability of your thoughts. This is a sign of your leadership quality and at the same time letting go off the insecurity that you may not receive your due recognition.

c)??????The Bully in the mix – Many a time people don’t want to speak, share thoughts, present their story in a group as they fear they might be bullied. Its true and it happens all the time. My suggestion to people to tackle this bully is a) Understand the psyche of the bully – he / she is an attention seeker or may be the blue-eyed boy / girl of the boss or the Go to man / woman. Their aim is to knock you off balance and hence they tend to be aggressive with their choice of words, nonverbal queues, which is commonly considered by others as confidence. The trick to handle these people is let them vent it out. You WAIT FOR YOUR OPPORTUNITY. Synthesize all the words or comments or “” suggestions”” hurled at you by the bully and then answer them one by one. Remember if you conquer this fear and able to answer back – Then you are half done. Slowly you start becoming the blue-eyed boy or girl ?? b) Sometimes the bullies are just empty vessels – their power of speech is so much that even when they talk trash, it sounds so intelligent. They want to steal the spotlight by engaging you and diverting you from your current track. ?The trick to them is to avoid direct confrontations with them. EVADE. Tell them that you will get back at later point of time. Right now the focus is only to share your side of story. C) Sometimes these bullies while confronting you, really give some good POV’s – the trick is pull them on to your side. Make them your allies. Appreciate the thought – oh yeah, this is indeed a good thought and takes it to next level.

d)?????The lazy attitude – For this, nothing can be done. If you are lazy and just don’t want to collaborate, then that’s it. So be it.

e)?????Lack of articulation – Sometimes people have wonderful thoughts but cannot explain well or articulate well due to their ability of not being able to speak the language well, or they might be low on confidence, or not good at expressing via presentation. For this, the person must prepare well. Write down, make key points, re-evaluate again and again to see if the message if coming out

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I would also like to share some of the best practices which can be employed to enable the teams to speak out

a)??????Assertion – clearly set the stage and expectations – the silence of an intelligent man is more harmful than the speech of a foolish one. silence is no way golden anymore unless the person has joined today and its his / her first working day ??

b)?????Encouragement – Identify the silent / shy / jittery ones by name and encourage them to speak, letting them know with your words and non-verbal’s that you are there to have their back. This will inspire them to speak out

c)??????Don’t let the bully take over – Moderate tactfully, carefully without offending anyone. Don’t let conflicts appear and the bully take over. Play on all sides. Join the thoughts, make it more fruitful discussion. ?If the bully is going overboard, shoot them down

d)?????Delegate with responsibility and accountability – Ensure that the feeling of ownership is developed by delegating the implementation of the thought or idea to the originator while also making sure that he / she is working with other members in the team. This will help bridge the gaps within the team and foster new learning

e)?????Aid in refining the thought or idea – You as an experienced pro immediately may get the grasp of the thought. Hence add your thoughts and help refine it further and therefore letting them know that you are always there for them to encourage these thoughts to fruition

f)???????Follow up – Most of the collaboration should not be limited to ideation stage only. Follow up to make sure that these thoughts are getting into replication / implementation mode, else keeping everything confined to ideas only wont help or encourage people to collaborate

g)??????Use the parking lot – Do not offend anyone by shooting a thought down. Let them park it in the parking lot and make sure you come back and if the thought cannot be validated, give them an option / recommendation to come up with alternative

?I have worked with colleagues from all over the world – I must say that my colleagues from Philippines simply stands out in collaboration. Some of my best working relationships and friends are from PH. They back each other to the core, learn from each other work with an absolute competitive spirit without stepping on to each other’s toes. Something one can learn and replicate.