Better Collaboration

Dads’ Survival Guide: Producing — Our Work

Collaboration. Teamwork. The keys to success in any business endeavor.

Working together. As one. Unified. The distinctive of attractive company culture. All firms strive for rich connections among staff members. Cohesiveness. Building the bonds necessary for high-performing teams.

Wow. Awesome. Every Dad is on board for this type of workplace.

Which is so simple nowadays. Particularly, during hybrid team meetings. With some on Zoom. Or Slack channels. And all of us trying to have conversations. Interact. Read facial expressions. Body language. Via teeny-tiny windows. On computer screens. Or better yet, through a mask.

Impossible. Yet, necessary.

Flexible workplace options are here to stay. Essential to attracting and retaining the best talent. Making cross-team collaboration even tougher. So, how do we as Dads help our teams navigate this challenge?

Communications Breakdown

Today’s organizations are leaner. Flatter structures. Employing contractors. And third-party providers. Thus, working together is even more important. All team members get it. And are doing our best.

Yet truthfully, we’re terrible.

Firm after firm. Enterprise. Start-ups. Tech. Health care. Hedge funds. Doesn’t matter. Disjointed coordination. Muddled communications. Limited cooperation. Leading to dysfunctional teamwork. Frustration. Stress. Divisiveness. Finger-pointing. Poor execution. And missed deliverables.

Poor cross-team collaboration is the single biggest threat to company growth.

Really?

”86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures,” notes a study by Salesforce. “Nearly 75% of cross-functional teams are dysfunctional,” adds Behnam Tabrizi of Stanford University.

Yikes. That’s bad. Real bad. I see this same phenomenon in my work. All the time. Why is collaboration so hard?

Working together, especially across the organization, faces barriers. Significant barriers. Physical. Hierarchical. Institutional. Of our own making.

Oh, and the worst of all… people barriers. Those pesky human dynamics. Cropping up whenever people try working with one another.

Functional Barriers

Businesses erect collaboration barriers right from inception. Structuring the organization by function. Engineering. Sales. Trading. Marketing. Ops. Finance. IT.

Each function has its own set of skills. Expertise. Processes and procedures. Cycles and sequences. Jargon. Acronyms. Idiosyncrasies. Cultural norms. Familiar to those who’ve spent their career in the field. And nobody else. Which builds bonds internally. And silos externally. Big silos. Formidable silos. Big, formidable silos which inhibit cross-team collaboration.

Even our office layouts. One team upstairs. Another downstairs. In different buildings. Locations. Or countries.

Add in each function’s unique Operating systems. And communications platforms. Disrupting the flow of data. Sharing of information. Which stifles interaction. Limits transparency. And erodes trust.

Ahhh…trust. The biggest barrier to collaboration. Part of the people problem.

People Barriers

People congregate with those like us. Peers. Cohorts. Our tribe. That’s human nature. We feel comfortable with the familiar. At ease with ‘The Insiders’. We’re more open. Transparent. Vulnerable. Trusting. Reinforcing the bonds between us.

Conversely, we’re skeptical of those outside the circle. Unlike us. Those not speaking our lingo. Or follow our social codes. Thinking different. Acting differently. And when forced to interact with ‘The Outsiders’, there’s more than just skepticism. There’s cynicism. Animosity. Distrust.

“Those guys in Sales…” “Those folks in Legal…” “Those Back-office people…” “Those Front-office people…” “They always…” “They never…” “They just don’t get us.” “We just don’t get them.”

Us vs. Them.

Generalizations. Absolutes. Snarky remarks. Inside jokes. Divisive talk. Labeling others. Dehumanizing. Tearing them down. As a means of building us up. That’s human nature. Happens all the time. In every business. The people problem. Hindering collaboration. And teamwork.

Ugggh.

Unifying Others

Fortunately, Dads are unifiers. By nature. Fatherhood is about building family ties. So, building bonds in the workplace is straightforward for us.

Dads can begin by calling out the people's problem. Us vs. Them is a collective human default. Which doesn’t make us bad people. Or them, either. We’re tribal beings. By nature. When we anticipate these dynamics and plan for clannish behavior, we can overcome the people barriers.

Here are additional steps for Leaders to reinforce among our teams:

1. Think the best of others. Everyone wants to perform well. Do our best. That’s universal. So, let’s all start with that perspective. Trust that others have the best interests of the firm at heart. Just like we do. And everyone will give it they are all. To deliver what’s promised.

2. Listen. First and foremost. Attentively. Respectfully. Without interrupting. Hear others. Consider their viewpoint. And be willing to learn. From them. Even if their viewpoint is different. Especially if their viewpoint is different.

3. Give grace. The benefit of the doubt. Forgive. Move beyond past mistakes. Or missteps. Be compassionate. Empathetic. Encourage others. Build them up. Let them know we have their back.

4. Be Optimistic. About the people. More than the business. Our peers. And colleagues. We can figure it out. Together. Whatever comes our way. Trust the ingenuity of those alongside us.

Sure, collaboration is tough. In today’s hybrid workplace. But Dads love a challenge. And rallying the team for a tough task. Helping identify the obstacles. Reminding them how well they’ve overcome in the past. And worked together to create something great.

Go, Dads. Go.