Foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust
During the research for their book The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner asked Bill Flanagan, former director of manufacturing for Amdahl Corporation, to describe his personal best. After reflecting for a few moments, Bill said he couldn’t do it. He said, “It wasn’t my personal best. It was our personal best. It wasn’t me. It was us.” In fact Kouzes and Posner relate that they did not discover a single instance where success was the result of any one person. It was always a contribution from many, creating a team effort. Leaders who successfully foster collaboration:
Create a climate of trust
Trust is the central issue in human relations, both personal and professional. Without trust you cannot lead effectively. So how do you create a climate of trust? You must be the first to trust. If you don’t trust others, you can’t expect them to trust you. Admittedly this will feel a bit risky – and it is, however effective leaders accept risk.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers study identified trust as the “number one differentiator” between the top 20% of companies surveyed, and the bottom 20%. Another study showed that in groups with high trust, the members:
◦ Were more open about feelings
◦ Experienced greater clarity about the group’s basic problems and goals
◦ Searched further for alternative courses of action
◦ Reported greater levels of mutual influence of outcomes
◦ Describe satisfaction with meetings, higher motivation to implement decisions, and closeness as a team
Facilitate positive interdependence
Interdependence is a circumstance where everyone recognizes that they cannot succeed unless everyone else succeeds too, or unless they effectively coordinate their efforts. Mike Ricci of the San Jose Sharks said, “If everything around you is falling apart, no one person is going to make a difference, but if everyone makes a little bit of difference, you can get to where you want to go.”
Support face-to-face interactions
No matter what business you are in, you are in the people business. Success is all about relationships. It is so tempting in this digital age to think that having someone in your Facebook or LinkedIn network is a relationship, but face-to-face is where relationships are formed and
strengthened.
Strengthen others by sharing power and discretion.
People persist in their efforts to achieve when they feel powerful, capable, and have a sense of being in control of their lives. When we share power, we “empower” those who have chosen to follow us, with the authority they need to make decisions and make things happen. The fifth century BC philosopher Lao-Tzu once said, “The Master doesn’t talk, he acts. When his work is done, the people say, ‘Amazing, we did it, all by ourselves!’” To strengthen others it is essential to:
Ensure self-leadership
We become most powerful when we give our power away. Major General John Stanford says, “We don’t get our power from our stars and our bars. We get our power from the people we lead.”
Provide choice
We need to develop what Stephen Covey calls an “abundance mentality,” where the more we give, the more we get. The more choices we allow those who work for us to have, the more options we have – and the more choices they have, the better their decisions will be.
Develop competence and confidence
Consider opening up “the books” and sharing more information with others. Teach them how to read and interpret the data. Coach them in problem-solving and then let them solve problems. A saying we have in training adult leaders of Boy Scouts is, “Train them, trust them, and let them lead.”
Foster accountability
When people are held accountable for their actions and their results, they tend to perform at higher levels. Providing clear objectives with measurable benchmarks for success will illustrate precisely what they are accountable for.