Category Archives: Collaboration

Trusted lies and the meaning of money

Recent reporting in the US indicates that we have accepted, as a culture, a "new normal" of half-truths and blatant disregard for facts.  Seriously?  Yes, unfortunately, this is no lie.  I wish I were kidding.  Apparently, some will consider this is a virtue, a victory over the rule of law, reason, and unadulterated honest dealings. It isn't. Repeated lying, especially the "rinse, wash and Continue Reading ...

Collaboration at Work

What's An Elephant Between Coworkers? By Daniel Robin Have you ever noticed how your perceptions and those of others often don't match? It is said that we all hold "a piece of the elephant" (and the elephant likes it). This is why collaboration is necessary and usually advantageous at work: to gain access to unfamiliar territory and the new resources that live in other people. Indeed, to get Continue Reading ...

Recognizing Talent – key traits for hiring and promoting

"It's not about whether candidates have the right skills, it's [more] about whether they have the potential to learn new ones."    - Claudio Fernández-Aráoz To recruit, promote and keep talent, it turns out that adaptability, capacity to learn, and constructive use of imagination are more important than knowledge.  Einstein was right.  But the master skill of "learning how to learn" can be Continue Reading ...

Collaboration

Collaboration can become "coliberation" when done right. When, exactly, are "two heads better than one"?  When the overall goal and task at hand deserve this form of closely aligned partnering.  Of course, not every type of work, every goal or every task deserves it, and when collaboration is warranted, success depends on the willingness and skill-sets of collaboration partners.  Key is to Continue Reading ...

Alignment

Lack of alignment around goals, or the deeper challenges of disagreements about priorities, the desired future, beliefs about what is possible, let alone worthwhile, sometimes fueled by egoic, dysfunctional, win-lose thinking, all limit success. When stakes are high, this lack of alignment can create quite a mess.  Though recovery from such setbacks isn't usually a problem, if there's a preventable Continue Reading ...

New Rules for Communication @ Work

By Daniel Robin This article describes a set of new rules for effective workplace communication in an ever-changing economy. It assumes that you are part of a high-performing organization that values innovation, participation (collaborative vs. command-and-control styles of leadership), mutual accountability and, to some extent, sustainability. Doesn’t sound like your workplace? Perhaps that’s Continue Reading ...

Sailing the Seven C’s of Collaborative Business Relationships

By Daniel Robin To some folks, the phrase "business relationships" is effectively an oxymoron. The more pressure to perform, the more likely there’ll be a bump in the road to collaboration that sends things flying out of control. Hopefully the "bump" isn’t the tip of an iceberg, but just a bit of rough water that will soon pass. Collaboration at work isn’t required, it’s just a lot more Continue Reading ...

Right-Wrong Thinking … is Just Plain Wrong

By Daniel Robin "It’ll never work, asserts Max, after reading the proposal. "What won’t work, Max? I’d like your input … or is it too difficult to let somebody else be right occasionally?," I ask. "Fine, you can be right all you want," sweeping his arm graciously, "-- but your idea stinks." "Hey, I’ve no interest in being right. I just want there to be room for us to openly and constructively Continue Reading ...

Rapport: The Link to Gaining Cooperation

Or, "Stuff They Never Taught You in Driver’s Training" By Daniel Robin A friend of mine once said that driving in heavily populated parts of California is like being on heavy sedatives while simultaneously having an adrenaline rush. For many of us, the traffic patterns in industrialized regions are a lot like how we get things done in corporate bureaucracies: "hurry up and wait." The metaphor Continue Reading ...

Collaborative Workplace Advantage

By Daniel Robin In our workshops, we emphasize the skills of participatory management and collaborative leadership.  With collaborative approaches - in contrast with one-way, autocratic or dictatorial - leaders at all levels use an inclusive style that balances assertiveness (focus on goal or task achievement) with gaining cooperation and commitment (flexibility and consideration in relating to Continue Reading ...

Workplace Power Dynamics: Part 3

Hidden Sources of Power at Work By Daniel Robin Many of us hold archaic assumptions about power … and there are precious few new archetypes or role models. To me, the greatest power comes from collaboration … from skillfully going inside our differences and working cooperatively toward building something better than we had at the start. The key here will be to use those forms of power that Continue Reading ...

Closing the Gap between Management and Worker through Coaching

By Daniel Robin There is an age-old gap between management and those managed. Employees often suspect management’s motives and resent having authority imposed on them. Simultaneously, managers are … only human. Some try to delegate responsibility without authority (let go into structure and it works better). Others resist change or get side-tracked by office politics and unintentionally take Continue Reading ...