How to make the most out of collaboration
The holy trinity of multidisciplinary teams
We know… Yet another one with their take on making the most out of collaboration. Yes, the topic is definitely as cliché as a topic could get. Yet, even though working in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams (or rather the aspiration to establish such) has become the norm in most companies, they are still (very) challenging.
So instead of repeating all of their benefits or the reasons why people might develop a strong aversion towards working in such, we’ll give you some practical observations (and a few tips) you can start using right away.
For the past three years we have been studying the factors that influence multidisciplinary collaboration, while facilitating and being part of such teams in three multinational companies. Depending on the context and the type of team you’re working with, there are different factors that can influence the outcome. However, three of them seem to be omnipresent. We believe that when addressed, they can help you build optimal collaboration.
Clarity
No, not clarity of what the end result will precisely look like. If you know what your end result is in detail early on, something is terribly wrong. However, clarity of the general way of working, plans, goals and communication is something you should establish right from the start. In fact, lack of such can prevent the team to accomplish the task at hand[1]. Thus, making these things explicit is one of the most important tasks a team has.
Of course, when you’re dealing with something completely new it’s very difficult to know the answer to these questions. But, as everything around you is bound to be ambiguous, you have to establish some sense of clarity. Otherwise people will drown in the chaos.
How to achieve the coveted clarity? It’s simple — agree on all these things upfront. This, obviously, is much easier said than done. So how do you bring everyone on the same page? Talk it out, right? Unfortunately, oftentimes the desire to agree leads to endless discussion, which quickly turns into a nonsensical loop of dead ends. In the end, everyone walks away with a slightly different interpretation on the discussion.
To avoid that, we usually just sketch things up. The result is always different as it’s so much dependent on the context, but we always start by simply writing down a short statement we think everybody agrees on. This always provokes discussion. Discussion is good, unless it drags for too long. So when someone makes a statement, we simply keep asking the “why” question and try to map out the different opinions.
It doesn’t have to be a fancy sketch. Simple squares, circles and stick figures with the help of short explanations do miracles. Making things visual together as a team will allow you to quickly establish a shared understanding of whatever it is you’re doing.
Trust
Now, hands down, trust doesn’t come easy, especially when a big part of our culture is based upon the deeply-seeded notion “don’t trust strangers (in a white van)”. However, you can create an environment, which makes the trusting procedure a bit easier. How? Start by having one person in the team everyone trusts. It helps tremendously if that’s the facilitator/manager.
How do you become that person? The conventional way — taking your time to prove your worth. Most often than not, you won’t have such luxury. So you need to be resourceful.
What we do in such cases is simple — we have individual talks with every person on the team before the official start of a project/workshop. During this talk we try to get to know them better, their strengths and weaknesses, and their values, so we can take into account their personalities. As trust is a two-way street, we also tell them a bit about the way we work and what our values are.
These simple tactics can really make the difference. They helped us to get people along on our journey, which most of the times requires them to do “weird” things such as “playing with Lego” to come up with ideas or cut and paste pictures to imagine the future.
As cliche as this sounds, food and alcohol could really help in that regard as well. Just make it your point to have lunch together as a team or go for a dinner together. When people get to know each other outside of their job description, the level of trust will increase.
Another thing all good managers we’ve worked with have in common is: they continuously reinforce the notion that the team, not them, is the expert. Their role as is to simply guide the team through the process, by regularly asking for advice and help.[2] We also noticed that clarity helps tremendously to form trust.
Conflict
The natural reaction of most people is to avoid it like the plague. Arguably no mentally sane person enjoys it. However, conflict can help you get unstuck and come up with surprising ideas. As Socrates famously said, the truth is born through dialogue (or in our case, conflict). In fact, innovation rarely happens in the absence of conflict[3]. However, it’s imperative to make sure the conflict doesn’t migrate from the area of ideas and points of view to personalities.
Managing conflict is difficult. If it were easy, the concept of warfare will be foreign to humanity. Yet, if managed in a controlled environment, it can help the team reap multiple benefits.
We have a simple formula we apply when dealing with conflict. Of course, you must’ve heard about the “yes and”, but if you’ve established the clarity and trust already, the conflict will be much easier to deal with. The formula we follow is:
So if someone wants to disagree, they have to provide a reason why they disagree and an idea on how to do what they’re proposing. This is where the good manager/facilitator is extremely important to moderate the discussion. Conflict is good only when moderated.
Then when two disagreements are voiced, you should remember, as a moderator, that even in the most opposing disagreements, there’s always a common ground. Look for it and then build on that. A way to look for the common ground is to ask the people who disagree; try to uncover the reason they disagree.
What we find useful are two rules of thumb. First, don’t ever be intimidated by conflict. Look at it as something that can help you. Of course, to properly do so, you should be confident in your own abilities.
Second, always have someone who moderates the discussion and doesn’t allow it to get personal. Also, clarity (especially of rules) and trust are your best friends here.
As you’ve probably guessed already, these three are tightly interconnected and amplifying each other. Once you have clarity, it will be easier to establish trust and once you have both, it will be easier to deal with conflict.
However, they are not meant to be the panacea that will rid you of all your earthly woes. They simply provide a strong foundation, upon which you can build your optimal collaboration. So, next time you work with a multidisciplinary team, try to pay deliberate attention to them and see what happens.
[1] Tuckman, B. W., & Jensen, M. A. C. (1977). Stages of small-group development revisited. Group & Organization Studies, 2(4), 419–427.
[2] https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-neuroscience-of-trust
[3]https://www.ted.com/talks/linda_hill_how_to_manage_for_collective_creativity?utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_content=talk&utm_term=business#t-4831
