The New Art of Collaboration
Finding positives in the year 2020 is no easy feat. With one troubling event after the next, it’s been a year where Gloom and its best friend Doom keep piling on. However, it’s important to look for the positives where you can. Search out the sunshine. And celebrate the good.
In my world of managing the makers of advertising, one area that has been a bright light is our collaboration. Weird, right? We’ve been separated. We’ve been quarantined to our makeshift home offices. We’re wearing headsets and talking through screens. Our kids are in the background doing their best to distract us. Yet, a good thing has happened along the way. We’ve been forced to make an even greater effort to connect. We’ve been pushed to find ways to communicate with greater clarity. We’ve elevated our focus on collaboration.
While in-person discussions and brainstorming sessions are sorely missed, I’d like to pause and take note of five positive habits helping us all work together while apart:
1. Stopping the email. Dropping the chat. And rolling out the video. There are many wonderful functions for email and chat. A discussion about complex, or nuanced, aspects of a project is not one of them. When the back-and-forth banter starts resembling a ping-ping match or your excessive typing triggers a warning from a carpel tunnel surgeon, it’s time to hit the brakes, pull over and park the keyboard. Instead, set up a 15-minute (or less) meeting where everyone can talk it out, gain clarity and carry on. Solving problems. Building on ideas. Explaining your position. These all are improved with person-to-person interaction.
It’s amazing how a short and sweet dialogue can save us all from the frustration of an email free-for-all. I’ve seen teams utilize video to work through ideas, stay aligned when navigating complicated direction and actually build better personal relationships.
2. Connecting one-on-one. Groupthink has its place. Meetings with the masses are terrific for keeping us all up to speed. However, one-on-one discussions are where it gets real. It’s here where colleagues can explore and share ideas without judgment, an audience or interruption. It’s during these sessions that strategies and plans start coming together.
If you can, meet up at an outdoor café for coffee and conversation. Go for a walk and talk. Have a virtual breakfast meeting and discover your coworker’s favorite cereal. Little touch points add up. I’ve seen the people in our agency make these efforts with nothing but positive results.
3. Hyper-focusing your communication. I’ll be the first to admit that I sometimes multi-task during meetings. I also skim through long emails looking only for the important nuggets. I don’t think I’m alone here. That’s why when working remotely, solid communication is critical.
If you have direction to give, be very pointed with it. With email, watch out when forwarding along threads. “See below” is not a clear directive. Go ahead and use bold type, ALL CAPS or those pesky urgent (!) notifications. In meetings, set up the agenda at the start and recap next steps at the end. In our separated work lives, you have no idea what coworkers are juggling at the moment you reach out. Make it easy on everyone (and yourself) with messaging that’s easy to digest and crystal clear.
4. Not fearing the follow up. Now more than ever, the barrage of information sent our way on a daily—even hourly—basis can easily get out of hand. Emails are overlooked. People get sidetracked. And your deadline isn’t always top of mind for someone else. So don’t be afraid to follow up. If they’re annoyed, that’s on them. In fact, they should appreciate your time and persistence.
5. Carrying on the water cooler talk. While every meeting needs its agenda and focus, it’s also totally fine (and often really good) to engage in some quality non-work banter. “Who just watched the Social Dilemma?” “Can we see the latest baby pictures?” “What’s for dinner tonight, everyone?” These little conversations are standard workplace occurrences. So, don’t let them fade away. Keep the water cooler alive. Plus, sharing a laugh goes a long way right now.
The challenges of 2020 are unlike anything I’ve seen. It’s been a bad, bad year. I am proud of how my coworkers have taken it on. Their adaptability to the new ways of working and focus on staying connected has made them better. While we all hope to pack a conference room someday soon, this new art of collaboration is something worth noting. And something I see carrying on into our post-Covid lives.