The Keys to Collaborative Leadership Presenter: Mark Voorsanger August 10, 2011 Flickr: Voj

What’s on the menu? Three Courses

Challenge: We’re unclear about why Collaborative Leadership is important Goal: To develop our motivation for exploring Collaborative Leadership The Appetizer

Challenge: We lack a common language Goal: To define key terms in a collaborative system The Main Dish

Challenge: We lack a common process for solving problems Goal: To introduce a powerful tool for problem solving in groups The Dessert

Setting context for our exploration of Collaborative Leadership The Appetizer

What’s On Your Mind? Flickr: Brian Hillegas

Inspire New Thinking

Collaborative Leadership practiced effectively, is guaranteed to generate superior business results.

Employee Engagement Types ( U.S. employees 18 years and older ) Type 1: Engaged Type 2: Not-Engaged Type 3: Actively Disengaged Type 2 + Type % % % % (Gallup Mgmt Journal survey, Oct. 2006)

“MY CURRENT JOB BRINGS OUT MY MOST CREATIVE IDEAS” Engaged Not-Engaged Actively Disengaged % % % (Gallup Mgmt Journal survey, Oct. 2006)

Hierarchy (status quo) A 5500 year-old system of organizing and managing people Decision-making authority is concentrated at the top of the hierarchy The “currencies” within a well- functioning hierarchy are: Power & Authority

Hierarchy works well when… The people at the top have all the relevant & necessary information The people being managed are doing rote tasks The people being managed are easily replaced Example: Building Pyramids

Got Collaboration? Leaders are getting the message

Discussion… What are the outcomes (+ & -) of top-down decision-making in your work? How have those outcomes impacted your collaborative efforts?

“If it’s not common language, it’s not collaboration” - Rachel Conerly, Collaborative Leaders, Inc. The Main Dish (Defining key terms)

What is Collaboration? Definition: All relevant stakeholders have ownership of and alignment around what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it.

Who is a Relevant Stakeholder? 1.People with the formal power to make a decision 2.People with the power to block a decision 3.People affected by a decision 4.People with relevant information and expertise

Discussion… Think of a time when a relevant stakeholder was excluded from your work… What happened?

Definition of Collaboration  All relevant stakeholders have… ownership of and… alignment around… what we’re going to do and… how we’re going to do it.

What is Ownership?

The extent to which people feel or believe that a process, decision or outcome is theirs

Definition of Collaboration  All relevant stakeholders have…  ownership of and… alignment around… what we’re going to do and… how we’re going to do it.

What is Alignment?

The extent to which people see and understand a problem, goal or process in the same way

Ownership is like getting everyone in the same boat. Alignment is like getting everyone rowing in the same direction.

Ownership & Alignment in Groups LOWHIGH Ownership Alignment LOW HIGH ?? ??

Ownership & Alignment in Groups LOWHIGH Ownership Alignment LOW HIGH High conflict Poor results Very low engagement Fewer/poor results High engagement Great results Low engagement Lackluster results

Definition of Collaboration  All relevant stakeholders have…  ownership of and…  alignment around… what we’re going to do and… how we’re going to do it.

Group Interaction WhatHow Content Process Group interactions always involve…

Group Interaction WhatHow Content Process For every piece of content, there is always a process (often implicit)

Definition of Collaboration  All relevant stakeholders have…  ownership of and…  alignment around…  what we’re going to do and…  how we’re going to do it.

A Collaborative Leader is… Someone who leads according to the principles of Ownership & Alignment And …

Collaborative Leadership In order to build Ownership & Alignment in groups, Collaborative Leaders must learn to make both process and content explicit.

Definitions Collaboration:  All relevant stakeholders have…  ownership of and…  alignment around…  what we’re going to do and…  how we’re going to do it. Collaborative Leader: Someone who leads according to the principles of ownership & alignment. Questions about key terms?

What makes collaboration difficult? The Non-Collaborative Mindset 1.Our beliefs are the Truth 2.The Truth is obvious 3.Our beliefs are based on real data 4.The data that we select are real data Collaborative Leaders must learn to resist these assumptions

The Ladder of Inference (step 1)

The Ladder of Inference (step 2)

The Ladder of Inference (step 3)

The Ladder of Inference (step 4)

The Ladder of Inference (step 5)

The Ladder of Inference (step 6)

The Ladder of Inference (step 7)

The Ladder of Inference

The Ladder of Inference (Example 1) 1.Manager sends to the team… everybody but Jane replies (Observable / selected data) 2.Manager argued with Jane last month; Mgr’s girlfriend holds grudges (Added meaning) 3.Jane’s still angry and avoiding Mgr (Assumption) 4.Jane holds grudges forever (Conclusion) 5.Women hold grudges / poor teammates (Belief) 6.Give bad perf. review on teamwork (Action) 7.Avoid hiring women in future (Action)

The Ladder of Inference (Example 2) 1.John (the new guy) says, “We need to be less competitive. Should reward mentoring.” (Observable / selected data) 2.John doesn’t play sports (Added meaning) 3.John’s afraid of competition (Assumption) 4.John can’t cut it on this team (Conclusion) 5.People who don’t play sports are weak (Belief) 6.Don’t help John, it’s a waste of time (Action) 7.Avoid hiring non-sports-players (Action)

Follow-up work… Think of a time where you experienced conflict or frustration working with another person or group. How might the Ladder of Inference have been operating?

The Dessert Goal: To introduce a powerful tool for problem solving in groups (The Problem Solving Template)

What is a Problem? Any situation that you wish to change

Obstacle #1 Groups don’t know how to (or don’t remember to) align around the problem that they want to solve

No agreement on the problem = No agreement on the solution + infinite arguing about solutions Middle East Conflict Global Warming Health Care Reform Economic Crisis War

"In a crisis if I had only an hour I'd spend the first 50 minutes defining the problem and the last 10 minutes solving it." - Albert Einstein

Obstacle #2 People solve problems iteratively

Keeps the group together A Structured Process Process

The Problem Solving Template Problem Intent Desired Outcomes Action Plan Build Ownership & Alignment at each step Context

But what about Time? Flickr: Piccola Faccia Using the collaborative operating system takes longer to make decisions. The implementation is faster and the product is better. The group gets faster with experience.

Whew… That was quite a meal!

The Collaborative Operating System™ (COS)  Language & Fundamental Principles 1.Identify the Problem 2.Involve Relevant Stakeholders 3.Design & Facilitate Collaborative Meetings 4.Form a Collaborative Team 5.Create a Collaborative Plan

Drop me your business card for freebies and to learn more Collaborative Operating System™ full course Begins August 23 rd, 2011 More info at: COSTeleseminar.com Contact Mark Voorsanger: Phone: