Tag Archives: respect

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 22, 2012

Collaboration DNA: The Dilemma of Culture (Ch.10)

By Chris Jones

CHARLOTTE, NC. By CDNA author

For organizations that seek change, few factors are more important than creating the right culture. Lou Gerstner said it was the main issue in the transformation of IBM from hardware to services.

The challenge is that few understand what it is, or how it works.

It can be hard to define, because it works in subtle ways. It shapes the behaviors of people in an organization, but it is also shaped by them, in a two-directional flow of influence. It reflects how people in the organization have come to view success, over time. Executives can try to shape it, but without significant investment in the effort, surface attempts to force change routinely fail.

I’ve covered these dynamics in Chapter 10 of The DNA of Collaboration, based on research I started in 2010 on this fascinating topic, recounted in my original 8-part blog series.

Today, let’s attack 5 of the main dynamics that the most important to understand:

  • Q1. How can we navigate the complex layers of Org Culture, eg. professional, hierarchy, generational, demographic?
  • Q2. Which Org Culture model do you see most: Control, Silo, or Network? Can they coexist?
  • Q3. What happens in Cultures where contrarians rule? 
  • Q4. Can Organizations have a Culture of trust? If so, how?
  • Q5. Can employees make a difference  and influence change?

We could go on for days on these topics, and perhaps we need to. These are the complex problems that motivated my research, that over time turned into the book. I kept seeing dysfunctional behaviors in organizations large and small, and set out to discover what what happening.

It’s not just about culture, of course. But culture is where so many of the issues surface, on a scale that’s maddeningly difficult to influence. Ask Lou Gerstner. Ask your CEO. Ask yourself. Is the culture of your organization empowering it’s employees for success?  Is there something employees can do about it?

Looking forward to our chat.

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September 8, 2012

Collaboration DNA: Are We Listening? (Ch.8)

By Chris Jones

Collaboration starts with the ability to listen. That’s also where it often stops.

Amid a deluge of information and a proliferation of ways to get it, it’s no wonder that we tune out to so much of what is happening around us. But it spells trouble when we try to solve problems together.

I’ve addressed active listening as a core, foundational element in The DNA of Collaboration because so often it’s where we run off the rails. For years we’re programmed to speak up, take a stand, and broadcast our ideas. So what do we do in meetings? We wait for our turn to broadcast. If there’s spare time in between soliloquies? We use it to polish up the next one.

Collaboration doesn’t work that way. True communication requires give and take, focus, and our full awareness of others around the table (virtual or otherwise). It’s amazing how many f2f meetings and virtual chats I attend regularly where people don’t listen in the slightest. They might as well be wearing headphones. Some of them actually are. And there’s that whole fiddling with email on the smartphone routine.

For true engagement that leads to valuable collaborative outcomes, we need to change our approach.

Let’s look  at some key CDNA discussion points our next Virtual Book Tour conversation, SAT 9/8 11aET:

  • Q1. Bias for Respect. Do you value the input of others? How do you show it?
  • Q2. Bias for Trust, aka ‘benefit of the doubt’ means leaning into new interactions. Do you do this? Have you been burned, and if so, did you bounce back?
  • Q3. Active Listening. What steps can you take to be present, in the moment?
  • Q4. Empathy. Is this a natural trait, or a skill that can be learned? 
  • Q5. Positive Outlook. Do we come poised to win the debate, or to learn? What are the signs? How can we influence mindset?
  • Q6. Goal Orientation. We’ve said our intent is key. Why does it impact our ability to listen in the moment?

To me, collaborators must be willing to listen. It seems so intuitive. But how often do we try to do it? How often are we successful? Join us, as we discuss this important thread. To join the conversation, click here.

– Chris Jones, author, @sourcepov

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