By Laura Peck, Claros GroupJune 24, 2008

Building the Capacity for Effective Collaboration

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• Who’s here: our useful diversity

• What you told me you wanted to know

• Depth/Breadth

• Self-care/ Misery is optional

• Can follow up over lunch/email

• Look for practical applications

Welcome & Orientation

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• An overarching framework: Plan, Act, Reflect

• Get Clear: context, outcomes & intention

• Get Moving: Organizing for Success

• Get Results: Building Effective Collaborations

• Reflection

Workshop Overview

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Questions, we have questions...• dealing with difficult personalities• creating shared accountability for budget and

reporting requirements.• When organizations have different cultures• Making progress with phone meetings• How do we unify around a common goal• Sustaining commitment over time and transitions in

leadership and membership• Does partnership mean equal contribution?

What you Told me...

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The work of an organization is always iterative. PlanningPlanning sets the context for

ActionAction which is then the source of data for ReflectionReflection to guide further PlanningPlanning.

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• One has more leverage for successful engagement prior to the first convening.

• Temporary groups need to invest in the hard work of formation: getting clear on goals and roles, resources and authority.

• Harnessing collective intelligence requires gathering and honoring and drawing on diverse perspectives.

• The perception of fair (and transparent) process is more important than a compromise that avoids conflict.

Working Assumptions

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• Map the context

• Start with the end in mind! A useful model

• Clarify your own role

Get Clear Before You Get Moving

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Begin by developing your storywhy this, why now:what has led to this opportunity, what is at stake?what is possible if we are successful?

Identify stakeholders:what concerns are central to them?what resources can they bring? (political, financial, human)

Map their relationships: to the focal work of the collaborationto each other

Where do you and your organization fit?What are your concerns?What resources can you bring?Who are your allies?

Map the Context

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Start with the end in mind

Goals

Roles

Processes

Interpersonal Dynamics

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Get clear: who owns what decisions & how will you make them

•Tell/Sell: Leader decides and offers information about how

decision was made and the need to implement it.

•Consult: Leader may propose a decision and invite feedback or

solicit solutions and make the final call.

•Majority Vote

•Delegate: Leader may delegate authority to make decision to the

group or an individual.

•Consensus: Leader set constraints; all develop solutions and

decide by consensus.

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Considering One’s Role: Domains of Being and DoingThe Domain of Being The Domain of Doing

Requires a conversation withYourself:

• What is my intention (e.g. to look good, to contribute, to stay below the radar)

• How do I show up? (for me, for my organization, for the whole?

• What specific behaviors will I bring forward and what will I hold back to support these intentions?

Requires a conversation withothers:

• What are the needed outcomes?• What are the resources &

constraints?• What organizing methods will

serve the desired outcomes?• What other roles are required?• How will we communicate and

coordinate our efforts?

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• Assess readiness and resistance

• Determine who needs to be at the table

• Extend the right invitation

Get Moving

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Assessing Readiness: D X V X F > R

Dissatisfaction (D) with things as they are - the reasons we need a change*A Vision (V) of what is possible - a positive picture of the future*First Steps (F) toward reaching the vision-worthwhile actions to begin the change*Resistance (R) is natural and must be overcome to move toward the new*Each of the elements must be present. If any of the elements = zero, the resistance will not be overcome.

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Inclusion ChecklistParticipants Invited Participa

tingOther

forms of input

Who needs to make the final decision?

Who needs to implement it?

Whom will the decision affect?

Who may have useful information or ideas?

Who else might we ask for helpful perspectives?

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Design an architecture for Effective Collaboration

– Healthy Start(s): context, clarity & connection

– Messy Middles: Navigating the Groan Zone: feedback loops

– The work of endings

Get Results

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Create hospitable space Visual orientation Welcome people Set context and orient to the flow of the session Surface useful diversity Use check-in question if appropriate Offer useful practices Provide clear instructions

What if you thought of yourself as a “host”?

