How do you create, and then hire for, a culture driven by relentless collaboration across the organization?
That strategy, in action, prevents employees from making decisions on their own, in a vacuum, biased by their own professional limitations. Instead, they recognize the strength and value achieved by working together, even when things are difficult.
Chew on that thought for a minute.
When workplace culture reinforces relentless collaboration, employees become innovators instead of order-takers. That innovation culture overrides differences in education, experience, training or other perceived differences which fracture today’s workplace and workforce.
The result is a workplace culture where everyone becomes smarter and more confident as a result of collaborating with co-workers.
When employees are more engaged and confident in themselves, and each other, they create enduring client outcomes. Those outcomes, in turn, catalyze greater levels of customer retention. Why? Clients become invested in the value each of your employees contributes on behalf of customers.
One of the Achilles Heels of collaboration centers on the quality of collaboration between technically-oriented employees, such as engineers, and non-technical, business-oriented employees.
This concept is not fantasy, folks. Rather, relentless collaboration leverages the unique talents that each individual contributes to your organization’s value stream. Ultimately, employees take pride in the unique qualities everyone brings into the workplace each day.
A relentless collaboration culture targets the creation of a bias-free workplace for employees.
- First, employees (and leadership) do not operate on the assumption that “someone else” is accountable and responsible for taking corrective actions to resolve problems. As a result, processes and people are not left to fester and potentially ignite.
- In addition, employees are not receptive to being bullied into accepting another employee’s ideas, strategies, rules or processes. Instead, differences are opportunities for dialogue, not tyranny.
- Then, when employee teams reach their professional limitations, they naturally seek out additional internal and external resources to best serve each other, as well as clients. Consequently, the workforce is continuously learning from each other and from those resources.
- A smarter, more engaged workforce creates smarter and more valuable solutions for clients.
Also, relentless collaboration is guided by organizations that establish a cultural moral compass.
Consider the value of reinforcing – not policing – the ability of employees to discern right from wrong within workplace culture.
A diverse workforce brings together individuals with varying perceptions of what is right and what is wrong. Many organizational cultures dance around these issues and hope differences in perception do not blow up. However, many employees have never been exposed to a moral compass other than the one they grew up with.
Why? Because they have never worked with a heterogenous population that includes people from other states, regions and continents. Consequently, how realistic is it to throw everyone together in the workplace each day and “hope” all the children play nicely together within the corporate playground?
These are difficult times to attract and retain employees as well as clientele, folks.
Instead, consider how corporate culture grounds employees by providing a forum to discuss, in an intelligent and well-informed manner, corporate, client and societal issues impacting productivity, performance and customer experience.
Think about it. When employees become confident in collaborating, they focus on retaining productive and profitable relationships with other employees. Ultimately, employees become better able to collaborate and retain even the most demanding, difficult clients.
Planning your next team, corporate or association meeting? Searching for a one-on-one catalyst to get you unstuck? Engage me to present a One Millimeter Mindset ™ program! Delivered virtually or in-person. Contact me here.
I am an extroverted STEM professional and left-brain thinker specializing in professional innovation, cross-functional leadership and client retention. I catalyze professionals to translate across communication and collaboration disconnects. Become more professionally visible, cross-functionally relevant and strategically valuable to your organizations. Better serve each other first so you better serve your clients together. One millimeter at a time. My One Millimeter Mindset™ virtual and in-person speaking programs leverage Voice of the Customer design methodology and storytelling to move individuals, teams, departments and organizations one millimeter beyond yesterday’s tools and today’s professional comfort zones My playbook of cross-functional collaboration, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Contact me here.
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