I have been interested in collaboration for a long time, in parallel with my passion around sustainability.  What I have noticed is this: as people become empassioned about the “big” topics, and become empowered internally to make change, they naturally reach out to others.  Visionaries have realized that the only way they can really make a difference on these urgent, important issues (health; climate change; sustainability; the financial system; I could go on…), is that they must work together to make their vision happen.

This struck me so forcibly that last year (2010), I led a workshop called “Leadership Skills for the Visionary Collaborator.”  That day, along with 25 people who were leading change all over Sonoma County, we explored what leadership skills were specifically needed to lead effective collaborations – both within organizations, as well as between organizations.

For me, 2012 will be a year of exploring “what it takes” to be a visionary collaborator.  Many of my ideas are based on the leadership development training we already do at Global Genesis.  I am delighted by this topic; I feel that with a greater attention to the personal strengths and skills these visionaries bring, the more effective they can be.

And these days, the human race needs us to be effective.  Desperately.

So, what is a visionary collaborator?  How are they different from other types of leaders?

The visionary collaborator may be a CEO working with his suppliers and distributors  to set industry standards, like Jeff Mendelsohn at New Leaf Paper has done in the Paper Industry; they could be a set of non-profit leaders working together on enormous topics like Health, or Climate Change, like my colleagues at the Sonoma Valley Health Roundtable or the North Bay Climate Adaptation Initiative.  Or they could be  green champions in organizations, progressing change amongst various departments or throughout the organizational hieararchy.

Their task is made challenging, unique, rewarding and powerful because they are visionary, they are leaders, and because they know they must collaborate to be able to create their vision.  And they are both influencing change as well bringing their own original thoughts to the table, while navigating a group that must answer to multiple loyalties.

There is a classic diagram that we use in teambuilding, of many arrows pointing in opposite directions.  The task for the visionary collaborator is to help align those arrows in generally the same direction.    To state it simply, s/he is a person with original ideas about the future who is working with a group of unaffiliated people to achieve a common goal.  To do that they must use leadership, or  what I define as “the process of influencing others towards a specific goal(s). “

In essence, the visionary collaborator is honing her/himself to be an effective partner – one that others will flock to because they are trustworthy and able to create results.

I have been noticing that in this world, which is in crisis in so many ways – economically, environmentally, and socially – that collaboration has been an avenue for robust and extremely creative solutions to form.  Check out this interesting coalition as a start -

I have a belief that these skills can be taught, developed, and improved on over time – that leaders aren’t born, but are created.  That doesn’t mean they don’t have their own innate styles and strengths that can be brought to bear in these situations.  In fact, I would argue that given the complexity of collaboration, it is important to have a variety of styles and strengths for a collaboration to produce real, long-lasting results.

Here are some of the qualities that must be developed by the visionary collaborator:

1)      Self and organizational awareness.  One must be very aware of one’s own strengths, weaknesses, assets and liabilities; this awareness essentially allows one to partner fully with others.

2)      Ability to Achieve Results: These collaborators must be courageous, credible, urgent and tenacious.

3)      Ability to Cultivate  Relationship: These leaders must bring their own brand of patience, diplomacy, and consideration.

4)      Attention to Collaboration:  Finally, these unique people must be open, aware, empowerd, and discerning for their collaboration to succeed.

Over the next year, I will be exploring both qualities and skills that the visionary collaborator needs to succeed.  I will also look to many of my contemporaries in thinking about what makes a collaboration work, how to structure to succeed, and how to use the strengths that the individuals in the group bring to bear.  May it be a year of fruitful collaboration!

I will be facilitating Day 2 of this Summit.  NBCAI will be bringing together scientists, land managers, and policy makers from a multiplicity of disciplines – from health, to forestry, to emergency services.  They are keenly interested in the question, how WILL Sonoma County adapt and thrive in the face of Climate Change? The event is free – please join us! Register at the link above.

Formula for Change – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a great illustration for change that is applicable across a wide range of situations – whether you want to lose weight, or you want to change an organization.  Carrie Hays from the Halle Group first introduced it to me; thanks, Carrie!

This is a chapter on Real Time Strategic change, a change method to use when

1. Multiple Stakeholders have competing needs,
2. Aligned action is required
3. Results need to be achieved in radically reduced time frames.

(p. 275, The change handbook, “Real Time Strategic Change.”)

This is a really important methodology, and highly useful whether you are working in sustainability or other change efforts in your organization.

This article summarizes some insights first discussed in the book “Influencer: the power to change anything.”  They say that the following principles will help habits change in a workplace.  It is a nice list to read in comparison with the Oprah’s article on neuroscience and habit change.

Here are the principles they identify:

1. Linking to mission and values
2. Overinvesting in skill building
3. Harnessing peer pressure
4. Creating social support
5. Aligning rewards and ensuring accountability
6. Changing the environment

This is a fantastic article on how to “rewire” your brain to change your habits – like exercising, etc.

In the workplace, we talk a lot about “merit-based pay”, “reward and recognition systems,” etc.  But the best rewards for rewiring your brain,  says the author, is to reward often, don’t be stingy, and stick with it every day for 3 weeks. She has great examples of rewards, too: things as silly as goofy characters, etc.

