Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.
HELEN KELLER
Recently, I had to prepare for three workshops and found it challenging to spark that creative fire. Then, in a brainstorming session with a client’s MD, the energy started to shift as we started to think out of the box together. We moved from ‘analysis paralysis’ to feeling creative and excited, nailing down a theme and core ideas in no time.
This experience reminded me of the immense value of collaboration. It’s the same magic that happens when I work with my fellow EQ colleagues on our virtual webinar sessions. Every interaction is a chance to learn and grow.
Why collaboration is your super power
Collaboration isn’t just about teamwork; it’s about sharing skills, knowledge, and accountability to achieve a common purpose more effectively than going it alone. How often does this happen in your team or company?
To help us all get better at it, I’ve summarised six powerful tips from an article written by Jayne Morrison, Director of Six Seconds, MEA region:
Six tips for more effective collaboration
1. Shared Vision
A collective vision creates emotional engagement. It’s the engine that drives commitment and keeps everyone focused on the same goal.
2. Know Your Strengths
True collaboration starts with self-awareness. When you know your strengths and your team’s strengths, it builds the courage to ask for support and to complement each other.
3. Understand Brain Styles
This is one of my favorite tools! Understanding our different Brain Styles creates a common language for how we think and work. For example, my client and I are both Idealistic Brain Styles, full of big ideas but sometimes lacking in practical application. Recognizing this helps us avoid chaos and ensures our ideas are workable. This also highlights the need for divergence in teams so that great ideas can be analysed and implemented by practical brain styles.
4. Spot Team Patterns
Notice your team’s typical habits. Are you all jumping into action without pausing to reflect? Or are you all Strategists, stuck in ‘analysis paralysis’? Recognizing these patterns with the help of tools like Brain Styles can help your team move forward.
5. Increase Empathy Under Stress
When stress hits, we tend to retreat into our typical habits. Empathy helps us step out of judgment and maintain a clearer, more objective perspective, even when the pressure is on.
6. Find a Common Language
Having a shared language—whether it’s from brain styles or emotional intelligence—makes it possible to address issues without taking them personally, helping to de-escalate volatile situations. I remember my first-ever EQ workshop, still in my corporate role as a Regional Director, where we were taught about “holding our gap.” The gap, we learned, is our capacity to navigate our emotions when we are triggered or our tolerance is low.
When tensions were rising in a meeting and we could feel our “fuse” shortening or our gap narrowing, we’d call for a quick break. This wasn’t seen as an attack or a criticism on anyone, but as a collective need to de-escalate and restore a sense of psychological safety and calm. Using a common language, we can shift from personal attacks like, “You’re being too bossy,” to less antagonistic statements like, “Your Deliverer traits are quite prevalent today”. This creates a shared, objective space for navigating difficult conversations.
Ultimately, collaboration is the key to effective teamwork and execution. So, if you have the chance, try a team exercise or a workshop on vision and goals. Don’t let your vision be just a statement on a wall. Make it something that is lived and bought into.
Challenge
My challenge to you: Create an environment for increased collaboration.
As Clette Herrick says, “Collaboration needs a different kind of leadership; it needs leaders who can safeguard the process, facilitate interaction and patiently deal with high levels of frustration.”
Drop me an email if you’d love some sessions on improving collaboration to optimise your team.
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