Bernice Moore-Valdez
Once I worked in a telecommunications company that was growing by leaps and bounds—growing so fast things were breaking down. As we grew, the sales department fought with operations; sales over-promised and then blamed operations for under-delivering. Operations shot back: “Don’t sell what we can’t deliver!” IT tried to support the exploding growth by putting limits on it, cutting back the number of employees working at home, and our work-at-home employees were our lifeblood. We didn’t have enough employees to serve our customers. Customers complained that they weren’t getting what they paid for.
I was idealistic and wanted to help the business be successful and for the people to have good working relationships. I volunteered for a big assignment to lead a cross-functional team to improve interdepartmental communications. I was naive; I thought it would be easy to do. Boy, was I wrong! The team was a reflection of the larger organization; we struggled at every step with different points of view and approaches. No one had a corner on the right answer. Every meeting was filled with conflict, because everyone thought they were absolutely right.
The stakes were high and I felt like I was the captain of a sinking ship. I was forced to find a way to make it work, or it would cost me my job and possibly plunge the company into greater despair. As we moved forward, I learned by experimenting, failing, then by picking myself up and trying something new. I never gave up, and stayed one step ahead of the team to support them. This was truly a laboratory where I first learned how to help groups do good work together. Fortunately, I had a crew of team members that were sincere and well-intended; everyone wanted to help the business. Our conflictive dynamics could have destroyed us, but instead we pulled together and made it work by taking the time to listen and learn.
While leading this team, I learned the value of asking good questions and getting multiple perspectives on the table as equal voices. Another valuable concept that I learned from that experience was the importance of reflection. If you don’t take time to reflect upon what you have learned, then those meanings will not be added to your collective behavior and intelligence. Only when we understood each other, were we able to create an approaches that facilitated cross-departmental communications. It wasn’t easy. There was no silver bullet. It was hard work that was painful at times, but worth every effort.
Over the years with many other teams, I have refined my approach, learning new ways to create conditions that help people achieve the success they have dreamed about but feared impossible.
In the next few posts, the Collaboration Catalyst Blog will talk about some of the things I’ve learned about the power of asking good questions. I’ll give you tips, how-to’s, and also make you aware of some potential warning signs. In addition, I’ll share some insights into challenges of leading in a virtual environment and describe ways to create collective engagement with a globally dispersed team.
I hope you’ll join me and add your voice to an inquiry on how to get work done better by igniting collective capacity and strengthening relationships.
The stakes were high and I felt like I was the captain of a sinking ship. I was forced to find a way to make it work, or it would cost me my job and possibly plunge the company into greater despair. As we moved forward, I learned by experimenting, failing, then by picking myself up and trying something new. I never gave up, and stayed one step ahead of the team to support them. This was truly a laboratory where I first learned how to help groups do good work together. Fortunately, I had a crew of team members that were sincere and well-intended; everyone wanted to help the business. Our conflictive dynamics could have destroyed us, but instead we pulled together and made it work by taking the time to listen and learn.
Over the years with many other teams, I have refined my approach, learning new ways to create conditions that help people achieve the success they have dreamed about but feared impossible.
In the next few posts, the Collaboration Catalyst Blog will talk about some of the things I’ve learned about the power of asking good questions. I’ll give you tips, how-to’s, and also make you aware of some potential warning signs. In addition, I’ll share some insights into challenges of leading in a virtual environment and describe ways to create collective engagement with a globally dispersed team.
I hope you’ll join me and add your voice to an inquiry on how to get work done better by igniting collective capacity and strengthening relationships.
