Cooperation improves as you raise collective consciousness - Cultivated Management newsletter
Hi,
It is Easter weekend here in the UK, so for those that recognise and celebrate Easter - Happy Easter.
Raising Collective Consciousness to improve Co-Operation
A major barrier to getting work done is when people don't co-operate around work. Work rarely sticks to functional boundaries, exactly why I dislike functional management and I advocate for following the work and measuring the entire process costs and time.
In order to achieve good quality work for the customer, people must co-operate. They don't have to like each other, or enjoy each other's working styles but they should co-operate. Co-operation helps get the work done and the business improve.
One way to encourage co-operation is to raise awareness of what each person and team does. This raises the collective consciousness in the business of how work flows, who does what and what it takes to get happy customers. Many people, unfortunately, believe the rumours and hearsay about other people and teams rather than going and seeing for themselves.
I did it when I worked in Development. I thought I knew what other people did and I was critical of why others didn't seem to do it right. Only when I moved to HR did I see the bigger picture and the constraints and work loads that people operate under.
When you clearly see what others do and someone raises the awareness of who contributes what to the success of the business, you can start to see co-operation and collaboration happening. It's magical.
Here are some ideas on how to do it:
Make the work visible to everyone in the organisation through Value Stream Maps or high level flow diagrams. (make them easy to understand by using stickies, or doodles)
Raise awareness of who is involved in the various stages of delivery and what they do - John Wooden used to say it takes 10 hands to score a basket (even though only 5 people are on the court) - love this one.
Clearly articulate who is responsible for what. Not who does what, or who has what job description (when was the last time you looked at your Job Description before doing some work?) - but who is responsible for what work/result.
Explain to individuals the part they play in the work.
Create blog posts and other communications to go company wide about who does what and why.
Raise awareness of successes and those involved.
Dig deep in to failures and work out who didn't co-operate or ask for help and why. Rarely is there work that requires just a single person anymore.
The biggest bang for your buck is stapling yourself to some work as it flows through the business, and making a note of who touches it and why. Record this, visualise it (Value Stream Map maybe?) and then communicate it. This is a powerful guide to all in the business about what it takes to deliver work.
Of course, there will be many of these as there are likely many streams of work.
And one thing I've become accustomed to in HR, is that we rarely appear in these streams of work. Support functions need to the love too :)
Book of the week
I've been reading again! This time some deep philosophical stuff that has blown my mind. Wisdom of Insecurity is a deep book by a deep philosopher Alan Watts.
I'm feeling the burn and pressure of life, and this book helped me to see that I focus too much on the past and future (futuristic is one of my 5 core strengths)
If to enjoy even an enjoyable present we must have the assurance of a happy future, we are “crying for the moon.” We have no such assurance. The best predictions are still matters of probability rather than certainty, and to the best of our knowledge every one of us is going to suffer and die. If, then, we cannot live happily without an assured future, we are certainly not adapted to living in a finite world where, despite the best plans, accidents will happen, and where death comes at the end.
Very cool book, tricky to read though, definitely mind bending but it helped me to see that life is happening right now. Every moment. Every minute is life. Not the past. Not the future. Life isn't a destination - there is no end goal when suddenly happiness and meaning arrives. Purpose is now! Happiness can only be experienced in the present moment - yes, this even applies to management :)
Deep.
Wisdom Of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety
Enjoy your weekend.
Until next time
Rob