Creativity Central [Marty Baker]

If you’re game, I’d like you to try a short experiment.

Think about the people that you need to interact on a daily or weekly basis.  Take a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle.  Put a plus sign on one side and negative sign on the other.

On one side write the names of those people with whom you enjoy collaborating. And on the other side, write the names of those who make collaborating a chore.

If you have more pluses than minuses, congratulations. If you have more negatives than positives, you are statistically in the majority.   

If you take the experiment a step further, write two or three reasons why that person makes a bad collaborator.  Then, do the same for your positive collaborations.

Do you see patterns on either side?

One of the great challenges of collaboration is that most people get tangled up in the personality (emotion) part of the equation.  Likeability is often a key trait listed in the positive column. 

But as desirable as likeability may be, it doesn’t always drive great collaborations.  Virtually every laudable article on the late Steve Jobs, mentions his ferocity and impatience with his collaborators. 

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were friends but had very different temperments and goals.

I’ve worked with brilliant people who simply haven’t inherited the collaborative gene.  In the growing field of personality profiling, they are referred to “Tellers” vs. “Askers.”

The great executive coach and author, Marshall Goldsmith has refined a technique I use in Inotivity team exploration meetings.

1.  Take a snapshot of the current and desired level of team work.

In a team meeting, ask each team member to consider

the questions “How well are we doing?” and “How well

do we need to be doing?” in terms of teamwork. Have

each member write down a score from 1 to 10 for each

question on a blank piece of paper and hand it in.

Have one team member calculate the average score for

each question.

2. Identify those behaviors that might close the gap.

Assuming there is a gap between “we are” and “we need

to be,” ask each team member to list on another piece of

paper what two key improvements in behavior would

help close the gap and improve teamwork. Be clear that

team members are not to single out people but rather

behaviors, such as listening better, articulating clear goals,

and so on.

  Go around the room asking everyone to share what he

wrote, and have someone record the answers on whiteboard

or flipchart.

  When everyone has spoken, ask the group to vote

on which behavior change would have the largest positive

impact on the group’s effectiveness.

 3.  Have team members interview each other.

Have each team member conduct a three-minute, one-on-

one meeting with every other team member. In these

sessions, each person should ask, “Please suggest one or

two positive changes I can make individually to help our

team work together more effectively.” Then have each

person pick one behavior to focus on improving.

4.  Make sure to follow up each month.

Begin a regular monthly follow-up process in which each

team member asks each other member for suggestions

on how to continue her improvement based on her

behavior the previous month. The conversations should

focus on the specific areas identified for improvement

individually as well as general suggestions for everyone

on the team.

 These conversations are most effective when both parties respect these two simple rules:

• The person receiving the suggestions cannot critique

them. His or her role is just to listen and say thank you.

• The person making the suggestions must focus not on the past but the future.

   Thank you Marshall for more great inspiration and the Harvard Business Review.