We hear so much about what it takes to compete, but what does it take to collaborate? And while there’s a growing need for true collaboration in our society, locally and globally, just what does it mean to collaborate?

Collaboration involves two or more people coming together to share their collective knowledge, experience, and creativity to arrive at a shared understanding or tangible outcome that none of the individuals could have arrived at on their own. Collaboration is more complex than teamwork, which tends to operate in a sequential fashion to accomplish tasks or to join together to defend against outside forces.

I like what Michael Schrage of MIT has to say about collaboration “…[collaboration is about] the creation of value; a process that our traditional structures of communication and teamwork can’t achieve.”

Today, I’d like to take an unusual approach to exploring collaboration. I’d like to look at what stands in its way. If we were to teach a fish to walk on land, it might first be useful to show it the water that it depends upon. Because this water has surrounded the fish all of its life, it is probably unaware of it. Just as the fish may be clueless about the water in which it swims, there are streams of behavior and belief through which we unwittingly travel that stand in the way of us effectively collaborating. What are they? I share my take on them below. In the spirit of true collaboration, share yours as well and we’ll build on this list. 

Habits and attitudes that impede collaboration.

Failure to recognize the complexity of group thought. When we think that communicating and producing outcomes en masse should be just as easy as doing so individually, we tend to negatively judge the slower pace and additional processes required for collaborative activity. These judgments of ourselves, or others cloud and impede our work together. The first step toward effective collaboration requires us to be patient with the process, expecting that while working with a group will be slower and more difficult than working on our own, our outcomes will be worth the investment.

Commingling of task and process. Groupwork is often confused when we avoid separating discussions of task (the group goal), and process (how the group will complete its goal). Discussing process is confusing if done before the task is clear. Yet in this high-speed world, we’re all called upon to do less with more and charge off to “get it done” quickly. When groups don’t get clear about what “it” is, they aren’t focused on the same objective, and they can’t collaborate. Get a clear consensus on task before pursuing it to get your collaborations off to the right start.

Multifocusing. As individuals, we can attend to only one item at a time. Groups can multifocus and this capacity can make it very difficult for all individuals to track what’s going on. This is why effective collaboration requires that all relevant inputs are heard by everyone and recorded for all to see.

Serial communication. Accustomed to simple one-on-one conversations, in groups we tend to listen to others share stories, information or opinions, until a space opens up for us to do the same. What we share doesn’t always connect to what others have said. And seldom do we check to make sure we really understood what was said. This self-centered style of delivering messages does not contribute to a shared understanding, the hallmark of collaboration.

Computer networks that engage in serial communication do something called “handshaking.” After receiving a message, the receiving terminal replies to the transmitting terminal to let it know the message was received and checks the accuracy of what was received. We’d do well to emulate this process in our human “networking” activities more often.

The loudest and fastest get the floor. The most outspoken and quickest thinkers often dominate group discussion. While their inputs may be valuable, they don’t represent all of what the group has to say and often not the best of what the group has to offer. Once again, to effectively collaborate, we must see to it that multiple methods are in place to invite and capture all relevant inputs.

People need to be heard. Many of us felt ignored as children and have a need as adults to make our voices heard in groups. Individuals speaking only to meet their own needs will tax the patience and emotional energy of a group. Challenge participants to speak when moved to speak. Also ask them to perform a self-check before speaking by asking themselves whether what they have to say is relevant, positive, and necessary to the group’s objectives.

Addicted to consistency. People dislike inconsistency and will attempt to eliminate it. When mental conflict occurs because beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information, people will tend to suppress, rationalize, avoid, or oversimplify it away. Help people to hang in there when mentally challenged by new ways of seeing things. Remind them that in order to arrive at a solution that fits with reality, they must be willing to face the full complexity of the situation. Facing complexity can be challenging and facing it as a group, they don’t have to do it alone.

Distractions and Disassociation. Every group encounters distractions from the late arrivals and early departures, to uncomfortable surroundings, to telephone interruptions, poor technical facilities, etc. The coupling of distractions with the difficulty of group thinking causes individuals to disassociate from the task at times to take a mental break. All participants tend to wander from time to time resulting in a short circuit of the group mind. Presume you are losing some members all of the time and regularly summarize and document the status of the discussion.

