So, that said, it’s less than enjoyable when we get involved in a team where there are a lot of I’s and everyone is working their own agenda. Even worse, is a team where members aren't allowed to provide their input and their thoughts.
The surest way to stifle creativity and cohesiveness in a team is to shut out their ideas. While not every idea comes with high quality built in, every idea does have merit. For a team to be as effective as possible, every team member’s thinking deserves it's time.
Whether a project manager or a project team member, and if you want to build or be a part of a strong team, you must have everyone’s involvement. The surest way to get everyone involved is to embrace shared thinking.
Benefits of Shared Thinking
I’ve understood the theoretical value of collaboration and shared thinking all the way back to college. But it wasn’t until my work with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO), that the power of collaborative, shared thinking really hit me as a force multiplier.
I occupied a solo position at that time. No staff and no one who would have to do what I said because of my “powerless" position All support and interaction was based on relationship, trust, and inclusion. In short, each success I had was the result of collaborative, shared thinking.
It was while working in this position that I embraced the power of shared thinking. If you don’t agree that shared thinking can make a positive contribution in your work, then consider these five positive aspects you’re missing out on:
Shared Thinking Is Faster. The pace of work today is fast. The projects any of us will be involved in will have ‘schedule’ as a key area of concern. Why? Because, we have an innate drive to get things done as quickly as possible. When you’re solo, you have the responsibility to think of every detail associated with a project. When you collaborate with others through shared thinking, however, you have other minds you can rely on to share the workload, to assure details are not overlooked, and your project is on schedule.
Shared Thinking Is More Innovative. As far as project professionals are concerned, I consider myself to be innovative. I believe that I’m able to come up with unique ways to solve problems or improve processes. Odds are you might think the same thing. Although I feel confident about my innovative problem solving skills, I know that involving others in brainstorming and problem solving yields greater innovation than I’d ever achieve on my own. In the words of Margaret Hefferman, business leader and TED speaker, “For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.” If you want to be more innovative, you need to have more than just yourself involved in the process.
Shared Thinking Is Stronger. We can be confident in our solo-thinking and in most cases everything will be just fine. However, the more complex the situation we're involved in, the less likely our solo-thinking will be up to the task. It’s not that we lack skill or project management acumen or we're a sup-par engineer. It’s simply that the more complex a project is, the greater the probability of missing a key task or aspect that’s hidden from our view. German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “To accept good advice is but to increase one’s own ability.” Shared thinking brings an increase of energy and synergy between team members that can ensure project success.
Shared Thinking Returns Greater Value. Since shared thinking can be faster, more innovative, and stronger, it's only natural that it will return greater value than solo-thinking. When we tap into shared thinking we gain capacity to work on more of the important tasks with stronger understanding of what needs to be accomplished. The results in our professional and personal lives can be astounding.
Shared Thinking Yields Great Thinking. Every once in awhile I get a great thought. But most often, my thoughts are ordinary. Each great thought we've experienced was built on a foundation of several good thoughts. When working solo, it might take months - maybe years - to amass the right good thoughts to get the great thought. With shared thinking, if I have one thought and a team member has one thought, together we have two. If each member of the team has a good thought, then we might have four, eight or maybe fifteen good thoughts. With the many good thoughts, we open the opportunity to get to one or more great thoughts. As Dr. Linus Pauling stated once: "The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas".
Understanding that collaboration is a good thing, what do we do when our team mates don’t share the same understanding?
Harnessing Shared Thinking
Value Others Ideas. First, establish team expectations that everyone's ideas have value. The value may be high or low, but each thought has value. Next, have all team members reflect on these questions:
Am I emotionally secure? A person who lacks confidence will worry about their power, status, position and tend to put off an air that devalues other people's ideas.
Do I place value on people? It will be pretty hard to value another person's ideas if you don't value people to begin with. When you're around people you value how do you act? What about when you're around people you don't value as much?
Do I value the collaboration process? Collaboration isn't black and white, can take time, and doesn't always result in everyone accepting your ideas. Are you good with that? The upside of collaboration, however, is enormous in terms of team cohesiveness, energy and long-term success.
Embrace Cooperation Over Competition. This passage by John Maxwell paints the perfect picture for cooperation over competition: "A person who values cooperation desires to compete the ideas of others, not compete with them. If someone asks you to share ideas, focus on helping the team, not getting ahead personally. If the best idea always wins (rather than the person who offered it), then all will share their thoughts with greater enthusiasm."
Get the Right People Involved. Shared thinking is stymied by people who aren't willing to openly give their ideas. In most situations we lack the ability to pick the people we know will contribute the most to a shared thinking group. However, if you do have the ability to pick members, choose:
- People who can add value to another's thoughts
- People who are emotionally mature and can handle changes in the conversation
- People who appreciate the strength of others where they are weak
- People who place what is best for the team before themselves
- People who can bring out the best thinking in those around them
- People who will take ownership and responsibility for decisions
- People who operate with a "we" versus "me" attitude
Recognize Good Thinkers and Collaborators. Good thinkers and collaborators shouldn’t be the exception in your organization. The best two ways to create an environment that encourages these behaviors is to:
- Embody the behavior yourself. Walk the walk and talk the talk.
- Reward your good thinkers and collaborators through recognition
Once people see that the organization embraces good thinking and collaboration the behavior will become standard operating procedures versus a rare occurrence.
“None of us are as smart as all of us.” ~ Ken Blanchard
Reference:
"How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Hardcover – June 1, 2009." How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: John C. Maxwell: 9781599951683: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2015.
Christian Knutson, P.E., PMP is international infrastructure development program manager, engineer, and author. He has 21 years of experience in leadership, management, engineering and international relations earned from a career in the U.S. Air Force and is author of The Engineer Leader, a recognized blog on leadership and life success for engineers and professionals.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net