The Keys to Collaborative
Leadership
Presenter: Mark Voorsanger
August 10, 2011
Flickr: Voj
What’s on the menu?
Three
Courses
The
Appetizer
Challenge: We’re unclear about why
Collaborative Leadership is important
Goal: To develop our motivation for
exploring Collaborative Leadership
The
Main Dish
Challenge: We lack a common
language
Goal: To define key terms in a
collaborative system
The
Dessert
Challenge: We lack a common process
for solving problems
Goal: To introduce a powerful tool for
problem solving in groups
The
Appetizer
Setting context for our exploration of
Collaborative Leadership
What’s On Your
Mind?
Flickr: Brian Hillegas
Inspire
New
Thinking
Collaborative Leadership
practiced effectively, is
guaranteed to generate
superior business results.
Employee Engagement Types
(U.S. employees 18 years and older)
Type 1: Engaged
Type 2: Not-Engaged
Type 3: Actively
Disengaged
Type 2 + Type 3
--------- 29%
--------- 56%
--------- 15%
--------- 71%
(Gallup Mgmt Journal survey, Oct. 2006)
“MY CURRENT JOB BRINGS OUT
MY MOST CREATIVE IDEAS”
Engaged
--------- 59%
Not-Engaged
--------- 17%
Actively Disengaged --------- 3%
(Gallup Mgmt Journal survey, Oct. 2006)
Hierarchy (status quo)
• A 5500 year-old system of organizing
and managing people
• Decision-making authority is
concentrated at the top of the
hierarchy
• The “currencies” within a wellfunctioning hierarchy are:
Power & Authority
Hierarchy works well when…
• The people at the top have all the
relevant & necessary information
• The people being managed are doing
rote tasks
• The people being managed are easily
replaced
Example: Building Pyramids
Got
Collaboration?
Leaders are
getting the
message
Discussion…
What are the outcomes (+ & -) of
top-down decision-making in your
work? How have those outcomes
impacted your collaborative efforts?
The
Main Dish
(Defining key terms)
“If it’s not common language, it’s not
collaboration”
- Rachel Conerly,
Collaborative Leaders, Inc.
What is
Collaboration?
Definition: All relevant stakeholders have
ownership of and alignment around what
we’re going to do and how we’re going to
do it.
Who is a Relevant Stakeholder?
1. People with the formal power to
make a decision
2. People with the power to block a
decision
3. People affected by a decision
4. People with relevant information
and expertise
Discussion…
Think of a time when a relevant
stakeholder was excluded from
your work… What happened?
Definition of Collaboration

All relevant stakeholders have…
ownership of and…
alignment around…
what we’re going to do and…
how we’re going to do it.
What is Ownership?
What is Ownership?
The extent to which people feel or
believe that a process, decision or
outcome is theirs
Definition of Collaboration

All relevant stakeholders have…

ownership of and…
alignment around…
what we’re going to do and…
how we’re going to do it.
What is Alignment?
What is Alignment?
The extent to which people see
and understand a problem, goal
or process in the same way
Ownership is like getting
everyone in the same boat.
Alignment is like getting everyone
rowing in the same direction.
Ownership
Ownership & Alignment in Groups
HIGH
LOW
?
?
?
?
LOW
HIGH
Alignment
Ownership
Ownership & Alignment in Groups
HIGH
High
High conflict engagement
Poor results Great results
LOW
Very low
Low
engagement engagement
Fewer/poor
Lackluster
results
results
LOW
HIGH
Alignment
Definition of Collaboration

All relevant stakeholders have…

ownership of and…

alignment around…
what we’re going to do and…
how we’re going to do it.
Group interactions always involve…
Group Interaction
Content
Process
What
How
For every piece of content, there is
always a process (often implicit)
Group Interaction
Content
Process
What
How
Definition of Collaboration

All relevant stakeholders have…

ownership of and…

alignment around…

what we’re going to do and…

how we’re going to do it.
A Collaborative Leader is…
Someone who leads according to the
principles of Ownership & Alignment
And…
Collaborative Leadership
In order to build Ownership & Alignment in
groups, Collaborative Leaders must learn to
make both process and content explicit.
Definitions
Collaboration:

All relevant stakeholders have…

ownership of and…

alignment around…

what we’re going to do and…

how we’re going to do it.
Collaborative Leader: Someone who leads according to
the principles of ownership & alignment.
Questions about key terms?
What makes collaboration difficult?
The Non-Collaborative Mindset
1.
2.
3.
4.
Our beliefs are the Truth
The Truth is obvious
Our beliefs are based on real data
The data that we select are real data
Collaborative Leaders must learn
to resist these assumptions
The Ladder of Inference (step 1)
The Ladder of Inference (step 2)
The Ladder of Inference (step 3)
The Ladder of Inference (step 4)
The Ladder of Inference (step 5)
The Ladder of Inference (step 6)
The Ladder of Inference (step 7)
The Ladder of Inference
The Ladder of Inference (Example 1)
1. Manager sends email to the team… everybody
but Jane replies (Observable / selected data)
2. Manager argued with Jane last month;
Mgr’s girlfriend holds grudges (Added meaning)
3. Jane’s still angry and avoiding Mgr (Assumption)
4. Jane holds grudges forever (Conclusion)
5. Women hold grudges / poor teammates (Belief)
6. Give bad perf. review on teamwork (Action)
7. Avoid hiring women in future (Action)
The Ladder of Inference (Example 2)
1. John (the new guy) says, “We need to be less
competitive. Should reward mentoring.”
(Observable / selected data)
2. John doesn’t play sports (Added meaning)
3. John’s afraid of competition (Assumption)
4. John can’t cut it on this team (Conclusion)
5. People who don’t play sports are weak (Belief)
6. Don’t help John, it’s a waste of time (Action)
7. Avoid hiring non-sports-players (Action)
Follow-up work…
Think of a time where you
experienced conflict or frustration
working with another person or
group. How might the Ladder of
Inference have been operating?
The
Dessert
(The Problem Solving
Template)
Goal: To introduce a powerful tool for
problem solving in groups
What is a
Problem?
Any
situation
that you
wish to
change
Obstacle #1
Groups don’t know how to
(or don’t remember to)
align around the problem that
they want to solve
problem =
No agreement on the solution +
infinite arguing about solutions
No agreement on the
Middle East Conflict
Economic Crisis
Global Warming
War
Health Care Reform
Creating a New Product
"In a crisis
if I had only an hour
I'd spend the first 50 minutes
defining the problem and
the last 10 minutes solving it."
- Albert Einstein
Obstacle #2
People solve problems iteratively
A Structured Process
Keeps the group together
Process
1
2
3
4
5
The Problem Solving Template
Context
Problem
Intent
Build
Ownership &
Alignment
at each step
Desired
Outcomes
Action Plan
But what about Time?
Using the collaborative operating system takes
longer to make decisions. The implementation
is faster and the product is better. The group
gets faster with experience.
Flickr: Piccola Faccia
Whew… That was quite a
meal!
The Collaborative Operating
System™ (COS)

1.
2.
3.
Language & Fundamental Principles
Identify the Problem
Involve Relevant Stakeholders
Design & Facilitate Collaborative
Meetings
4. Form a Collaborative Team
5. Create a Collaborative Plan
Drop me your business card for
freebies and to learn
more
• Collaborative Operating System™ full course
Begins August 23rd, 2011
More info at: COSTeleseminar.com
• Contact Mark Voorsanger:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 415.606.2101