I’m sure there are more barriers to collaboration in the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs that we consider “normal” in our society. Keep your eyes, ears, and hearts open as you traverse the collaborative landscape, looking for ways to point out and heal these barriers in your group work.

Action

 What do you see as norms or habits of human behavior that stand in the way of collaboration? Send in your ideas. I’ll integrate them into this article and repost it for you to refer to online. We’d love to hear from you! Just add your comments below to share your questions, feedback, or experience on this topic.

Consider your typical social conversation. Do they always go as smoothly as you’d like? Or what about those small group roundtables you’re involved in at luncheons, community gatherings, or at workshops? On these occasions, some basic group process skills come in very handy. In this week’s article, Five Ways to Facilitate Group Conversations, we review a few basic skills anyone can employ in small groups to make the conversation flow. Use them yourself and pass them on to your friends and clients who may be less familiar with these skills than you.

During the weekend, something struck me that I think is important for facilitators, trainers, and group leaders. The teacher was working with a reflexologist who was working on a client. To make a long story short, what he essentially did was to instruct her on how to transmit her own self-healing to her client. The learning was that her body already knows what to do as an instrument. When this instrument is clear, balanced, unimpeded by extraneous thoughts, and free of personal agendas, it offers the clearest channel for this clarity and balance to be transmitted to her client.

From my perspective, this is something master facilitators, trainers, and leaders do as well. That is, to use their senses and awareness as instruments into what’s happening in the group.

There are so many skills, techniques, and tools for group leaders to ponder that we can come to believe that the success of our group depends on pulling out the right tool or saying the right thing at just the right time. There’s no question that using an appropriate tool at the right time can be very helpful. But there’s more to group leadership than that.

How we are within ourselves shows up perhaps louder than any words we say or technique we employ. If we want our groups to cooperate and collaborate, what if we were first to ask, “What stands in the way of cooperation inside myself?”

What kind of impact might the resolution of your inner struggles have on the dynamics of your group? I believe that we teach what we are, so I’d say that what’s going on inside of us has a significant impact on others.

So what can we do to build inner cooperation? Here are some ideas.

Application

Notice your inner state. Everything starts with self-awareness. Whether we have a physical sensation, an emotional feeling, or a thought, these energies impact our outer actions and responses. So, if we are experiencing a strong judgment, sadness, a headache, etc. we have two choices.

Our first choice is to give our attention and energy to these disturbances, thereby amplifying them within ourselves and transmitting them to our group to some degree.

Our second choice is to simply notice these disturbances, then choose to place our attention on a more uplifting or ascending thought, emotion, or feeling. In the Alexander Technique, we find a place in our bodies that is free of stress. A place that feels at ease. They recommend starting with the back of your neck. The body cannot produce stress without it originating in our necks. Therefore, finding ease in the neck and revisiting this area with our attention as we act tends to amplify it through our bodies over time.

In the meditation technique I teach called Ascension, when we notice a thought, we place our attention on a thought of appreciation, gratitude, or love. This puts the mind at ease and short circuits the stress response.

Take action or not. In the suggestions above, we are not asking you to repress or ignore the thoughts and feelings that pass through you. You may receive a natural impulse to share something with the group or offer an intervention of some kind. What we are suggesting is that you first find peace and ease inside before you take action. A response coming from inner peace is more likely to create a higher outcome than one coming from inner turmoil. Once again, when your mind, body, and spirit are cooperating, you are in the best position to transmit cooperation to your groups.

Repeat. We are never done. Each moment offers a new opportunity. So now, when you check inside, what is your inner state? Again, release that which impedes peace and ease and act from there. It’s a simple but continuous process! The challenge here is to remain awake to your own awareness and not get caught believing in a problem (which simply fuels inner conflict). To the degree your actions come from stillness, you will be teaching that which all leaders aspire: a congruent, focused, powerful collective movement.

Action

Try this way of being in your groups and let me know what happens. Do you have any comments to make about this perspective or experiences to share? We’d love to hear from you! Just add your comments below to share your questions, feedback, or experience on this topic.