The 9 Elements of Collaboration - explained

Yes, here they are, the 9 Elements of Collaboration I presented at the International Association of Facilitators conference in March this year. While I spoke about seven 'continents' (it had a global theme after all!) there were an extra two topics I slipped in!

This visual of the 9 Elements is a real 'go to' for me. I talk through this visual whenever I'm meeting with a client, leader or team who are planning their strategic session, their team day or their 'get everyone on the same page' event. 

It's much easier to plan out an agenda when they know what they want to achieve, and I can be sure we design a session that's actually built for collaboration. 

Here's what the 9 elements are all about:

1. Kick Off : be sure to start the event, session or workshop with some pizzazz and energy. This does not mean a welcome speech from the leader or CEO ! That is not usually energetic - it may be, depending on the leader, but likely not. Kick off with music, an inspiring video, a creative performance or something energising that sets the scene for what this event is all about. I've used improv performers, musicians, drummers, actors... whatever you use, don't ignore the kick off. It's important to start with a bang!

2. Singular : help people settle in to the day with an activity they can do alone. Perhaps a reflection on what they want to get out of the session, what their expectations are, what they bring to the team, where they are at. This helps those who are slower to 'jump in' to group yee-ha activities. I particularly like using a singular activity because it goes against the over-used "let's all sit in a circle and talk - listening to one person".

3. Social : OK, now we can mix and mingle and get 'groupy'. It could be a networking activity, a meet your colleagues, a speed connections activity or some improv games. Whatever you do, ease in to the socialising aspects of the event. I never like to throw people in to a 'ok, everyone talk to everyone' activity. It can be a harsh shift from waking up in the morning to being thrust into group stuff. 

4. 5 and 6.

Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic : these are the must-have elements to any training, workshops, sessions, conversations. You can't just sit and talk and listen. Get people looking at things, hearing things and doing things. 

Visual: I'm a huge fan of visual thinking and graphic recording so I'll often provide visual facilitation as a standard part of my facilitation. Here I capture the unfolding story and content of the workshop, giving participants the threads to follow so they'll do better work in the session. But other visuals could be photographs, illustrations, videos, artwork, tangible objects and props. I make sure everyone has the tools for visuals at their tables - post it notes, markers, note books, photo cards...

Auditory: This is about hearing things - and other people's voices doesn't count! Unless they're singing! Introduce other forms of sound like music, music, music. A participant in a recent workshop said to me "I'd love to come to one of your parties; you have the most diverse music I've ever heard!" Yes, diverse people in the room so I was playing world music, jazz, country & western, pop, classical, blues... and with some teams and groups we trade pre-recorded music for live music. Why not try team drumming? Greg at Rhythm Effect is superb. 

Kinesthetic: Touching, feeling and doing things is such an important way for many, many people to learn and connect and contribute. It might not be your preference, but then it's not all about you! Be sure to have things for people to do like activities to work on, practical tasks to complete, space to move around in, things to touch and play with (Lego, Play Doh, props and items, tools, abstract objects, costumes, accessories, products... use your imagination)

And shift it around, shift it up. Go from visual to kinesthetic to singular, to a social auditory activity, back to singular visual... 

7. Logical: Give the agenda, structure and processes of the day some order and logic. For those who gather and sort information in this way, they'll be looking for the process. Give it to them. The 9 elements of collaboration - that's a logical process. Set up things with some logic, flow, step by step and order. I always start with the agenda on a flip chart - even if they have it written on a page in front of them - then we can tick off the chunks as we go through. Then I find the steps and chunks in the sub-topics so there is logic and process within logic and process. 

8. Verbal: I address verbal last because it's the thing that gets done the most - too often in fact. You cannot expect people to jump up and down for joy, wanting to collaborate when you hit them with a whole heap of verbal blah blah from the leadership team. Or worse, you make people sit in a circle all day and make them listen to everything everyone else has to say. You have to change it up. You can still talk, just mix it up with the other elements. When I'm providing graphic recording services I get to work alongside facilitators and leaders who are facilitating - there's way too much verbal going on out there. Talk at you, talk about you, trying to talk with you, talk talk. The balance MUST shift so that other elements can be incorporated so you'll engage and inspire and get better outcomes. 

9. Wrap-Up: When you started strong at the beginning of the day, you opened a loop in people's minds. It's time to finish with a bang too, so that you can close up the loop, link everything together nicely just like a beautifully wrapped gift. Help people make sense of it all. Give the a natural yet obvious conclusion to the event. I shudder and cringe when events run over time and the wrap up, conclusion, next steps and call to action is undercooked and people are left, flat. You must finish with air and inspiration and energy to build commitment and action. Otherwise the big bucks you've invested in getting people there has been diluted. Shame about that. 

9 Elements of Collaboration - there are certainly more and different things you can do but these are a base, a must-do and a must-think-about.

Just because you've finally found a date in the diary when everyone's available, don't think that's the most important thing about the day! What you'll do and how you'll help them collaborate is what's important. Give sufficient attention to that and you'll get much higher levels of engagement, deeper levels of commitment and you'll create a momentum that's unstoppable.  

4 Ways to Tell if You're a High Engagement Leader

"So glad that's over... what a yawn-fest." No doubt you've enjoyed that type of meeting, workshop or conversation today?

If you were the leader or convenor, of course not. It was somebody else, yes?

