Corporate Collaboration and Action Learning Projects
Sunday, September 25th, 2011
In November, a group of researchers will be publishing a study titled ”Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes” to prove that in the working environment – the higher the power, the less likely the collaboration effort.
To put it more bluntly, individuals in managerial or other leadership roles often dismiss their coworkers’ advice when making decisions. Inflated confidence is the primary reason cited for this behavior.
We at entreQuest, and surely most professionals out there, have known this syndrome to be true for a long time. When we conduct an assessment of our clients’ companies, quotes surface from employees such as “I don’t feel like my boss listens to me” or “They never ask me for my ideas” or “I know that if we did it another way, it would work. But they’ll never try it.”
Most managers are in their positions because they have earned it through experience so it makes sense that they should trust themselves to make the right decisions and that they should be trusted when doing so. However the difference that can be made in terms of morale, teamwork, and overall results is dramatic when leaders take the initiative to empower their staff and bring them into the decision making process. It adds to the employee experience which directly adds to the client experience. After all, when your employees feel they are experiencing something remarkable, they are much more invested into delivering something remarkable. What adds up in the end is GROWTH. That’s both growth of the business and growth of the individuals – especially those managers who will learn for the first time how much they can improve their own performance when they allow their coworkers to share in the decision making process.
A collaboration program that entreQuest is proud to implement in many of our clients’ internal operations is called Action Learning Projects (ALPs). What the ALPs provide is a problem-solving model that can be used to engage teammates, develop leadership skills, and yield effective ideas to build a better business. Employees are divided into smaller groups where each will work on an important issue – it could be a challenge hindering the employee experience or an unexplored opportunity to enhance the client experience or any type of matter the company deems critical. After roughly 12 weeks of working together, the groups of employees then present their ideas – as a report, program, or strategy – to the leaders of their company and if they show potential, the ALP will be incorporated into daily operations.
Even if the group’s idea proves too impractical for implementation, the leaders can still take the group’s input into account and they should. We usually we find that leaders discover important information about their company’s employee experience or client experience that can be extremely helpful if not immediately then later down the road. As ALP expert and author Michael J. Marquardt says: “Perhaps action learning’s greatest value is its capacity for equipping individuals, teams and organizations to more effectively respond to change.”
And, as a perk, if you happen to be a leader of a group of employees who end up being surveyed for another newsworthy study about whether or not their input is dismissed by their boss, you’ll stand out among the few that actually do value their people’s say on important issues and goals. You’ll also be all the more likely to solve those issues and accomplish those goals because of your efforts to collaborate.
Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.
(*Information Source: “Some Managers Just Won’t Take Advice” by Rachel Emma Silverman. The Wall Street Journal. Monday 19 September 2011. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904103404576560800619224540.html?KEYWORDS=some+managers+just+won%27t+take+advice)
