Tag Archives: #cdna

October 15, 2012

A Time and Place, Venues for Flow (Ch.13)

By Chris Jones

Clearly, collaboration requires a venue, a space where people can come together and share ideas.  But to open opportunities for flow, we’ll need to work to get outside the box of traditional meetings. As low tech and old school as it seems, a conference room provides many of the necessary trappings needed for in-depth conversation.

But what else is needed for flow?

As we prepare for KMW12 W5 tomorrow, let’s tap tonight’s special #cdna chat to unpack this.

  • Q1. How can space be modified to capture ideas more fluidly, perhaps using un-conferences as a guide?
  • Q2. How might adaptive facilitation further open dialog?
  • Q3. What metaphors for flow might help collaborators further shed notions of structured facilitation?
  • Q4. Can visualizing idea streams make a difference?

Hope to see you online, as we begin to unpack “flow” in the collaborative context.

– Chris Jones aka SourcePOV, author, The DNA of Collaboration

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October 6, 2012

Collaboration DNA: Can there be a Trusting Organization? (Ch.12)

By Chris Jones

In our fast-paced world, it’s hard to focus on our deep inner purpose and values, and even harder to act consistently on them. It’s so easy to act (or better said, react) in the moment. Yet gauging whether a person’s actions align with intentions is a key factor in deciding whether to  trust them. Set all that in motion. Watch the world rushing past on an average day.

Who can you trust?

The ability to trust in the 21st-Century is constrained. There just isn’t enough time or information to make good trust decisions. So we learn to trust less, we grow more insular, sometimes cynical.

But it gets worse. In the organizational context, the situation compounds. Take the basic trust problem that exists among individuals, and do the math.

Is it possible to build a trusting organization?

This is an area that is chock full of lip service and aphorisms. We seek to belong. We desire connection. So who doesn’t seek a place where they can trust and be trusted? We’re quick to say we want it. Yet the contributing factors are lost on so many of us, especially in the day to day. Stephen M.R. Covey’s Speed of Trust offers an excellent frame, but how much of that thinking do we actually bring to our relationships? How can these principles be applied in the workplace?

Let’s unpack this topic with the following 4 questions:

  • Q1. In the fast paced 21st-C organization, how do you decide who to trust?
  • Q2. Are “cultures of trust” real or imagined?
  • Q3. Respect is key in the trust equation, but why? How do healthy boundaries factor in?
  • Q4. Communicating intent implies knowing intent. How do we build/retain clear intention amid complexities of organizational life?

Clearly, this discussion builds on all aspects of Intention (Ch.4) which we discussed here several weeks back. It also relates to a great #bealeader [transcript] conversation this week, where the focus was on integrity.  If we seek to be more effective collaborators … or leaders … this topic needs more focus than it gets.

Trust me. Or, better still, challenge me: am I acting on my intent to see if trust is possible?  

Real change always starts with awareness.  We need to see ourselves in the problem … then reflect on it, discuss it among our trusted colleagues … then the true learning begins, as we let the insights flow.

See you online.

Chris Jones, author The DNA of Collaboration (now on Amazon) .. aka @sourcepov

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September 21, 2012

EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE: WE’RE NOW ON AMAZON

By Chris Jones

We’re now up on Amazon, and available for sale.  Stay tuned for further updates on the Amazon site, including addition of the “Look Inside” featured text, plus a pending link to the Kindle version.  You can follow us here on the book’s blog site for more updates, on Twitter via @CollabDNA, or watch for the Amazon link:  http://amzn.to/collabdna.

We’re grateful for the positive feedback we’re getting, and for the many Kindle readers who have already started the conversation at hashtag #cdna.  Looking forward to connecting and comparing notes ..

   – Chris Jones and the Collaboration DNA team, 10/1/12.

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September 15, 2012

When Logic Leaves Us: Heuristics, Instincts and Fear (Ch.9)

By Chris Jones

No matter how hard we work on the skills for collaboration, there are times when are our intended efforts are hi-jacked. Deep in our mental circuitry are safety mechanisms that can trigger with little notice, influencing our behavior and what we say.

When this happens, we lose our collaborative edge.

Let’s take a look at a few of the most common triggers, to surface some working examples. It will help if we can bring these formidable forces top of mind:

  • Q1. Heuristics like “go with the flow” are mental shortcuts; what are more examples? when might they trigger?
  • Q2. Instincts keep us safe, but learning and collaboration require risks. How do our survival instincts impact our engagement?
  • Q3. The Emotion of Fear is perhaps the greatest negative influence on collaborators. What exactly are we afraid of?
  • Q4. Margaret Wheatley said: “Fear of Error seems to be the darkest of Darwinian shadows” .. can we guard against this thinking?

While many of these subconscious mechanisms lie beyond our direct control, being aware of them gives our thinking selves the chance to call time out when our animal instincts trigger in non-productive ways. fMRI (magnetic brain imaging) is helping us understand this better.

I discuss these dynamics in The DNA of Collaboration, Chapter 9.

Instincts can be critical triggers. But when we fear loss of acceptance or fear our survival is threatened, our ability to collaborate is compromised.

Think about the implications. Would love your feedback.

– Chris Jones @sourcepov, author

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May 12, 2012

It’s Time for New Choices (from the back cover)

By Chris Jones

More and more we’re called upon to collaborate – but the factors that determine our success can be elusive. Collaboration requires focus, intention, time and engagement, key elements that are far too scarce in the 21st Century.

Collaboration is a choice. And it’s a choice many will avoid.

With application across commercial, social and public domains, this book introduces Collaboration DNA as the basic building blocks of team-based problem solving, the tools needed to attack our ever more difficult challenges:

  • Frameworks – simple, accessible ways to describe our abstract ideas
  • Messaging – improving our communication through language, metaphor  & story
  • Relationships – exploring listening, culture change, interpersonal dynamics and new, more flexible modes of governance
  • Flow – expanding scenarios for space, roles and process, with a look at virtual tools and how social technologies are changing the game
  • Possibilities – looking at the evolution of  knowledge management, a return to critical thinking and a new appreciation for complexity

The world isn’t waiting for us. The pressure is on. We must find ways to unlock the potential of our organizations, many of them gridlocked by the structural hierarchies left over from the century-old Industrial Revolution. Collaboration is not easy. But it promises deep rewards for those who invest time in getting it right.

The DNA of Collaboration is a practical guide for teams who intend to do better. And it’s not just a book, it’s conversation. Keep an eye on hashtag #cdna as we begin to unpack the core topics online.

Here’s a look at that back cover, including some testimonials:

cdna-COVER-v5g-SEP_back

The DNA of Collaboration (back cover)

Want to hear the latest?  Follow us on Twitter: @collabdna (book) and @sourcepov (author).

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