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October 25, 2009
| By Ruth Ann Hattori
| Category: Best Practices
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The critical connection between trust, collaboration and innovation
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The Chicago Innovation Awards’ theme this year was collaboration. It’s a principle of innovation we so commonly accept as true, yet fail to focus enough on. And, in times like this—of economic stress, downsizing and waiting for the other shoe to drop—collaboration can suffer. With lean staffing and an undertone of fear in the workplace, there is neither the time for the most effective collaboration or possibly the trust level needed for the highest synergy.
While not so much collaboration might be needed for serendipitous innovation, it seems essential for continuous innovation, which is what the marketplace demands. And, as the world of competitors grows, it is inevitable that innovation will be the global currency for success. I’d like to take a cue from the Chicago group’s timely reminder to think more and do more about collaboration.
A few years ago, I did a couple of case studies and wrote a journal article on trust and collaboration as related to innovation. In studying the two cases and other examples of continuous innovation, my co-author and I speculated that working/team relationships might fall into one of four categories along a spectrum:
- Adversarial,
- Competitive,
- Cooperative, and
- Collaborative.
Underlying these relationships were motivating forces ranging from “not to lose” to “for the good of all.” And, fundamental to the relationships were an assessment of trust—distrust, reluctant/cautious, transaction-oriented or highly invested.
The first step toward high collaboration is trust-building. (Duh! you might say.) But what does that really look like in your workplace?
- Who can you trust and how do you know it?
- Will your colleagues “have your back,” no matter what (short of something criminal or unethical)?
- Does management give credit where due?
- Who can be relied on 100%?
- Do you keep/manage your promises?
- Are people really competent or faking it?
- Do your colleagues truly care if you are successful?
- Are you happy or jealous or envious for their success?
- Does everyone truly keep confidences… even when it doesn’t matter anymore?
- How open and honest is competition for promotion?
- Who is trying to gain favor of others?
- Do people admit what they don’t know?
- Do people ask for help without insecurity?
Trust is a thoughtful assessment — and yes, it includes feeling-tone. Along with judging reliability and competence, you would like to feel that the other is sincere and actually cares about you and your well-being. This kind of trust breeds open collaboration - the kind that can lead to creative breakthroughs.
What’s going on in your organization? Cautious or full-out collaboration? |
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11/6/2009 by: jvehar
Covey's book "the Speed of Trust" makes the case that trust is the critical driver of effectiveness. The challenge of course is that people sit around waiting for someone to do something that demonstrates they can be trusted. To really build trust, demonstrate that you trust them and that you can be trusted. This is a "first mover advantage" that benefits everyone.
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11/6/2009 by: Ruth Ann Hattori
Thanks everyone for your comments.
Todd, I would love to share info as well. Please email me.
Robert, congratulations on your great collaboration. That is difficult to achieve on an ongoing basis. It is easy to be at cross purposes in a business as different functions are measured in very different ways.
Kay, thanks for sharing your ground rules. I really like the proactive nature of them.
PCW, thanks for your comment on respect. You are absolutely right that it is critical and related to competence in some ways.
Warren, I like your coffee analogy. Sometimes, in the West, we are a little eager to jump in!
Kristin, Thanks for the honor! I will check out the Carnival.
Thanks again to all - it's a good conversation.
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11/5/2009 by: Kristin Abele
Ruth,
Congratulations on having this post selected to be part of November's Carnival of Trust, hosted this month by Jordan Furlong.
The Carnival of Trust is held monthly and highlights the best posts dealing with the subject on trust in business, politics and society. Your post brings about the questions that we believe should be asked in every industry and company. When trust is established and nourished, creative and rightful thinking can be the steam engine behind any organization.
Congratulations again and thank you for helping to make a great Carnival. You can see the entire Carnival at http://www.law21.ca/2009/11/02/carnival-of-trust-november-2009/
Best,
Kristin Abele
www.trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters
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11/4/2009 by: Warren Arbuckle
Thanks for your thoughts! I have been living in Japan for over 20 years. Here trust must be established before anything moves forward. Lack of trust can stall almost any business deal. Innovation requires trust built over time, percolating like coffee until a mutually acceptable comfort zone is established.
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10/28/2009 by: Pcw
Could not agree more with the emphasis on trust but I would add the positive element of respect. Both trust and respect are a necessary base for successful collaboration and therefore, ultimately,innovation. If you would like further elaboration on other elements visit http://www.corporateinnovationonline.com and download "The four elements of an innovative culture2.pdf."
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10/27/2009 by: Kay Plantes
Great post. Here are my ground rules for building trust and collaboration: Start with the knowledge that no one person has the whole answer;seek common ground; use disagreements to learn;(the hardest) freeze negative assumptions; ask for feedback. Collaboration is critical to leadership team's success and their ability to collaborate (or not) then sets the culture for the rest of the organization. Do you have additional norms for building collaboration?
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10/26/2009 by: Robert Dempsey
I'm lucky in that with my business we are in full-out collaboration. I work with many companies that are not though, and I find there are very specific reasons for this. The main source of distrust is a lack of information flow. Business doesn't fully know what the team is going to deliver, and the team doesn't trust that business has their best interest in mind. This occurs with too great a frequency not only in the software industry I operate in, but in many companies. Without a foundation of trust in place, business greatly suffers. I'm happy to see that companies are returning to being people-focused rather than process-focused.
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10/26/2009 by: Todd Welch
I was very excited to read your article. I had invested the last 20 years trying to understand the relationship between trust and innovation. We have been able to prove this in high schools and with entrepreneurs. Would love to collaborate in share more information with you if you are interested. Best of luck with your ongoing studies.
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