A collaborative approach to leadership

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Here you'll find my infrequent musings and reflections on all things that impact our beliefs and potential.

26 May 2022

There are so many styles of leading – you just have to look at the plethora of leadership books available to see that, but the style (or styles) you choose to lead with, can impact the relationships you build and ultimately, your success. You’re usually able to build better, more productive relationships under the umbrella of collaborative leadership.

What is collaborative leadership?

It’s a way of leading and bringing people together to share ideas and decision-making, it encourages input. As a leadership style, it can build morale among people, enhance outcomes and increase engagement. It brings to life the human need for connection.

For example, consider two different approaches to developing new company values. The CEO of a more autocratic company might pull some words from their back pocket (don’t laugh, I’ve seen this happen) and announce here’s our new values, over to you HR and comms to roll them out. Err, ok then.

On the other hand, a collaborative leader might form a committee of various people from all the different departments to review options and give employees the opportunity to input on what the possibilities mean to them, how they might expect to see the values brought to life and what would work best to help roll them out and embed them to be embraced by all.

Learning to be a more collaborative leader can help performance and engagement to skyrocket.

How do I develop a collaborative leadership style?

There are several things you can do to develop your own collaborative leadership style, and here are some tips to help:

1. Build trust. For collaboration in the workplace to flourish, at the very foundations people need to trust their leaders and each other. That requires full confidence in each other’s characters and abilities. This helps to develop psychological safety among each other and people feel able to speak up.
2. Good, clear communication brings teams together. People are more likely to develop good relationships when they pull together and have clarity on how they contribute to the bigger picture. Have these discussions and hear what people’s thoughts are.
3. Focus on engaging people. According to recent Gallup polls, employee engagement took a hit with the most significant drop since 2020, with 54% of employees saying they’re psychologically unattached to their work and so do the minimum. Giving employees a greater voice (and actually listening to them) can increase engagement and commitment.
4. Celebrate diversity and inclusion. One of the greatest strengths of collaborative leadership is welcoming contributions from team members with a variety of talents and backgrounds. You create far more effective solutions when you approach challenges from many different perspectives.
5. Reward innovation. When you create an environment where people feel safe to speak up, the free flow of ideas is a massive benefit, and more people are likely to share thoughts and ideas that help the business.

What about the obstacles?

Maybe you think there’s too many things in the way that stops you taking a collaborative approach, but here are some tips to overcome them:

1. Get clear on your vision. As the leader you need to be able to clearly articulate your vision and motivate and inspire people to go after it. People need to understand how they contribute to the vision and why they should care about it. What connects them to it? Involve people in these discussions. Ask them questions
2. Brush up on your leadership team’s skills. There’s lots of focus on discussion of the vision, but it helps to be able to communicate it clearly. Often this is a skill lacking among leaders. A collaborative leadership style includes being able to communicate clearly, deliver and receive feedback well, listen effectively and coach people. Consider formal learning upskilling and coaching to help people develop these fundamental skills.
3. Plan for delays. It’s a simple fact that many ideas and group decisions usually take longer. You need a clear process to help people collaborate and you may need an alternative process when you’re dealing with time sensitive matters.
4. Provide structure. Fail to plan = planning to fail. Planning can also speed up discussions. Simple things like circulating an agenda before meetings, so people can come prepared. You could also consider bringing an external facilitator in to help meetings keep on track and productive.
5. Set boundaries. You will find that for some issues, collaboration works best when the employees involved have a minimal level of expertise. Being collaborative doesn’t necessarily mean a free for all. Even in the most democratic workplace, there will always be times where it’s not appropriate to involve everyone.
6. Deal with dissent. Sometimes noses are pushed out of joint. If you have to do a team vote, what do you say to the members who were in the minority? Make it clear from the start that once all the discussions are over, and if it ends up as a vote, each person needs to be fully committed to backing the final decision and aligning as a team – even if it’s not what they might have voted for.

As with all things, you get better with practice. Collaborative leadership helps people find more meaning in their work and builds better relationships. That can only be a good thing.

Where have you collaborated well, and what were the benefits?

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