One common misunderstanding about effective collaboration is: if you put a group of high performers together, then they will naturally collaborate.
Unfortunately, collaboration doesn’t simply happen even with the right people in place. It takes focus, intentionality and effort.
One of the most interesting studies that makes this case is the “super chicken experiment.” Conducted by biologist William Muir, this study looked at the difference in egg production between a coop of all high-producing chickens (called super chickens) and an average coop of chickens.
People assumed the coop of super chickens would produce more eggs. However, the coop of average chickens actually did. Why? There was excessive competition and aggression among the hens in the super chicken coup, and as a result, they produced less eggs.
What does this have to do with teams? This study highlights that it’s not enough to put high performers together to create extraordinary teams and organizations. Instead, it’s essential to focus on the importance of collaboration and team dynamics.
The words teamwork and collaboration tend to be used synonymously, but they have key differences. Teamwork is a broader umbrella concept that applies to all the 5Cs; whereas Collaboration is a cooperative process in which two or more people work together toward a shared goal, leveraging their collective expertise, resources and effort.
Effective Collaboration encompasses an interdependence to achieve high level outcomes that could not be achieved individually.
The 5Cs tool is an evidence-based model that captures the five critical elements to create high performing teams and thriving cultures. The elements are: Connection, Candid Communication, Clarity, Collaboration and Contribution.
This is the fourth article in a series of five where I’ll dive into each element in depth. The previous articles focused on:
- Connection: having the foundation of trust and care is the most important element at the heart of improving team cohesion and culture.
- Candid Communication: sharing openly and honestly is the best predictor of performance.
- Clarity: acting as a force multiplier by amplifying the effectiveness of the team and culture.
This article will focus on Collaboration.
Overview of the Collaboration Element of the 5Cs
When teams and organizations have mastered Collaboration, it appears as if anything is possible. To the outside world, it looks as if accomplishments are made at record speeds and with unexplainable ease. To those on the team, it’s an environment of winning together, striving for excellence in a truly supportive environment, and lifting each other up at every opportunity. It creates a culture where people work hard and find joy with each other in the process.
What it means: Collaboration measures how well people support each other and hold each other accountable for their performance. It is reflected through the existence of strong team support, commitment to accountability in a fair and consistent way, and a drive toward excellence in team and individual performance.
Subfactors:
- Team Support refers to the willingness and consistency of employees to go beyond their roles to aid and support their colleagues.
- Accountability measures the commitment to holding individuals and groups within the organization responsible for their performance in a fair and consistent manner.
- Excellence refers to the drive towards high performance, the rejection of mediocrity, and the desire to learn from mistakes.
In the 5Cs tool, the Collaboration dimension evaluates how teams within the organization work together and hold each other accountable. By diagnosing where Collaboration breaks down, leadership can improve team cohesion and alignment with organizational goals. If teams or organizations find they are high in Collaboration but lower in another 5Cs ring, it means they aren’t maximizing their true capacity.
Challenges when Collaboration is Low:
When Collaboration is low, teams struggle with working together, holding each other, and/or maintaining high performance. Instead, individuals focus only on executing their own goals and priorities, without attention to the team. The impacts at a team level are: less support, increased silos, communication breakdowns, lack of ownership and accountability, and lower quality output.
At an organizational level, a lack of collaboration negatively impacts the end user’s experience of the product or service. When each person only focuses on what they believe is their task, no one is focused on the full end to end experience. No one takes responsibility to deliver an exceptional customer experience, which creates a negative perpetual loop. This can result in hurting the company from a financial and customer service standpoint.
Benefits when Collaboration is High:
Organizations with a high level of Collaboration are better positions to achieve the best results.
When teams operate with a collaborative mindset and ability, people have greater well-being and feel supported. It increases our drive for high performance and excellence. The outcomes from quality to customer service improve because we’re holding ourselves to a high bar and staying accountable to each other. This is reflective of teams as well as the broad organization and culture.
When we feel supported and support each other, it results in having increased motivation to be engaged and satisfied with the work environment. Of course, this does not occur automatically and requires leaders to intentionally focus on being collaborative.
How to Improve Collaboration
Teams can start by creating a culture of team support. Team support means to help one another succeed. Highly supportive teams are more likely to meet both individual and team goals.
1. Understand and lean on each other’s strengths
Teams operate with increased clarity when they understand each other and how to lean on each other’s strengths.
Unfortunately, most people don’t have a clear picture of their own strengths and preferences. Taking steps to understand both yours and others’ strengths creates a supportive environment and improves collaboration.
Individuals can begin by assessing their strengths with the PrinciplesYou evidence-based personality assessment tool. This tool provides individuals and teams a way to discuss and leverage preferences and differences to build team cohesion and organizational culture.
Once everyone has an understanding of their strengths, they can spend time learning from each other and discussing how to leverage each other’s strengths. Take the time to ask questions, such as:
- Where could we leverage one another?
- Where might we need someone else’s skills or perspective?
- Where might I have more to learn about the business? Who has experience in that area?
More information about Principles personality assessment can be found below:
- PrinciplesYou: where individuals can take a free personality assessment
- PrinciplesUs: a subscription product for leaders and organizations around team dynamics
2. Ask for and being willing to offer help
Building an environment of asking for and being willing to offer help creates the greatest access for building team support.
Unfortunately, we are often out of practice asking for help. We tend to hold back or have excuses about why we don’t need help or why others wouldn’t be able to help us. In a team environment, we have a tendency to believe we need to have all the answers or be the best at everything. These are all misperceptions. When everyone tries to operate independently, there is less collaboration and it’s inefficient.
In truth, a team where helping each other is the norm optimizes team members strengths, creating allyship where everyone lifts each other up and supports each other’s best selves.
Asking for and offering help takes practice. A simple way to start is by asking: What’s one thing that you could lean on others for?
Collaboration is the ultimate goal to improve team and organizational performance. When everyone truly collaborates, the output is exponentially greater than the work product of any single person. Once the Connection, Candid Communication and Clarity 5Cs layers are in place, Collaboration enables teams to achieve the extraordinary.