Opening a Meeting

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Useful Practicesfor Productive Deliberations

• Listen for understanding• Share your line of reasoning & inquire into that of others • Defer judgment; cultivate curiosity. When you disagree, get curious • Be willing to shift perspectives• When you speak, be concise and avoid repeating.• Misery is optional

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THE DYNAMICS OF GROUP DECISION MAKINGAdapted from Sam Kaner

√Decision Point

TIME

CONVERGENT

ZONE

DIVERGENT

ZONENEW TOPIC

CLOSUREZONE

Groan Zone

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Discussions that result in sustainable agreements require time spent in

each of the 3 zones

Divergent thinking requires the group to suspend judgment, supporting multiple perspectives.

In the Groan Zone members of the group experience a period of confusion and frustration - a natural part of group decision-making. Struggling to understand a wide range of foreign or opposing ideas is not a pleasant experience. Using the Groan Zone to create shared context (exploring others’ perspectives, backing up from solutions to needs) and strengthen relationships (getting to know one another, giving and receiving feedback) allows a group to move to convergent thinking.

In the Convergent Zone a facilitator works with the group to build inclusive alternatives and synthesize them into a solution which offers the opportunity for closure – a decision to which the group is committed.

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• Learning from experience• Meeting evaluations• Progress updates• Process check ins

• Staying connected to others• Between meetings• To sponsors• To critical stakeholders

Feedback loops

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• Celebration

• Acknowledgments

• Reflection

• Clean up

The Work of Endings

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Laura Peck

969 Kains Ave.

Albany, CA 94706

Tel: 510.524.3150

Fax: 510.524.9307

Lpeck@clarosconsulting.com

www.clarosgroup.com

Claros Group

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Describe a time when you were part of a powerful and productive collaboration, a situation that brought out the best in all involved and made a difference in the world.

• What was going on?

• What made it so powerful?

• Who else was involved? Were there some “significant

others”? Why were they significant?

• What was your unique contribution?

• What conditions supported your and others doing great

work?

Learning from Success

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• Set the context• Create hospitable space• Explore questions that matter• Encourage everyone’s contribution• Cross-pollinate & connect diverse perspectives• Listen together for patterns, insights, and deeper

questions• Harvest and share collective discoveries

Design Principles

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After Action Review - Steps in the Process

Step One:

SCANReview the initialintent/desired outcomes(discuss what was supposedto happen).

Describe what actuallyhappened & why(discuss what specificallywas said, done, etc.)

Step Two:

INTERPRET

Identify lessonslearned

Identify implicationsand possible actions

Step Three:

ACT

Take actionShare lessons learned

After Action Review

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Possible Questions to Ask

Step One:

SCAN

To what degree did w eachieve our intent - didwe get the results wewanted?

What actions did we takethat got us the results wegot?

Step Two:

INTERPRET

What encouraged us toact the way we did?(assumptions, policies, roles,etc.)

What did we learn bydoing what we did?

Looking back, what couldwe have done differently?

Step Three:

ACT

What will we do now?

Next steps? (includinghow to disseminatelearning?

AAR: Questions to Ask

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• Individual Practice: Being & DoingCurious, listening, inquiringDisciplined cultivation of inner stability &

spaciousness

• Relational Field: Convening & HostingFraming strategic questionsEngaging diverse perspectivesCreating and holding hospitable space

Dimensions of Conversational Leadership

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• Organizational Context; connecting & sustaining inquiry & learning– Social architecture: how we meet, share information, make

decisions– Methods, tools, technology– Space/place: the built environment

• World as Café: the living web of connections, conversations & relationships

Dimensions of Conversational Leadership

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• Discussions that open new possibilities, build on new information, and result in sustainable agreements require time spent in each of the 3 zones – Divergent, Groan Zone and Convergent. Sometimes a group will go through all three zones in one meeting, and sometimes it takes several meetings to converge on a decision