“WORKING TOGETHER…ON COLLABORATION”
The Journey to Learn How To Work
With Others Took 3 Years…
and resulted in a book
In my lifetime, one man, Dr. C. William Keck stood out as a genius of sorts. Winner of the Velvet Hammer award and former President of the American Public Health Association, and now working closely with the United States and Cuba to encourage sharing of medical technologies, he is a man who navigates working with others with aplomb and a sense of mastery.
Three years ago, I said, “Bill, you should write a book…share what you know about collaboration with others.” The effort began three years, a combined effort between Bill, his wife Ardith, and me.
Now helping write a book on collaboration was a reach for me, because I’ve never really thought of myself as a good collaborator, I tend to get upset by what others do, real or imagined, to me! I’m not patient, and although I try to be a good listener, I’m not sure I really am a good listener. Perhaps you can relate. By nature, after all, a writer is a pensive creature happiest when holed up in their own universe of creativity, with a cup of tea or small bowl of ice cream, making imaginings come to life.
But I thought, “This is my chance to learn.”
The structure we decided upon was to begin the book with a synopsis of Bill and his wife’s wisdom, then supplement it with 15 masters of collaboration, most chosen from the public health field, but their lessons are certainly universal.
So what did I learn?
The first idea of importance is a quote credited to the Helen Keller…“Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
I have to ask the question…do we really need the help of others to accomplish great things in life?
Harvard scholar, Dr. Yuval Harari says that it is human beings’ ability to create a shared vision and act in concern that has resulted in our success in all fields as a species.
Working with others takes advantage of their lifetime of experience, and skill sets we may not possess. We see things we hadn’t seen before, and thus can do things we could not do before.
The entire beehive of human activity works because we each do what we do well, and we engage others to benefit from their specialized skills, be they medical, mechanical, or other.
Simply put, working together works.
A GOOD CHOICE FOR COLLABORATION IS SOMETHING YOU CAN’T ACCOMPLISH ALONE
Something you can’t do by yourself; or with the skill sets or assets you now possess, is a great fit for collaboration.
Working with others takes time, so focus on areas where you need help.
To collaborate, we have to work well with other people. So how exactly do we do that?
BE A GOOD LISTENER
“Listening is the art of ‘being present’ to what someone else is saying,” said one of the book’s contributors, Mary Jane Stanchina, who runs a compact of many schools systems with the goal of sharing best practices gleaned nationwide.
MaryJane talked about passion and emotional connectedness to others as part of her understanding of how to be a good listener.
She suggested that we carefully consider what others say, and think about it a bit more.
Questions like, “What conclusions would I come to if I held their views?” can be helpful, and if you are not sure you agree, take the time to think about it carefully.
There’s nothing wrong with saying, “Let me think about it!” People appreciate that you’re actually considering their views.
Dr. Keck expressed similar thoughts, “We all know people who have the reputation of not caring what others think or how they make others feel. That type of personality is not likely to foster good communications.”
INVEST TIME IN OTHERS
Investing time in others brings positive results on two levels: you’ll get better results in your collaborations and you’ll feel better about how you interact with others.
“Valuing others and getting to know others by investing your time in them does more than help you get better results; it affects how collaborative efforts feel to you,” said Keck.
It’s a simple formula; take the time to honor other people’s ideas and feelings, and you’ll find that your collaborative efforts work better.
But it’s work. You have to think about their ideas and not respond too quickly with, “I don’t agree.”
These are easy things to write, but not so easy to do.
We may be tired, uneasy, overwhelmed with work, or simply disinterested, but seeing beyond ourselves and our own ego is the stuff of collaboration.
Dr. Keck summed it up nicely; “Simply put, by letting go of your need to be right or to have it your way, the flow of the group will be served.”
“Can I accept the ideas of others fully-and even support them- when they are not my ideas?
GO FOR DIVERSITY OF VIEWS
Virginia Caine, MD, an Associate Professor of Medicine talked about the need to include views and opinions very different from our own-to find ways to get outside our current thinking to find new solutions.
“Sometimes…we feel more comfortable if we are interacting with someone that’s just like us, talks like us – we’re more comfortable with that type of person,” Caine said.
“So a lot of times, when you have a collaboration, you invite the people that you know and you’re comfortable with. You’re not always looking for diversity in these collaboration processes.”
“And so, if you get like-minded people that think the same way as you, and there’s no diversity in their perspective or their thoughts, you’re never going to come up with any innovative solutions. You’re just going to get the old, traditional, routine interventions where, wow, you may not be getting the outcomes you wanted to see,” added Caine.
She suggests that you always include representatives of the group to receive the benefit in your collaborative effort. As an example, if your program assists AIDS patients, include persons with AIDS in the collaboration.
KEEPING YOUR OWN ORGANIZATION’S EXECUTIVES AWARE OF STATUS OF THE COLLABORATIVE EFFORT
The truth is that most involved in collaborations must juggle their involvement with other demanding daily tasks, and often the collaboration is not the primary focus at the job.
Chuck Vehlow who ran an integrated mental health agency in Ohio says keeping your executives up to date on status, good and bad, is absolutely critical.
“I always made sure my key executives were all informed well.” On the flip side, Vehlow suggests making all in your own organization aware of status.
