Culture Club

Create a culture of cooperation and collaboration.

By STEVIE DAWN CARTER, PhD, CEO, Stevie Dawn Inspires LLC

Culture starts at the top of any organization. As a leader, you are responsible for the culture you create, develop, and grow within your team. Often, we hear the words culture and engagement used together. Research tells us that for an employee to feel engaged at an organization there has to be a sense of collaboration and cooperation.

Communication is not quite enough. We must go the extra mile. And that starts with our internal teams. How we communicate internally, transfers to how we communicate externally. If we want more cooperation and collaboration within our community, we must first improve collaboration and cooperation in our teams and organizations. Collaboration is people working together to create something. As a manager, creating a collaborative team is a crucial first step to success. A collaborative team starts with a creative and open environment. Team members must feel they have the ability to express themselves, and be honest and open in their dialogue. They must be free to brainstorm and contribute new ideas without fear of being judged. This doesn’t mean that every idea needs to be accepted and implemented. It means that every idea will be heard so the team can openly discuss the pros and cons.

This environment of brainstorming and honest communication is set through manager expectations. You must set the rules and expectations of how the team is to work together and collaborate. These expectations are best managed by having a written document that is shared with all team members, as well as a verbal discussion at the beginning of every team meeting outlining the expectations which might include:

• Everyone is allowed and encouraged to speak.

• Every idea and opinion has merit and will be on the table for consideration.

• Seniority does not matter. Rank and title do not mean that your idea is the best.

These are just a few of the statements that can be made in a team meeting to facilitate a collaborative environment. As a manager, you encourage and nurture this environment through your own actions. When you speak openly and honestly about goals and results, your team will feel comfortable speaking openly too. When you hear every opinion and make every voice important, you team will do the same in meetings when you are not around. By creating a collaborative environment, you strengthen your team and your organization.

Cooperation is working together towards a shared goal. Learning to work together can seem like an easy request for a team, but we’ve all been in situations where cooperation is hard. What tends to make cooperation difficult is when participants disagree on the goal. As a manager, one of the best ways to improve cooperation is to focus on the “why.” Letting your team know the reason behind decisions and projects can help inspire them to work together to achieve the goal.

When you are taking the time to share the “why” behind a project or initiative, make sure you think about it in terms of WIFT…what’s in it for them? How does the project align with their job function? How does it serve their needs and goals? Often the struggle in getting people on board with an idea is the fact that they see it as adding to their workload or taking away their time. As a manager, it is your responsibility to show how it fits within their plan, goals, and job duties – to give clarity to the expectations and purpose.

The same principles apply to community stakeholders. If you want collaboration, clarify expectations and allow for all ideas without judgement. If you are looking for more cooperation, take time to see it from their point of view and align the goal with their needs whenever possible.

When individuals come together and work toward common goals, everybody benefits.