Have you ever been frustrated trying to get your management team or project team to work effectively together? (Who hasn't, right?)
Last summer, I started working with Rachel Conerly and Tim Kelley, from Collaborative Leaders, LLC. Rachel's based in NC and Tim is here in the Bay Area. They have a structured collaboration process, the Collaborative Operating System, that makes groups much more effective in working together, using the principal that everyone involved should have ownership and alignment for the solution. I have really, really enjoyed working with the system -- so much so that I am restructuring all my client projects to use it as a foundation, starting with my statement of work.
In the old days, I would listen to a new client describe their situation (we need help with marketing, we need to launch a product, we need to create an alliance). From there, I'd prescribe a set of activities (I'll assess your marketing organization, I'll support your team with a product launch, facilitate an alliance discussion, etc.)
Most teams don't work together well because they are operating implictly, not explicitly, about:
a) The problem to solve -- so they never agree on the solution.
b) The process they'll use to develop the solution.
c) The desired outcomes provided by the solution.
d) How they'll make decisions
e) The agreements we have for how we'll work together.
f) The action plan to achieve the solution.
There are several more -- but these are the important ones in my view, that groups don't typically explore, causing many projects to go into the ditch. I think the Standish Group says something like 70% of all projects continue to fail. (As a sidebar, I'm not sure why the Standish Group is always the ones quoted on this, or why no one else has measured it!). Suffice to say a lot of projects fail, and a lot of management teams struggle to move their companies together in a direction consistent with the strategy (ah, if they could only agree on the strategy!)
Enter the collaborative process into my clients' projects. Now, instead of focusing on the solution, we look first at the problem that the client wants solved. Each of us (all the key stakeholders from my client's organization, plus myself) shares what we perceive to be the problem, and we agree on the problem before moving to develop a solution. (It's been fascinating that usually there isn't agreement among client participants on the problem -- and usually the "presenting problem" is a superficial one - by using the process, we go deeper, creating more powerful solutions.) We define the process we'll use and agree on it. We develop an action plan, and agree who's doing what. We'll agree how we make decisions together.
It does take a bit more time up front, but once the structures are in place, the work flows much more smoothly -- and everyone's ownership and alignment is higher, increasing my clients' return on investment. And it takes much less time than all the time wasted debating because we don't agree on the problem or the solution.
As a bonus, the tool is also awesome for any parent trying to lead a family. But that's a post for another day.
I have a deep desire to positively impact my client's business and make them successful. I worked for years in large consulting firms where beautiful recommendations about 40% of the time just sat on a shelf. The Collaborative Operating System is a tool to help me improve how I work with my clients. Much like an operating system, I have imbedded, or am in the process of imbedding, the COS into all my projects to make them more effective.
If you'd like to learn more about using collaboration on product management, marketing and alliance projects, let me know. If you'd like to learn more about the Collaborative Operating System, check out Rachel's white paper here, called "The Collaborative Organization" or her website at www.collaborativeleaders.us. It just might change your outlook on life!
