XRATHUS BLOGOSPHERE

What does effective collaboration involve now, in the “new normal”?

Working on any project as part of a large complex team is very difficult. You have to juggle the demands of many different stakeholders with competing interests. In our wildly unpredictable world, working collaboratively with this “new normal” is only becoming more difficult. How can we do it?

You might be tempted to use the tools that we have always used. They work, right? We already have many collaboration tools such as Google apps, Microsoft teams, Trello, Basecamp, etc… We also have many collaborative environments such as blogs and social media. In theory, these things create great collaborative spaces. However, in practice, they work best in situations where products and services are produced. Where you can assure organizational continuity, but you don’t promote much creative thinking or innovation.

In reality, if we only copy these old patterns of collaborative work, we are bound to repeat the thinking and mistakes of the past.

Today’s “new normal” of highly fluid, remote, and distributed working environments require us to adapt and adopt new effective collaborative structures. However, what does this entail?

Effective collaboration needs to include several things such as:

• SMART goal setting. In other words, goals need to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based.
  
  
• Stackable goals and scaffolding. Each goal needs to be a building block. They need to be of sufficient size to help build to the next goal.
  
  
• Role-reversals. Teams must be able to assume roles that are the absolute opposite of their regular work. For example, a technical computer programmer should also do artistic logo designs. By taking on the responsibilities of others, you will quickly realize the challenges that everyone faces. This helps build empathy in the team and prevents conflicts due to misunderstandings.
  
  
• Personae and stakeholders correspond. When training through simulation, make sure to role-play real stakeholders.
  
  
• Continuous SWOT analyses. On-going analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat is important to facilitate proactive planning.
  
  
• Cloud-based systems. Not only is it important to make information easily available for everyone, but it is also becoming increasingly important that tools be available too.
  
  
• Critical path planning. While it is important to plan projects with goals, it is also equally important to work as a team to develop contingency plans.

In conclusion, many things go into effective collaboration. By using these tools, we can learn how our minds work, avoid cognitive bias, and create environments that allow us to come up with new solutions rather than just repeating patterns of the past.