High engagement leaders know that having a meeting or a conversation that's a 'yawn fest' is a no-go zone.

High engagement leaders focus on establishing and maintaining high levels of engagement with the people they work with: team members, colleagues, stakeholders... whoever they work with... high engagement is a high priority. 

(Sure, you can have a high engagement gathering on a Friday afternoon after work. Not many outcomes achieved, but gee, we had a g-r-e-a-t time!)

A high engagement leader aims to create and build engagement and connection with others... and then, once they've got that engagement, they are able to make stuff happen. In other words, get to outcomes. 

Engagement and outcomes. That's it. 

I think there are four ways to tell if you're a high engagement leader. 

In this model, you're aiming for the top right of the four quadrants - high on engagement, high on outcomes. 

If you're creating a hostage situation : you're getting great outcomes, but dragging people along.... pssst, you're not high engagement. 

If everyone's engaged, happy, singing sweet songs but you'll work on the outcomes next time... you're still not a truly effective leader. 

And if you're not getting the engagement and not getting the outcomes, cue the 'yawn fest'. 

Get the participants at your next workshop, meeting or conversation to answer this question:

Was this meeting/workshop/session a:

1. Hostage situation
2. Yawn fest
3. Party
4. High on engagement and outcomes?

Show them the model. Get them to tell you how well you went with engagement and outcomes.

You may well be somewhere between these, but whatever you do, keep shifting away from the hostage situation, the yawn fest and the pure party. The people you work with are counting on you. 

Who do you know who hogs the stage?

Giggle, laugh.... snort!

The comedy festival continues here in Melbourne and I've seen Rama Nicholas' one woman show, Jason and Jimmy's Sketchual Healing and some late night Theatresports ... and more to come over the next week or two. 

Even the genius performance of Rama Nicholas - while alone on stage and playing about eight different characters throughout the night - had input from a light and sound guy and some lovely suggestions and input from the audience.

None of them 'hog the stage' though. All shows tap into the creative genious in the room. Even the solo performers do. The stand-up comics do too. They highlight the late arrival or get input and suggestions from the audience. They have high points, quiet points, hilarity, reflection, touching tender moments - but it's so hard to do that all alone, throughout the entire performance, with no input at all. 

So if you - or, well, not you but someone you know or work with - has a tendency to hog the stage, they're not giving support performers (that is, the rest of the team) the opportunity to deliver a great performance. 

The focus must be shifted from the leader.

The focus must shift from the expert.

The focus has to move to people who will execute, implement, advise, consult, inform, contribute... the other people on the 'stage'. 

The team you're in is an ensemble of talented and very clever performers. Even the ones you think aren't so talented still have many talents. 

Be sure that you give people the air time and the opportunity to be in a 'production' that brings out their strengths so they'll do their best work. 

Let go, not know, be ok with it

I facilitated a workshop yesterday with a client - just the two of us. Just two brains in the room. 

Some may call it a 'meeting'. (Seth Godin's blog post yesterday on the meeting troll was a gem!) But there were no trolls in the room on this occasion.

My role was to extract and capture information, thinking, ideas and possibilities from my client. 

Her role was to give, let it flow, let it go, speak, think, take risks and ... whatever!

'Let go, not know, be ok with it,' I said. 

She initially wanted such a detailed structure for every moment of the session - so she knew what was coming up next, so she could be prepared. 

But this wasn't a test. It was ok to not know. To throw the idea around, think out loud, talk about stuff ... err, that is what 'workshop' means, no?

I think when many teams set up a 'workshop' they want to hold on so very tight to the structure, format, what is said and what isn't said. 

They can't let go, they don't like not knowing and they're not ok with it. 

With a great facilitator in the room, you can let go and not know. And you will be ok. 

The output of our session was a wall of charts that captured the thinking, the ideas, the strategy, the plan and the outcomes. She was excited and 'pumped' as she said, given what we'd achieved.

Her closing words were that she didn't think we'd get where we needed to go. She'd wanted to direct things more.

I see this as a common trait of many leaders who think holding tight is what will get you your outcomes. It might, but you'll have a team of deflated folks around you whispering 'control freak' as you leave the room. 

Let go, not know, and you will be ok with it... you never know what awesome might come of it that you just weren't planning!

You are the punchline

As my home town Melbourne Australia kicks off the international comedy festival this week, I reckon you've got to ask yourself - "how much fun am I to work with?"

I'm not suggesting you kick off the day with an opening five-minute gig to warm up your colleagues, or deliver a 'lunch time laugh' gig over the public address system.

But I do think you need to 'play well with others' - and often that is about relaxing, laughing and seeing the funny side of things; seeing the funny side of what you've done. 

In this article from Forbes on workplace humour, the difference between false humility and humour that benefits others is a hallmark of leaders with humour. 

In short, you are the punchline. 

Your mistakes, failures, challenges and muck-ups. 

In training teams in facilitation, collaboration and visual thinking skills, I love to share mistakes and challenges. Like the time I tried to draw a giraffe (I have no artistic training by the way) and it looked more like a lama... or when I was guest speaking and left my lapel mic switched to 'on' when it should have been 'off' ... 

Today, these mistakes and challenges make great learning stories and bring laughter to the room, shift the dynamic and impact the environment in a positive way. 

As a leader you're responsible for the environment you're creating in your team. 

How much fun is it to work in your team? Can you handle the hecklers? Do you need some new 'material'?

<Insert applause>