August 2005
 
 
ForwardMomentum
A Monthly Newsletter from groupforward, LLC

Greetings!

Welcome to the August edition of the groupforward e-newsletter, ForwardMomentum. Observant readers may note that there was no July edition of the newsletter. It's true. It seemed like a good month for a vacation!

This month we are focusing on collaboration. One of the basic building blocks of collaboration is trust and communication. To help you build your ability to communicate and trust, we discuss the Ladder of Inference.

Quote for the Month: “Nothing new that is really interesting comes without collaboration.” -- James Watson

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Collaboration
What Does it Take?
Wickipedia tells us that collaboration consists of working together with one or more others. If that's all it is, then all of our clients are home free! Right? What we see more often is that our clients collaborate on some things in the office and not others. Many of the struggles in the office occur when collaboration does not occur.

So, what does it take to make it happen more often? Just what IS collaboration? In addtion to the simple definition above, there are many others that try to distill out the essence of collaboration. The gist of all these definitions is that you need to have the following elements present in order to set the stage for collaboration to occur:

▪ Everyone's on the same page. They are committed to a common goal that is clearly understood.

▪ Everyone shares the same sense of urgency, and/or there is a clear deadline.

▪ Everyone has a sense of belonging and everyone participates.

▪ There is open communication and trust between the participants.

▪ There are complementary skills and a diversity of perspectives among the participants.

In order to have a collaborative effort on a project, a program or even on day-to-day business take the time to make sure all the elements of collaboration are met at the outset. If an element is missing, chances are you will find that things don't happen as you need them to, get bogged down, or don't happen at all. Although a review and implementation of the elements of collaboration may take time initially, you are increasing the likelihood of success in whatever the endeavor.

What is wonderful about the clients that groupforward is working with is that they all have things they have worked on that have hit all the elements of collaboration. These are some of the collaborative efforts - large and small - we've seen:

▪ Every time this association has a Board meeting, the management and staff pull together to get their board briefing book, The Docket, out. It may not be perfect, and not everyone is always available, but the book goes out. Collaboration isn't always perfect, but it gets the job done!

▪ The New York office of an international architectural firm hosted a partnership meeting for all their partners. Not only were the partners and staff involved in making the meeting happen, but also clients and vendors. It worked so well, the partners are STILL talking about it. Take those strengths and apply them elsewhere!

▪ A team had to find a way to surface and resolve conflict that was blocking productivity. By getting together and collaborating, the team was able to face the conflict, work through it, and develop their own conflict resolution system. Sometimes collaboration is hard, but it yields fantastic results!

Congratulations to all our clients for the collaborative efforts you are making!

The Ladder of Inference
Building Communication and Trust
Ladder of Inference One of the key building blocks for collaboration is trust and communication. In fact, trust and communication are so crucial that collaborative efforts will fail without them. Communication (verbal and nonverbal) is critical to building trust. When we are communicating with each other, we each have our own "ladder of inference." (See Action Design's depiction above.) Climbing it is the way we make meaning of the factual data we take in from the environment around us (what is seen, heard, etc). Because the workplace is so busy and time is limited, we don't stop to examine the meanings we make - or even check them out for accuracy. Instead, we just take actions based on the meanings we created. If inconsistencies come up, we tend to think that things will somehow "take care of themselves" and we don't have the conversations we need to have. So things do take care of themselves, just not in the way you wanted them to! The result is that you must spend more time repairing things than if you had the conversation in the first place.

Here's an example of what can happen, how fast it can occur, and how it can snowball:

  • I say “hello” when I pass you on the way to a meeting. You do not reply. (Observable data)
  • Nice people reply when people greet them. Since you didn’t, you must not be very nice. (Meaning making and inferences)
  • I don’t reply to you when you say hello to me in a meeting next week. (My actions)
  • You conclude I am not nice and stop talking to me. (Your reactions confirm my conclusions)
WHEW! No wonder things get difficult in the office. Everyone is doing this in a matter of split seconds. By slowing down conversations and backing down from our positions and listening, we can start to build the skills necessary for successful collaborations.

As human beings, we want to think that we can be reasonable and that we can convince others to our point of view. The desire to be "right" is a strong one in our culture. The truth is, everyone's perception is right FOR THEM, based on their own "ladder of inference." The inferences we make are sometimes emotionally charged because of our beliefs and values and we feel defensive when we are challenged. The real challenge lies in being able to come back down the ladder, assume an open and curious position, and ask what others' perceptions are and understand how they got there - what they saw and heard and how they made meaning of it. It does not mean you have to agree, merely understand. From there, many conflicts can be defused if you can let go of the need to make the other person accept your perception - be "right." It takes resolve, but if you both understand each others' perceptions, you can then go forward to resolving the conflict. The great thing is you are already able to do this - first with guidance, then with practice it gets to be familiar. It always takes focus and energy, but all the necessary tools are within each person. It's only a question of acting on it.

Action Design tell us that:

We are so skilled at thinking that we jump up the ladder without knowing it:

  • We tacitly register some data and ignore other data.
  • We impose our own interpretations on these data and draw conclusions from them.
  • We lose sight of how we do this because we do not think about our thinking.
  • Hence, our conclusions feel so obvious to us that we see no need to retrace the steps we took from the data we selected to the conclusions we reached.

The contexts we are in, our assumptions, and our values channel how we jump up the ladder:

  • Our models of how the world works and our repertoire of actions influence the data we select, the interpretations we make, and the conclusions we draw.
  • Our conclusions lead us to act in ways that produce results that feed back to reinforce (usually) our contexts and assumptions.

Our skill at reasoning is both essential and gets us in trouble:

  • If we thought about each inference we made, life would pass us by.
  • But people can and do reach different conclusions. When they view their conclusions as obvious, no one sees a need to say how they reached them.
  • When people disagree, they often hurl conclusions at each other from the tops of their respective ladders.
  • This makes it hard to resolve differences and to learn from one another.

So how do you apply all this to your busy life? In order to come back down your ladder, seek to understand. Ask questions. Here are some examples:

  • What is the observable data behind that statement?
  • Does everyone agree on what the data is?
  • Can you run me through your reasoning?
  • How did you get from x, y, z data to x, y, z conclusion?
  • I noticed that you have been quiet during the meeting. Does that mean you are uninterested?”

    The bottom line? Don't assume you know what someone is thinking. Check things out!

    Client Talk
    How did groupforward help you?
    "groupforward [has] had a profound effect on the culture here and [has] been a vital support in making us more effective in our work."

    Gerry Kennedy, Deputy Executive Director, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network

    • phone: (703) 861-6630

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