If we were to apply this to our sustainability change efforts, we might think more about how to make “feedback” for change instantaneous – whether it is merely recording our progress, or sending a joke out to those who participate, or other fun things.  What “instant feedback” ideas can you think of?

In preparation for our upcoming CircadiaOne workshop at the Sustainable Enterprise Conference, I am doing a little reading on “Habit Change,” and this is a nice summary of some good pointers. I think it could be a little simpler, but it is still very useful.

Think of your green team like a plant.

It all starts with the seed.  The “seed” of the green team begins ideally with a vision around sustainability, one that eventually (and ideally) is  shared throughout the organization.  This vision may be about the impact that the company can make for the planet and the community; it may be about the business opportunity available to the organization.  Ideally, it includes both.  This vision should be strategic;  inspiring;  practical and personal.  As my colleague Susan Briski says, if it isn’t integrated into the core business strategy, it won’t really serve the organization; likewise without it being personally inspiring and practical.

However, a green team thrives because of the soil. Green teams thrive when they are in the fertile soil of an organization that 1) has a robust shared vision and set of values, 2) clearly articulated goals, and 3) practices and processes of strong interpersonal and interdepartment communication.  The green team can still do a lot without these; but those fundamentals will are essential to any change effort.

Once the “seed” has poked its head out of the ground, it is time to fertilize and water it with a few excited team members.   Here there is a fundamental question that many change agents ask: who do we ask to be a part of our green team?  How do we be strategic about this process?  There are a few ways to answer those questions.

1. Form the green team with those who already “get it”.  The pros: you have people who are excited about sustainability, and want to make changes.  The cons: if everyone is from one place in the organization, the effort will likely be limited to that one place as well.
2. Make the green team cross-representational: The pros: If you focus on finding diverse perspectives moving up and down the hieararchy as well as “across” the functional departments, you could create enormous impact – and a voice – throughout the organization.  This can also be a meaningful way to create new networks and connections throughout your organization.  The cons: You may spend more time creating a shared understanding as people bring a diversity of perspectives, even “language” and sub-cultures together.  It may be awhile before you are “organized” enough to feel like you can put a united front forward.

My recommendation? Do a hybrid.  Start with the people who are interested; then recruit partners and/or new members.  At some point, ask for volunteers.  The system won’t change without all parts of the system present: and, it is also important to “go where the energy is.”  A multi-part strategy is effective here.

These teams also need fundamental structure and support.  Beginning with the “Charge” – or what they have been asked to do by their superiors, green teams are most effective when they have clear expectations around scope, decision-making, report outs, and other results. It might also answer such questions as what is the budget, time, and materials available for the use of this team.   Many teams (and employees!) have found themselves struggling without answering – and perhaps negotiating – those critical factors.

In tandem with clarifying the Charge is creating a Charter.  The Charter includes such agreements as the team mission, vision, goals, guidelines for conduct, and roles and responsibilities of the team.  An excellent resource on creating a “Charge” and a “Charter” is the book Managers as Facilitators, which I reviewed in 2009.

Skills and competencies for the Dream Green Team:

With these critical pieces in place, the change agents on the team will quickly find themselves in need of a variety of leadership skills, including: public speaking, listening,  facilitation, financial analysis, cheerleading, graphics, change management, coaching, and more.  They will have to be very clever about understanding others needs and how to frame sustainability in those terms; about helping people see their progress and impact; about using and understanding change management.  They may have to take risks, advocating and negotiating for these priorities.  They may need to help build business cases, represent data, create “ads” for change.  I have heard stories from green teams about their successes and shortcomings in all of those areas, and their surprise in experiencing the need for these skills.

Ultimately, I believe the Dream Green Team has the greatest impact when they dance the dance of being both a facilitator and leader -  helping the organization understand what sustainability means to them as individuals, as teams, as departments, and as an organization.

By relying on those skills, the Green Team can create a bountiful and diverse harvest throughout the organization.

Workplace solutions | PressDemocrat.com.

The question, then, is how?

At Global Genesis, we believe that high performance teamwork is created through a number of different elements, depicted in a model we often use with teams to establish what that foundation might be. 

At the center of high performance teamwork – the kind of teamwork that yields synergistic results – is trust and respect.

First comes respect: the kind of respect that comes through observing action over time, values fulfilled, and competency revealed.

Then comes trust: trust that helps the un-discussable be discussed, that allows for an easy play and share of ideas, because everyone knows that their team mates have their back.

Creating respect and trust within a group of people is a dance; it comes over time and in response to how people approach the rest of the key elements for high performance teamwork.   In my experience, it is nearly impossible to enter a new group and automatically respect and trust those around you. It is sometimes even harder to do so with groups that have long histories.   Instead, it is through clarifying shared purpose and roles, clarifying roles, spending time to develop relationships, and fine-tuning teamwork that create room for trust and respect to grow.

So, how do we go about cultivating these other elements?  Below are some ideas for how we approach these essential pieces – and there are  many more.

