[Week 24.06] Call It Collaboration

One of the joys of leading the 100 Coaches Agency is the wealth of insightful people I have the pleasure of spending time with. This past weekend was no exception when I was invited to Sunday brunch at the home of Mark C. Thompson and Dr. Bonita Thompson, and we were joined by Jacquelyn Lane and Dr. Noémie Le Pertel, EdD, MAPP, MPH. In the past years, we have all grown close, and Mark and Bonita have become dear friends and trusted advisors. Our meandering conversation touched on an upcoming leadership conference, some international coaching engagements we may explore, and the community celebrations we have on the calendar. I was particularly interested to get their expertise on group and team coaching, as we've received more requests for those services lately. With Dr. Bonita's extensive research into collaboration and group dynamics, I knew she would provide keen perspectives. As we spoke over salmon salad and coffee, I began to understand collaboration as one of the most critical pillars of effective team building. Bonita's analysis has revealed three impactful elements for fostering collaboration that leads to high-performing teams.

Dr. Bonita suggests establishing shared goals and values early when forming a team as this creates a collaborative mindset right away. From the beginning, members of a team or community need that common purpose and agreed rules of engagement to unite around. She described a study examining new hires, which found that the teams who used their kickoff meetings to co-create charters, mission statements, and operating principles ended up collaborating more over the next year. Regularly revisiting these touchpoints maintains alignment. Further, collaborative teams wisely invest in bonding opportunities outside formal work to strengthen relationships, and those with better relationships at work have more satisfaction and better performance.

Dr. Bonita also recommends training team members in communication skills like active listening, asking powerful questions, and constructive debate frameworks. Observing numerous teams in action over her career, she's concluded that conflict inevitably arises during collaboration, and that’s not a bad thing. Rather than avoid disagreement, a team leader’s duty is to establish ground rules for having open, productive discourse to drive integrative solutions. Mutual respect should be emphasized so everyone feels comfortable voicing ideas or concerns. Role-playing exercises can demonstrate what positive interactions look like in reality.

Perhaps surprisingly, Bonita also highlighted the heightened importance of collaborative digital technologies. Her recent research discovered that online channels can increase broader contribution by allowing asynchronous, non-hierarchical idea exchange across traditional org chart lines and physical location barriers. Her recommendation is that team leaders carefully select flexible platforms and clearly set expectations for online responsiveness. Especially with the rise of remote and hybrid work, properly utilized user-friendly tools do facilitate stronger connections and more robust collaboration.

In life and leadership, purposeful team building requires laying this structural and interpersonal groundwork to enable impactful collaboration from the outset. Of course, there’s still nothing that can fully replace having a casual meal together with trusted friends, exchanging ideas, and bouncing around new possibilities for making a difference in the world. Hearing Bonita share insights from her work inspired me to reflect on how I lead the 100 Coaches Agency day-to-day and how we can best share knowledge and experience with our clients to create thriving, collaborative teams. By truly understanding team effectiveness as an essentially collaborative human experience, we can build better companies that serve strategic business needs while also providing nourishing environments for all team members to learn and grow together.

With love, gratitude and wonder.

Scott