07/25/2019

Becoming a Collaborative Leader – The Key to Success

Arul John Peter,

Collaborative leadership is more than just practicing cooperation at the workplace.

It is about leading towards a collective outcome that makes it possible for all key stakeholders to succeed. Collaborative-minded leaders view the collaboration itself as a process that is critical to align the direction, people, and the practices towards the achievement of common goals. Collaborative leaders engage others to work together with ownership and commitment for a common outcome.

In the current VUCA environment (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity), it is impossible for any one single manager to get things done. In this dynamic business environment, leaders know that they don’t have all the answers and they need to engage the others through collaboration to be in control of the situations.

The traditional autocratic and managerial leadership styles are no longer suited to the current business environment. It is the collaborative leadership with dimensions of democratic leadership that is going to help businesses survive and grow. While the autocratic and managerial style of leaders focus on keeping the power and control with them to get things done, the collaborative leaders are willing to let go of the power and control, and yet get things done far more effectively.

The essentials of collaborative leadership includes mastery of collaboration practices that focus on relationship management and effective communication skills. Collaborative leaders display a high degree of integrity, and focus their energy and efforts in building and sustaining trust across workplace departments.

 

Collaborative leaders who lead organizations have certain unique characteristics such as:

  • They collaborate across all aspects of the organization
  • They believe that collaboration benefits everyone
  • They engage everyone by listening to the ideas and concerns of all employees

 

Collaborative leaders recognize the benefits of this approach and the advantages are many, including the following:

  • Greater access to more ideas and information
  • Opportunity to achieve sustainable results
  • Greater buy-in from stakeholders
  • Possibility of creating and sustaining a community of collaborators in the workplace
  • Maximization of resources and financial savings
  • Improved and better products and services
  • Access to niche skill sets that exist in the organization

Collaborative leaders demonstrate a number of relationship management skills such as listening without judging, encouraging & enabling participation from others, and showing empathy when interacting with others. They are able to ask questions aimed at solving problems and accepting diverse views, while seeking agreement.

 

Carol Kinsey Goman, in her article titled 8 Tips for Collaborative Leadership, recommends that one needs to adopt the following tips as part of collaborative leadership:

  • Recognize that silos can kill your business
  • Build your strategy around human issues
  • Treat collaboration as a change strategy
  • Engage the team when developing the vision
  • Engage diversity when managing problems
  • Help people develop relationships
  • Build trust
  • Pay attention to your body language

Effective managers, as collaborative leaders, share information and their experience with their team and other stakeholders, while encouraging suggestions and ideas to improve all aspects of collaboration in the work place. You can learn to become a collaborative leader by knowing your strengths and getting prepared to make a difference. Mastering the skills that will help in creating and sustaining a collaborative relationship is the key to becoming an effective collaborative leader.

 


Reprinted with the permission of Arul John Peter, co-owner of Centre for Creative Thinking, a training agency based in Singapore www.creativityasia.com that facilitates training workshops on creativity and related soft skills for clients in Asia and the Middle East.  As a Certified LEGO® Serious Play® Approach Facilitator, he integrates the LEGO® Serious Play® in his seminar to bring out the best in people. John facilitates management seminars and workshops in the areas of Managerial Skills for Better Results, Creative Thinking, Personal Mastery for Great Performance, EQ Skills for Team Leaders. John holds an MBA and majored in strategic human resource management. He is a member of the American Society for Training & Development and Singapore Institute of Management.

Inspired leaders assess and build their competencies by utilizing Drake Australia’s Leadership Development solution to become the best leaders they can be.

07/02/2020

4 Essential Skills to Master Virtual Selling

Drake Editorial

COVID-19 has altered how we live, work, do business and interact with each other. In fact, it has become the biggest accelerator of digital transformation for many organisations who had been struggling with the concept.

 

Read more

11/10/2022

7 tips to ensure your LinkedIn profile is up to da...

Drake Editorial

If you want to be in the job market today, make sure your LinkedIn is up to date and fully optimised. Your LinkedIn is everything when looking for a job. It’s your personal profile, your online resume and you’re networking platform all in one. 

Read more

02/07/2022

5 Key Things to Consider when Changing Careers

Drake Editorial

There are many reasons why you may want to look for a new job or change careers, but before you make a leap, take a step back. To help ensure that you will be happy with your decisions going forward, here are five steps to guide you for a more successful change outcome.

Read more

08/08/2022

How to answer your salary expectations in an inter...

Drake Editorial

Whether you’re dealing directly with an employer, or using a recruitment agency like Drake International, eventually you will be asked about your salary expectations. Your answer to this question can be the beginning of the negotiation process, and you want to make sure you’re providing a well-researched response. 

Read more

06/22/2021

Why Companies are Embracing Unbundled Recruitment ...

Drake International

Ask anyone involved in hiring and they will say it is time consuming and stressful. It can also be challenging controlling costs while ensuring the right people are hired. Now, more and more companies are embracing a flexible hiring option called “Unbundled Recruitment”. Its attraction lies in the ability to cost-effectively choose only the recruitment support they require, and none they don’t. 

Read more

03/29/2021

“Our Job is Not Our Life”  - The voice of a millen...

Drake Editorial

There are almost seventeen million millennials (Generation Y) in the UK. They will shortly become the largest demographic group in the country according to Statista, a European statistics portal. And this year, (2020)millennials (1981-1996) are forecast to make up 35 per cent of the global workforce. With these statisticshiring managers and companies must sit up and take notice.  

Read more