1. Clarify shared purpose and vision. To help our clients clarify shared purpose and vision,  we like to refer to an article that Jim Collins and Jerry Porris wrote for the” target=”_blank”>Harvard Business Review on Change in 1998.  There they say that a practical, shared vision has the following components:

• Clear Purpose & Values
• Big, Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) and Strategies to accomplish those.

When we work with clients, we typically customize our approach to working with these two paths.  They compose the largest parts of many strategic plans, and are essential to high performance teamwork.

One of my favorite ways to help clients clarify their purpose and values as well as their goals and strategies is to have them interview each other using the Appreciative Inquiry Interviews. Here, you ask people to take about 20 minutes each to question each other on what is most inspiring to them about their organization, what they know that works based on experiences they may have had in other arenas, and what are the exciting possibilities that they see on the horizon for their team.  In those conversations, which are characterized by active, open listening and reflection, both people have an opportunity to Discover (the first step in the AI methodology) new ways of approaching the challenge of uncovering the purpose and vision for the organization.

This is later compared with what other partners have learned, and is funneled into creative ways of expressing and uncovering the most important possibilities at hand.

We might also do some strategy work with the group, helping the group to analyze trends and opportunities at play in the micro and macro world around them.

Ultimately, this leads us to uncovering and clarifying shared purpose and values, and articulating compelling stretch goals – ones that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound) and that moreover will drive energy and direction for the group as it moves forward.

2. Clarifying Team Roles is the next essential component for creating high performance teamwork.  Particularly when a group is experiencing a lot of change, (adding a new member, losing a member, changing buildings, etc.) doing this well is fundamental to helping them move forward.  As facilitators, our job is to help them clarify expectations and the process for decision-making, as well as fine tune their handoffs and the flow of information.  Teams often get stuck here, creating an enormous amount of stress on the system and on themselves.

It can also be quite fun with a bit of creativity.  In one organization, I helped different departments give a “Day in the Life of…” skits; in another, I asked staff members to give short presentations that included the more prosaic information along with the lighter question of what cartoon character their position would be.

The key here is to help the team do more than simply read off their job description, by cuing them to share what kind of help they need from their team mates, what quirky things they should know about each other, and to find ways to raise the “dumb” questions that people have always wanted to know about their colleague’s work, but never dared to ask.

This leads well into the next key element, which is…

3. Developing team relationships. The quality of the relationships on a team are many times the key reason that a teambuilder is brought into an organization to begin with.   Relationships get stymied, stressed, side-tracked, or stifled for a number of reasons. Many times, clarifying purpose and roles can relieve this tension. The iconic book on negotiations and conflict, Getting to Yes, says that as negotiators, we must “focus on the problem, not the people.” Clarifying purpose and roles may address a number of the problems that can take a toll on the relationships of the team.

Ultimately, however, the success and quality of team relationships is determined by each member’s answers to the following questions:

1. Are you willing to commit to work on the relationship?
   
2. Are you willing to be accountable for your piece of the struggle in the relationship?
   
3. And, are you willing to take a wider view on the systemic stressor that might be affecting others in your team?

After everyone has answered those questions for themselves, the job of the teambuilder is to create a container for crucial conversations to occur, where the “Undiscussables” can be discussed with clear-sighted compassion and intelligence.

If the teambuilder has an opportunity to work with a group over time, they can help the group build their internal capacity to name those undiscussables, talk about them, and resolve them over time.  At Global Genesis, we might help the group build skills around managing the pressure of conflict, or work with them on inflammatory language, or help them question each others assumptions.

I work with one group who calls this “Identifying the Elephant in the Room.”  They usually begin these conversations, many times over lunch, as “There is an elephant in the room I would like to point out.”  They might then say how this is difficult for them or for the person who may be singled out, taking some of the sting out of the situation, and then proceed to clearly, kindly, and candidly describe what they are seeing in terms that make it clear it is their perspective.

This practice has improved tenfold their mode of operating together.

It also has a positive impact on the fourth key, Teamwork.

4. Building Teamwork. At Global Genesis, we define teamwork as “the ability to effectively, efficiently organize and coordinate action towards a common cause.” It is easy to see how these four keys to building high performance teamwork all fit into one another.  In a way, this statement summarizes the efforts of the last three keys.

At Global Genesis, we work on the “how” of teamwork.  This tends to be best done through experiential education: offering opportunities for the group to actually solve a problem together, and then to look at how they were doing, what they could improve, what they could build on.

My favorite place to work on this is at a challenge course or ropes course – a veritable paradise of opportunities to create physical, kinesthetic metaphors that have direct correlation to how we work in the workplace.  Here, we have an opportunity to see a group “in live action”, and perhaps dropping their guard a bit as we work through activities together that can then showcase the strengths and potential weaknesses of their teamwork.

However, without the good work done in clarifying purpose and roles, and clearing obstacles that might exist within the team relationships, a pure focus on teamwork can fall flat of the ultimate goal – to build a high performance team.

In my next article, I will discuss how all of this can be used to create the “dream green team.”