What does effective interdependence look like in your organization?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, especially as I hear leaders, managers, and employees share their frustrations with 20-hour work days and seemingly endless virtual meetings. How can anyone reach (or maintain) peak performance under these circumstances?
I think we need to take a closer look at how we define and practice interdependence in our organizations. Let’s start with our attitudes.
Three Attitudes for Effective Interdependence
In the November-December 2019 issue of Harvard Business Review behavioral scientist, professor, and author Francesco Gino pointed to three attitudes for effective interdependence:
- Respect for contributions from others
- Openness to experiment with ideas from others
- Sensitivity and self-awareness of personal actions that affect others, as well as impacts toward goals and objectives.
Interestingly, these three attitudes are also the basis for successful improv comedy: they allow for true collaboration and forward progress, the hallmarks of innovation. It requires you to trust that others will support and build upon your contribution and it requires you to do the same for them. In business, support is almost always highly conditional:
- “I’ll support you as long as I know where this idea is going.”
- “I’ll support you as long as success is guaranteed.”
- “I’ll support you as long as there’s something in it for me.”
We don’t like giving up control, especially in uncertain times. And yet it’s only when we trust enough to allow something to unfold that surprising innovations happen. The goal for leaders is to manage ego, model a growth mindset, and foster trust.
Attitude Tips for Leaders and Managers
- Manage ego and model effective listening:
- Practice active listening. I wrote about this recently, here.
- Become comfortable with silence. This includes extended periods of time to allow others to complete their tasks and assignments.
- Be curious, without judgment. Ask open-ended questions that explore and expand, rather than solve or prove.
- Express empathy and curiosity. Right now, expressing empathy can be more challenging for leaders: Studies have found that in an attempt to manage their own stress and anxiety, people will cognitively turn off empathy and compassion when they feel like they can’t help someone. If you have trouble managing your own stress as a leader, consider working with a qualified executive coach. They can help you remain open to seeing and addressing the needs of other people, including your stockholders, board members, employees, and clients: all stakeholders.
- Practice constructive feedback:
- First, ensure expectations were effectively communicated. (If not, own it.)
- Engage in a dialog that points out what worked, and what needs improvement. Whenever possible, engage in the “Yes, and…” approach to model effective give and take: acknowledge what was presented (think of it as a gift offered), and build on the idea, rather than negate it.
- Finally, discuss feedback on feedback, and acknowledge our natural human tendencies to resist or avoid feedback.
What do you think? What does effective interdependence look like in your organization? I can be reached here, on LinkedIn, or give me a call: 561-582-6060.
