Who does 22 become pixar theory8/9/2023 Employees think a lot about how to make the right impression-how to frame their arguments in discussions with bosses, get their points across in meetings, persuade or coerce their reports to do what they want. The business world prizes good self-presentation. They impress upon employees that there’s a time to listen and explore others’ ideas, a time to express their own, and a time to critique ideas and select the ones to pursue-and that conflating those discussions undermines collaboration. They all help people connect more fully and consistently. In studying them I’ve identified six training techniques that enable both leaders and employees to work well together, learn from one another, and overcome the psychological barriers that get in the way of doing both. The task for leaders is to encourage an outward focus in everyone, challenging the tendency we all have to fixate on ourselves-what we’d like to say and achieve-instead of what we can learn from others.ĭaunting as it may sound, some organizations have cracked this code. Instead, most people display the opposite mentality, distrusting others and obsessing about their own status. When I analyzed sustained collaborations in a wide range of industries, I found that they were marked by common mental attitudes: widespread respect for colleagues’ contributions, openness to experimenting with others’ ideas, and sensitivity to how one’s actions may affect both colleagues’ work and the mission’s outcome. What’s needed is a psychological approach. While many of these approaches yield progress-mainly by creating opportunities for collaboration or demonstrating institutional support for it-they all try to influence employees through superficial or heavy-handed means, and research has shown that none of them reliably delivers truly robust collaboration. Businesses have tried increasing it through various methods, from open offices to naming it an official corporate goal. One problem is that leaders think about collaboration too narrowly: as a value to cultivate but not a skill to teach. Most of the dozens of leaders I’ve interviewed on the subject report similar feelings of frustration: So much hope and effort, so little to show for it. “No change seems to stick or to produce what we expected,” an executive at a large pharmaceutical company recently told me. Ask whether the firm’s strategies to increase collaboration have been successful, and you’ll probably receive a different answer. They teach people to (1) listen, not talk (2) practice empathy (3) be comfortable giving and receiving feedback (4) lead and follow (5) speak with clarity and avoid abstractions and (6) have win-win interactions.ĭrawing from her observations of Pixar, Webasto, and other companies, the author shares specific tools and exercises that show employees how to work well together, learn from one another, and connect more fully.Īsk any leader whether his or her organization values collaboration, and you’ll get a resounding yes. In her research, Gino, an HBS professor, has identified six types of training techniques used by such programs. What’s more, these firms have established programs to help employees develop those attitudes. Companies that excel at collaboration, in contrast, realize it involves instilling the right mindset: widespread respect for colleagues’ contributions, openness to experimenting with others’ ideas, and sensitivity to how one’s actions may affect teammates and outcomes. So they create open offices, talk up collaboration as a corporate goal, and try to influence employees through other superficial means that don’t yield progress. When most organizations strive to increase collaboration, they approach it too narrowly: as a value to cultivate-not a skill to teach.
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