COMMITTED TO GROWTH GAINING SHIFT AND TRANSFORMATION WITHIN YOUR

BUSINESS THROUGH COLLABORATION

Tracey Ezard is an expert in helping organisations thrive by focusing on building the key pillars of learning intelligence. The recipe for dynamic forward momentum: mindset, environment and dialogue. She builds the capacity of leaders and staff to create an energy buzz about the work and alignment on the future plans. She helps people co-create and collaborate - and most importantly, act on it!

Her background in education and her experience in working with businesses in all sectors talking about the tricky stuff means that the things that need to be said get said and the things that need to be done, implemented. Tracey is well known for her high energy interactive and engaging style. She uses visual tools to increase the collaboration and 'stickiness' of the work being discussed and gets leaders the momentum they need for improvement.

Tracey uses the science of the brain and emotional intelligence to underpin her approaches and frameworks on collaboration, culture and leadership.

She is the author of The Buzz - Creating a Thriving and Collaborative Staff Learning Culture - a book for educational leaders.

www.traceyezard.com

Committed to Growth The three key pillars of organisaDonal collaboraDon and learning

intelligence

Do you need greater commitment, input and engagement from your staff to reach the outcomes your business requires and the growth you need?

Its a no brainer really - if we are able to improve and transform the way people work together and act on our vision and strategies, the shift towards them would gather momentum and create a thriving buzz.

The key to gaining this momentum is creating strong learning intelligence in our organisations. This learning intelligence taps into the potential of the individuals in our businesses and connects them to the purpose and intent of their work. It creates an environment where working together brings about shift, alignment and transformation.

There are a number of challenges we are trying to overcome to bring about this transformation.

Challenge #1

Connection and collaboration

People can work in their own bubble, not necessarily aligning their own work with the work of others, or even the business. There is little cohesion between individuals and teams, leading to bad decisions, over use of resources, little or no strategic action and unmet targets. People are often frustrated through the lack of communication and interaction. Listening to each other and creating new ways of working is not on the agenda. Trust can be low except for some of our closest work colleagues.

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Challenge #2

Engagement and realised potential

Leaders are not all confident to lead discussions and rigorous debate regarding the most strategic and effective course of action. This leads to a lack of buy in and engagement by staff. One of the main challenges for leaders is a lack of skill in developing individual and team growth, in skills, capabilities and in mindset.

Challenge #3

Traction

Staff who are not engaged in the forward direction of the business dont work together well and are often working at cross purposes. Great ideas are lost or not even discovered and forward momentum is difficult. Opinions and solutions are talked about in a dysfunctional way via gossip and water cooler conversations because the processes are not in place for that input to be diverted into positive, rigorous debate.

Finding ways to shift the status quo and make sure our business is evolving and not stuck in the comfort zone is part of leading. Only then are we propelled forward in our learning zone - where growth, learning and creativity are found. The first start up period of experimentation and learning is followed by a time of growth and development. Ultimately, however, every curve turns downward. This paper provides a framework and practical applications for building the learning intelligence of your organisation and heading the curve back up. This missing piece of the leadership puzzle will help you gain committed collaboration from your staff and get you realising your business potential.

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Figure 2. The 6 stages that reflect an organisations ability to create a collaborative, engaged environment of growth

Focusing on building a thriving collaborative learning environment will help you keep above the line. Helping your leaders and staff engage in the purpose and intent of the business through meaningful activities aimed at moving up the model will provide the traction for growth and transformation.

Leaders of thriving collaborative environments have a co-created vision and set of beliefs which help align staff with purpose; strong debate and dialogue to shape strategic actions and an environment where people can work together.

Identifying where your organisation is at is a key piece of the strategic leader - where should the effort be directed? What is it that will be the defining work that will help us drive momentum forward?

Corrosion

This is the home of the toxic work place - people of influence seem to be committed to creating an environment of fear and anxiety. The dreams and visions of the organisation are far from peoples realities and there is a distinct lack of alignment of beliefs about what should be done and how it should be enacted.

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Ideas and innovations are not in evidence, due to a highly unsafe learning environment for people to take risks, experiment or even give their opinions. The speaker for the opposition seems to be the one that is heard the most, actively sabotaging any forward momentum that anyone is trying to achieve. The end result is that good people leave and you're left with the ones who should leave!

Complacency

The danger zone for business. Complacency creates a culture of near enough is good enough and that the best place to be is comfortably doing what we have always done, if we sit with the status quo all will be OK. This below the line behaviour and culture leads us to the dreaded downward fall of the effectiveness and sustainability of the business due to the lack of response to an ever-changing context and stakeholder needs. Trying to get people to shift to new behaviours is exhausting and any discussion about change or growth is met with denial, blame and justification - or just plain quit - it may be quitting on the project, the change, or the team. This can be a sign that the learning environment is seen as an unsafe or unpleasant place to be. Shift and transformation in the Complacency Zone? - Not much.

Confusion

This level is where there is genuine realisation that the business needs to focus on doing things differently, or expanding into ways of working not done previously. If there is not clear leadership and collaborative work on proactive approaches to the future when in this state. The organisation can bounce from one silver bullet to another, working reactively and figuratively chasing its tail trying to find the magic elixir to its problems. The outcomes of the Confusion Zone is frustration and overwhelm.

