How Do You PracticeHow Do You PracticeCollaborativeCollaborativeLeadership?Leadership?

A Dozen Ways To Boost YourEffectiveness

Dan Dwyer

How Do You Practice Collaborative Leadership? A Dozen Ways To Boost Your Effectiveness

As a collaborative leader, your most important taskis not to make sure that your team comes up withthe “right” ideas or plans, or to produce single-handedly the vision or goals that it needs tofollow. Your job as a leader is to establish,maintain, and protect the collaborative processthat allows everyone to participate fully in theteam’s work.

In order to boost your effectiveness as acollaborative leader, there are a number of thingsyou need to do. I encourage you to consider thefollowing —

1. Help your team set norms – expectedHelp your team set norms – expectedbehavior for meetings, communication, andbehavior for meetings, communication, andgeneral operation – that you can l ive by,general operation – that you can l ive by,and that foster respect, partic ipation, andand that foster respect, partic ipation, andtrust.trust.

Norms may be specified or implied, depending onthe team and its needs, but in general, the moreexplicit they are, the better. They can range from,say, the formality of Robert’s Rules of Order as astructure for meetings, to the arrangement ofseating (chairs in a circle – often an implied norm),to the responsibilities of particular subgroups orindividuals, to guidelines for discussion (nointerruption until someone’s thought is finished,no name-calling, etc.).

2. Assure that everyone gets heard.Assure that everyone gets heard.

3. Encourage and model inclusiveness.Encourage and model inclusiveness.

As a collaborative leader, you have an obligation toinvite participation from all segments of the teamor organization, to welcome new participants andmake sure they meet others (and to encourageother members to do the same), to include them indiscussion and subgroups, to help them gainwhatever skills they need to participate fully, etc.Perhaps most important, you should beinstrumental in creating a culture where all thesethings happen automatically, without yourintervention.

4. Help people make real connections withHelp people make real connections withone another.one another.

In order to develop trust, especially in those whomight formerly have been seen as competitors orenemies, people need time to get to know oneanother. It’s up to the collaborative leader (as wellas others) to make sure they get it, in a safe andopen environment. The leader must exhibit andencourage trust.

This means not just letting people speak inmeetings, but actively soliciting the opinions ofthose who haven’t spoken, and recording andreviewing with the group everyone’s concerns andideas as you discuss possibilities. Betweenmeetings, it means communicating any news anddevelopments to people on a regular basis andgiven them a chance to respond, and making surethey communicate with one another.

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How Do You Practice Collaborative Leadership? A Dozen Ways To Boost Your Effectiveness

As is probably obvious here, the collaborativeleader must set an example by practicing what heor she preaches. To a large extent, the team willbecome what the leader models, and therefore, heor she must model what they want the team tobecome. Modeling all the functions on this list willhelp a leader to institutionalize the collaborativeprocess.

5. Mediate confl icts and disputes.Mediate confl icts and disputes.

In any team, conflict is almost inevitable. Trying toignore it and hoping it will go away is probably theabsolute worst way to handle it. In collaborativeteams, conflict needs to be faced head-on and notonly resolved, but used constructively, to buildtrust and further the work of the team. Creativedispute resolution is a vital function ofcollaborative leadership.

6. Help the team create and useHelp the team create and usemechanisms for sol ic i ting ideas.mechanisms for sol ic i ting ideas.

Suggesting and teaching, if necessary, suchtechniques as brainstorming; introducingresearch or other relevant ideas from outside theteam; and gaining the help of knowledgeable non-members are some of the ways that acollaborative leader can assist the team toexamine complex issues and come up withpotential solutions.

7. Maintain col laborative problem-solvingMaintain col laborative problem-solvingand decision-making.and decision-making.

The leader must guard against an individual,organization, or small group running away withthe process. In many circumstances, it’s not onlyreasonable but necessary to ask a small team tocome up with suggestions or plans. But the largerteam should instruct them to do so in the firstplace, and their results should come back to thelarger team for discussion and approval.

8. Push the team toward effectiveness by:Push the team toward effectiveness by:

Urging it to come to decisions after there’sbeen enough discussion. Helping it to devise appropriate actionplans. Making sure that people take and honorresponsibility for implementing action plansin a timely and competent way. Holding people accountable to theirimplementation (and other) responsibilities. Reminding the group to evaluate, adjust,and reevaluate both plans and theirimplementation, based on results.

9. Help the team choose initial projects thatHelp the team choose initial projects thatare doable, in order to bui ld confidence andare doable, in order to bui ld confidence anddemonstrate col laborative success.demonstrate col laborative success.

It’s important that the collaborative leader do allhe or she can to encourage the group to take ontasks that can be accomplished with the availabletime and resources. Initial success will bothmotivate the group and give it legitimacy.

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How Do You Practice Collaborative Leadership? A Dozen Ways To Boost Your Effectiveness

10. Help the group identi fy and obtain theHelp the group identi fy and obtain thenecessary resources to do the work.necessary resources to do the work.As a collaborative leader, we sometimes haveaccess to resources that our team members maynot. Through our experiences, we’ve also learnedwhat resources are more important than others.We provide the budget they need, know who theyneed to be connected with, understand internalpolitics they may need to navigate through, and atthe very least, make the team aware of gaps, evenif you can’t address or fund every resource.

11. Insist on and protect an openInsist on and protect an openprocess…process…that has no expected outcome when itstarts, and no predetermined decisionsdemanding only the group’s rubber stamp. Theprocess should belong to the group from the verybeginning.

12. Keep the group focused on what’s bestKeep the group focused on what’s bestfor the organization, col laborative, orfor the organization, col laborative, orcommunity as a whole, rather than oncommunity as a whole, rather than onindividual interests.individual interests.

If you do this as a collaborative leader, you’regoing to build consensus, gain buy-in, and retainquality people.

Questions: Are you leading col laboratively?Questions: Are you leading col laboratively?Are you a leader who establ ishes,Are you a leader who establ ishes,maintains, and protects a col laborativemaintains, and protects a col laborativeprocess that al lows everyone to partic ipateprocess that al lows everyone to partic ipateful ly in the team’s work?ful ly in the team’s work?

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