Welcome to my very first blog post. This is a new experience for me, so I thought I’d start as I mean to go on – by sharing my views on the working world. I’ll begin with a few things that have been capturing my attention lately, all of which share one theme: the idea of ”we, not me”.
Like so many commuters, I do some of my best thinking on the train. As I glance at the people around me, I notice how many of them are on their phones and tablets. They’re all talking, connecting and sharing with the people in their lives. I find myself wondering, why do we see this as an important part of our personal lives, but ignore the potential of connecting, sharing and collaborating at work?
A new reality
It still amazes me that, to this day, leaders in most organisations still focus on the contribution of each individual, rather than the contribution of a team. They’re completely missing the power of collaboration, stubbornly sticking to a 20th century mindset in the 21st century.
These days, companies aren’t just facing leadership and skills gaps. They’re facing new challenges, like the fact that employee engagement is at an all time low, retention’s not what it used to be and people have a different perspective on what they want from their work. We find ourselves struggling to figure out how to make our working days diverse, inclusive and humane, now that the barriers between work and life are all but gone.
Creating a new blueprint
When you look at the shape and size of organisations, you see that they’re shifting from being efficient to being adaptable. Gone are the days when top teams were all about strategising and responding to threats and opportunities. Now they’re focussing on creating opportunities for others to take responsibility for strategic decisions.
Knowing your A Team
No, not the 80s TV show… Let’s try something. Can you think of one significant business idea that changed an industry and wasn’t achieved by a collaborative team? I’ve thought about it long and hard, asked everyone I know and I still haven’t found one. OK, famous names like Google, Pixar and Apple all had great leadership, but their success was achieved by the sum of their parts.
Ed Catmull from Pixar said something that really stuck with me. “If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.”
So, considering all these points, why do most organisations still ignore the power of collaboration? Isn’t it about time they harnessed the power of “we, not me”?
