How to Win at Collaboration: 5 Steps for Success

Individuals in the workplace face many challenges to working together effectively, such as the shift from in-person to virtual or hybrid teams, reorganized workflows and reporting structures, and similar disruptions.  Unless they can collaborate effectively, they will find themselves mired in project delays, miscommunications, and derailed initiatives. 

Clearly, effective and authentic collaboration is more important than ever in today’s workplace. True collaboration can only take place when people are working together with a specific mindset and the coordinated skills to achieve it. This new research-based course can help you and your team develop the knowledge, skills and behaviors to embrace and execute effective collaboration regardless of work environment. 

Participants will take a pre-course online assessment which will rate their individual “Collaboration Q” and offer personalized data they can use to identify the skills they need to develop and maximize their collaborative efforts. 

How You Will Benefit

• Recognize the meaning of effective collaboration in today’s complex work environments 
• Define and differentiate cooperation, coordination and collaboration 
• Discover research on 5 key behaviors that strongly correlate to effective collaboration 
• Identify your individual collaborative strengths and areas for development  
• Learn what it means to go “above and beyond” in terms of collaboration 

What you will cover:

• Recognizing the need for collaboration in the present business environment 
• Learning how collaboration, cooperation, and coordination each drive different behavioral mechanisms 
• Exploring the course model for collaboration behaviors 
• Evaluating your personal Collaboration Q and assessing where it can be improved 
• Understanding how problem-solving is a unique criterion for collaboration 
• Analyzing dual-concern theory and the joint problem-solving process  
• Learning how mutual planning and monitoring are essential for collaboration 
• Discussing goal-setting theory, the planning process and the monitoring process 
• Discovering how supportiveness, accountability, communication, and trust are essential to collaboration 
• Developing an action plan to apply to a specific collaborative challenge 

Outline:

The Need for Collaboration

• Understand how and why collaboration is necessary in today’s world
• Determine where collaboration is integral to your success

Differentiating Collaboration from Similar Concepts

• Understand the distinctions and relationships between collaboration, cooperation, and coordination concepts
• Recognize how each concept drives different behavioral mechanisms
• Understand the course model for collaboration behaviors

Assessing Your Collaboration Q

• Understand your personal Collaboration Q
• Form a preliminary assessment of where your “Q” can be improved

Planning and Monitoring Behaviors

• Acknowledge how mutual planning and monitoring are essential for collaboration
• Use the DISC® Profile Assessment to understand how personality and roles relate
• Understand role and goal-setting theories
• Apply a monitoring process to track the status of your collaborative activities

Problem-solving Behaviors

• Understand that problem-solving is a unique criterion for collaboration
• Become familiar with dual-concern theory
• Apply a joint problem-solving process

Supporting Behaviors

• Comprehend how supportive exchanges are essential for collaboration
• Recognize “support” and how to differentiate between instrumental and emotional support
• Acknowledge the different types of helping and how it differs from “support”

Accountability Behaviors

• Appreciate the factors that create social loafing
• Understand the interrelationship between goal acceptance and accountability
• Apply an accountability building process

Communicating Behaviors

• Understand the communication model
• Recognize problem areas and impediments to clear communication in collaboration

Moving Forward with a Collaborative Mindset

• Develop an action plan to apply what you’ve learned to a specific collaborative challenge you’re facing at work