Controversy

At this stage, there is a clear understanding of the outcomes that need to be achieved, but peoples hobby horses can get in the way of getting alignment to the best course of action. If you have been in the corrosion zone, remnants of this type of behaviour can bubble up to the surface, with the more dominant voices getting traction on a course of action or direction and others feeling not aligned or even included in the solution. There is much to celebrate by getting to this stage though, as it often reflects passion for getting better results.

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Clarity

The clarity zone give great promise for the business. People are clear on their direction and the need for any initiatives or changes being implemented. There is a team of committed individuals and pockets of teams collaborating and creating an environment of learning from each other and challenging each other to reach their potential. It may be that the leadership team is very clear on what needs to be done and the rest of the organisation are happy to be led. Forward momentum picks up as people see the way forward and where it leads to. The environment is one of optimism and energy. The conversations are more than likely to be about the work and the behaviours more about learning to work differently.

Committed Collaboration

When this stage is reached, the energy of the learning within the team and the organisation fuels the momentum. Teams are focussed on working together, learning from each other and implementing and trialling different approaches. Leadership no longer has to create the change, the change and the desire to transform comes from within. There is a position buzz in the vibration of the business - one that staff and clients can feel. We believe leaders need to be skilled at growing potential and empowering staff to contribute and collaborate. Places that achieve this stage attract great people and also grow great people.

Now that we have ascertained where we currently sit on the Driving Momentum levels - from Corrosion up to Committed Collaboration, there are three specific areas we need to focus on to create shift.

Its about getting our MINDSET about growth, the ENVIRONMENT dynamic and the DIALOGUE purposeful and action oriented.

The side axis on the table on the following page refers to the main steps in the journey. We need to put some serious focus into the foundations of these pillars, then be clear on the strategy that propels to the activities that will get us shift and committed collaboration.

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Figure 3: The 3 key pillars that create shift and transformation

A STRONG FOUNDATION

The culture of a learning organisation at its base springs from the beliefs held by the individuals within - and most importantly by those of influence. Getting clarity about what growth really looks like and the internal approach we need to take to tackle challenges, obstacles and change is key to this culture. Growth behaviours come from growth beliefs.

We need to create compelling spaces in our organisation for learning, collaboration and exploration. This space takes in not only the physical set up of rooms, meetings, but also the energy that is created. This contributes to the buzz.

Dialogue which is rich and very clear on making the assumptions we are basing our conversations on explicit is the third foundational pillar to creating growth.

CLARITY ON YOUR STRATEGY

After setting our foundation, we are ready to get focused on where we want to go. As a team, or an organisation, setting clear outcomes and purpose allows us to collaborate together on finding the way forward. We can start to co-create or clarify our vision, learning from our journey and gaining momentum through commitment towards it happening.

Being strategic about the way forward requires skilled exploration of the challenges, strengths, context and possibilities. As leaders we need to lead, facilitate and contribute to these discussions skilfully, ensuring that not only are we are not afraid of divergence of opinion, but that we see this as a vital part of robust problem solving and a thriving learning environment. The best processes and tools are used to move this divergent discussion into convergence around options , proposed strategies and actions.

By having a far greater clarity of outcomes, vision and the right tools and processes to enable the discussions, the dialogue becomes congruent and authentic. No longer spending time in blame and justifications, people are keen to proactively and collaboratively work together to gain forward momentum.

GETTING SHIFT HAPPENING

When the foundations are firm and we have clarity of outcomes, great processes to explore and learning oriented dialogue occurring, shift becomes far easier. The mindset of learning develops in people so that different perspectives are accessed as a part of the process. We also start to reframe tricky situations and major change internally as well as externally, allowing for possibility to drive us rather than impossibility.

Great learning cultures in organisations dont spend precious time just talking at people. To gain traction and have people engaged in the forward direction of the business, we need to provide opportunities for learning through a whole range of strategies. The usual one used it : I speak at you. You listen. You nod. You go away and do it. Brain research is giving us a huge insight in how to increase our ability

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to learn and collaborate better - and keeping people from feeling threatened and unsafe.

The key dialogue skill that adds to the mix of helping people shift is asking explorative and generative questions. Great leaders ask great questions - ones that help bring about new thinking, not the same thinking. What are great question youve asked recently that have opened up a whole way of looking at something?

Focusing on the three pillars of Learning Intelligence - MINDSET, ENVIRONMENT and DIALOGUE will head you in a direction of growth and commitment to forward momentum. I wish you good journey in having dynamic and engaging discussions with your people about growing and thriving in your organisation.

To talk with Tracey further:

Email: tracey@traceyezard.com

Mobile: 0417 317 563

Web: www.traceyezard.com

mailto:tracey@traceyezard.com

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Disclaimer

We care but youre responsible.

So please be sure to take specialist advice before taking on any of the ideas. This white paper is general in nature and not meant to replace any specific advice. Tracey Ezard of Jessup Ezard Consulting and employees of said company and brand derivations disclaim all and any liability to any persons whatsoever in respect of anything done by any person in reliance, whether in whole or in part, on this e-book.