“We always had that in the back of our minds (keeping staff in the know) because we knew staff would get upset because they’d think, “Maybe this is going to be a merger, and I’m going to be shut out, or fired, or whatever,” and that of course is a possibility, but as the more intense planning goes on, the staff should know where the top executives’ and board’s thinking is heading.”
While the organizational challenges to running effective collaborations are very real, including creating written goals and tracking progress of the collaborative effort, the most challenging part of collaborations resides within ourselves.
PUTTING OUR EGO ASIDE
The greater part of adult life is to clarify who we are through choices; choices on what we will wear, what we will eat, what we will buy, what we will think, and what we will do.
The common denominator of all this is ourselves, our ego.
Good listening and collaborating with others is a matter of setting this ego down in its chair for a while. Yes, it’s going to drive the buggy, but it doesn’t have to drive it all the time.
And of course a related topic is humility, because it’s through the gate of humility-realizing we are just one of many, each believing passionately in their choices- where we enter the world of working effectively with others.
HUMILITY
“…ask yourself if you can see beyond your selfishness. The greater part of a human being’s life is determining in great detail what we believe in, what we think, and what we choose to do. It’s part of the process of defining who we are throughout our entire lives. But in a collaboration, you are far more likely to succeed by mastering the art of learning what OTHERS think and feel,” wrote Keck.
The technique in the specific is fairly easy. It requires that you act with humility by avoiding strong expressions of your own position while asking yourself, “How do others feel and think, and why?”
A useful checklist is:
- Ask their opinion
- Ask why they feel that way
- Ask relevant questions
- Take time to think things through—perhaps a day or more
- Consider the pros and cons of their views as you see them
- Consider how your views differ from theirs
- Come back together and talk about your thoughts on their views and ask for their response
When people see that your intent is to honor their ideas, they become much more tolerant of your foibles.
THE POWER PIE
Ricardo Martinez, MD, is somewhat of a Governmental guru, guiding the Federal government through quagmires including child car safety. His words covered the realities of politics, and it’s a different world entirely…the world of the power pie.
Look at the persons you are collaborating with as a pie, a pie like an apple pie cut into slices…the slice being people with a large stake in the outcome of your collaboration. Have you included all the persons, or representatives of the sectors you need support of?
If not, it can come back to bite you-those left out can block implementation of your idea.
Said Martinez, “All too often you find people that leave out slivers, and those slivers may have a lot of political power or they may be very influential. If they’re not involved in the process, you’ve got a problem. Be afraid of creating that problem.”
LET OTHERS STEAL YOUR IDEAS…OR PERHAPS WE SHOULD SAY “BORROW”
One of the most counter-intuitive ideas I came across working on the book was the idea that it makes sense for others to conclude that an idea which was originally yours, is theirs.
Ron Bialek, President and CEO of a Public Health Foundation, shared, “I learned this actually in my public policy degree program: my job was to make my boss look good. If you really want to be successful and you want to get your ideas and perspectives advanced, if you can make them somebody else’s idea—and a higher up’s idea—it’s going to move things forward more quickly than if you own the idea.”
He described a dynamic I’d seen many times in life but never defined…that people hear an idea, reject it, then a year later say it was theirs. What was rejection becomes acceptance, and often they really don’t remember you suggesting it at all.
Ron makes a good point. Does it really matter whose idea it was in the big picture?
If people have a greater commitment to their own ideas (which they do) and they take your idea on as theirs, the greater good is served and they feel good.
AGAIN-MUCH OF SUCCESS IN COLLABORATIONS IS LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE
Always keep the big picture in mind.
Here’s a postulate for you to consider…it doesn’t matter whose idea it was, it doesn’t matter how you feel inside your skin every step of the way…what matters is that the job gets done and people are helped.
By sacrificing our ego and putting aside our own thinking – respecting others’ opinions as we do our own – great things can happen.
Dr. Keck’s version is the most succinct I’ve heard; “You really have to subvert your own ego and focus on the issue at hand rather than focusing on getting the credit for yourself.”
WHAT YOU PERCEIVE AS FAILURE CAN BE SUCCESS
Time and again, the stories in the book reflected the reality that things may look dim; it may appear we are making little headway, but in time, projects find success and what was perceived as failure brings success.
Dr. Keck worked for a decade to bring independent Public Health Departments together. Never happened, yet a few years after he retired, they did that very thing. So a perceived failure was a success.
SO MANY OF OUR INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS ARE REALLY COLLABORATIONS
Ardith Keck, Bill’s wife, spoke of collaboration from a perspective she knows well – a successful marriage. She is no stranger to organizational success, as the former President of the League of Women Voters and public service television show producer and host.
“Collaboration is a partnership, just like marriage. If you don’t collaborate, you “ain’t” got a marriage. There are a lot of people who are married, but maybe they don’t collaborate together-work together-because working together is collaboration. If you don’t work together, it’s not much of a marriage,” said Ardith.
“It’s a matter of committing fully to working with others effectively, and we hope this book can help,” said Bill Keck.
Resources: The book, “Working Together On Collaboration” by Bill Keck, David Kettlewell and Ardith Keck, is available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com. Website: Workingtogetheroncollaboration.com, Facebook Group- Working Together on Collaboration.
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