How good are you at collaboration at work?
When you watch a relay race and see the baton handed off to the next runner, this movement has elegance and grace. Athleticism meets dance.
The first runner knows she must pass the baton behind her and wait for the next runner to catch up. The handoff is graceful yet decisive; fun to watch when done as if the two are part of an elegant watch mechanism. Each gear is connected. Like a synchronized dance.
Few skills matter as much to marketing management as collaboration. Without it, you have team members who aren’t aligned and unified toward a common goal. The most successful branding and marketing projects I have worked on in my marketing career are because I had team players who knew how to work together seamlessly. This includes agencies who had to work in harmony to create spectacular results.
Collaboration At Work – When Trust is Missing
I have been thinking about how marketing departments work as I’m engaged in a project to help advise a marketing VP whose team is underperforming.
Trust is core.
At the essence of the challenge are trust issues. Some teammates don’t trust each other because they don’t think their colleagues are pulling their weight. Others have told me that they believe compensation is unfair in the marketing department. What used to be collaborative is now highly siloed. The baton keeps getting dropped.
How can leaders communicate community and camaraderie? Some of these challenges may be the nature of virtual work, where colleagues don’t get regular chances to hang out and get to know each other in person. Remote teams don’t witness colleagues working with their heads down and getting stuff done.
One agency I spoke with this week requires colleagues to be in the office on Monday and Tuesday each week. The other three days are optional. That means that they only hire people local to the area.
Another client has a 100% remote team; once a quarter, everyone flies into a different city to build connections.
Work is more complicated than it was in the past.
Collaboration and Leadership.
How does being a purpose-driven business build trust and a collaborative culture?
Leaders can play a more significant role by communicating their higher purpose. Not all work is transactional, nor is every job mundane. Clever leaders can find ways to hold a flag and lead a movement.
Here is a great example.
From The CEO to the Parking Lot Attendant.
Imagine a parking lot attendant so motivated that he runs to greet you and will valet your car at no cost. The big boss (CEO) drives his enthusiasm.
I learned from a Harvard Business Review case study in 2011 about how the leadership at The Dana Farber Cancer Institute wanted everyone at the hospital to be part of the greater good of curing cancer. When one of the researchers in the case study asked the attendant why they ran to help guests and then parked their car, they replied:
“Everyone who comes to Dana Farber either has cancer or visiting someone who has cancer. The last thing should be to worry about parking a car. Our leaders at the hospital want everyone, including me, to know how important our work is and that we are on a bigger team.”
The leaders created an environment where even the parking attendant is part of the journey to cure cancer. Now, not every company or organization cures cancer, but what about utilities or other regulated industries and the work they are doing to start to bring cleaner energy to people? Or the food manufacturer who is on a mission to get rid of all preservatives and non-organic ingredients, so their products feed and nurture customers. What’s the higher mission of your work, and can that contribute to becoming a more collaborative team?
Leaders who help teams feel they are part of a bigger purpose and movement create a climate for a more collaborative culture—no one what’s to feel like a robot or a cog in the wheel.
How are you creating a collaborative work environment driven by a higher purpose?
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash
