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Every manager wants a team that works well together, where people willingly collaborate, sharing what they know and helping each other. This is an essential ingredient in creating a high performing team culture. However, the reality for many managers is that collaborative teamwork doesn’t come naturally or easily for their teams. Where this is the case, it can have a negative impact on productivity, as well as damaging the morale and engagement of the whole team.
If this sounds familiar to you, improving your understanding of the reasons why people may find it difficult to collaborate is the first step in working towards improvement. Here we look at five mindsets that people often have which can erode a collaborative culture, and what you can do to challenge them.
1. “That's Not my Job”
If you’ve ever worked with someone like this, then you’ll know how frustrating it can be. This phrase is often uttered by people who are actively resistant to pitching in and taking on some extra work, even when the team really needs it. This is not the mindset of a collaborative team player. Quite often these employees just want to put in the least amount of effort they can get away, are not really interested in developing their skills and experience, and won’t go beyond the boundaries of their specific job description or responsibilities.
You can tackle this by talking to the person about the issue, ensuring that you have specific examples of when they declined to help others that you can raise with them. Remember that in some cases, there may be a genuine reason why they couldn’t help out, so it’s important to give them an opportunity to give their side of things. Where there is no genuine reason for the behavior, it is important to clearly set out your expectations for how every member of your team should behave. Another good approach is to develop some team ground rules which everyone in the team has the opportunity to help put together, and which they support.
2. “No, I Can't Help you”
People who always decline to help their colleagues, particularly when someone else is up against a deadline or is carrying a heavy workload can really undermine the team’s spirit. It can also be an issue where people refuse to share their knowledge. This can be a real problem where someone has specialist knowledge, e.g. around a complex piece of software, but who won't share key information with others.
Getting people to document their work is a good way of improving the sharing of tacit team knowledge. If you have someone who hoards information, consider asking them to be an informal subject matter expert, as as way of recognizing their expertise. Ask them to brief other team members, and encourage the team to use online collaborative tools such as Google Documents, Viva Engage or Trello to share progress, ask questions, seek quick advice and document key processes and procedures.
3. “That's My Job, Not Yours”
This mindset can develop where people have become too protective of their own discrete area of work, and don’t want to open it up to anyone else. When people are allowed to work in silos like this, free flow of information and sharing of tacit knowledge and expertise is blocked. The “that’s my job, not yours” mindset reduces the efficiency of whole teams or departments, and ultimately erodes the collaborative culture.
A great way to foster a more collaborative working environment is to share responsibilities of a similar level evenly across the team, where appropriate. This means that everyone is able to work on all of the team’s core tasks, with the flexibility to provide cover and support whenever and however it is needed. To make this work, you may need to provide training and support to get everyone up to the right level. Make it clear that nobody can hoard knowledge, as this will affect the productivity of the whole team.
4. “We Must Do It My Way”
Sometimes people have very fixed ideas about how things should be done, and are subsequently resistant to the ideas and views of others (no matter how good they might be!). When people only see things from their own perspective, or only consider the impact on them as an individual (rather than as the team), this stifles opportunities for improvement, and means that good ideas are often lost.
A collaborative team environment is one where people feel they can bounce ideas around, suggest new ways of working and bring creative, novel ideas to the table. In highly collaborative teams, an initial spark or creative idea can quickly gather pace as more people get behind it and add their thoughts. Team members need to know that all ideas are welcomed and will be given equal consideration. Don’t let the views of a small minority have too much sway over the group’s decisions. Ask everyone to give their views on things, and try to engage the whole team in making decisions together.
5. “I Don't Want to Change”
Being able to accept and adapt to change is a key component of a successful team. However, change can be difficult for some people to get to grips with, particularly when they don’t understand or buy in to the reasons for the change itself. People cling to the status quo, perhaps because they are anxious about having to learn new skills and move in a different direction. When some individuals actively resist change, this can fracture the team and erode any previous sense of collaborative ‘togetherness.’
It’s important for managers to realize that people may be worried or anxious about what change means for them, and that this can explain why they resist it. Talk through the reason(s) for change in a way they can understand, and communicate with your team frequently about what support you will provide, and how you will help them through the change, step-by-step.
Summary
There are times when people are called upon to do a little more to support their colleagues, even when it means doing something that’s not specifically part of their role. Working collaboratively, and going beyond your day-to-day comfort zone is what it means to be on a team. Helping to change people’s behavior for the better is one of the more challenging aspects of being a manager, but with the right approach, it can be done.
