Is your organization realizing its full collaborative potential?
The many benefits of collaboration — problem-solving, agility, innovation, and inclusion — are well understood. Most organizations struggle, however, to fully realize their collaborative potential. Instead, many teams find themselves mired down by inefficient and time-consuming ways of working and cultures that don’t support their highest aspirations.
Amidst an incredibly competitive landscape for attracting top talent and rampant burnout among knowledge workers, organizations simply need to do better. Stop Meeting Like This unleashes the languishing potential in organizations by intentionally designing how work gets done and ensuring that teams have the will and the skill to make it happen.
The Collaborative Fabric™
At the center of our work is the Collaborative Fabric, four interconnected threads that determine the success or failure of collaboration within an organization.
The Collaborative Fabric is made up of:
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Leader Signals
The daily, minute-by-minute cues that leaders send about how team members should behave in order to belong and succeed.
The Challenge:
The organization had been focused on innovation and agility for years to no avail. SMLT determined that the leader signals demanding ‘flawless execution’ were blocking the team’s willingness to experiment and take risks.
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Team Health
The ability of a group of individuals to overcome challenges and perform together based on clarity of purpose and the degree to which members fit in and feel fully seen and connected.
The Challenge:
A cross-functional team believed that they needed to clarify decision rights in order to collaborate more effectively. In fact, a long-standing lack of trust was the root cause of slow decision-making and execution
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Operating Model
The specific way a system is designed to produce value including information flows, governance bodies, and decision-making norms.
The Challenge:
Many teams in the organization interacted with the same external stakeholders but had no mechanism for aligning their activities. An operating model with single points of contact and communication norms dramatically improved the stakeholder experience.
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Work Practices
The habitual ways that team members conduct daily collaborative activities, including meetings, email, and technology use.
The Challenge:
The team at a large organization was drowning in their inbox, constantly distracted by instant messages, and facing inevitable burnout. We helped them intentionally build thinking time into their work week, streamline communication, and balance live and asynchronous collaboration.
Our Levers for Change
Once we’ve identified the headwinds preventing you from realizing your full collaborative potential, we partner with you to build a comprehensive, sustainable change program. There are three high-leverage entry points for change we often incorporate into our plans:
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Communication
How leaders engage with the organization to inspire, motivate, and recognize their team members, and the mechanisms available for individuals to express concerns and suggestions
Our team of expert communicators supports organizations in building communication systems, cultivating powerful leadership presence, delivering high-impact messages, and designing strategies that bring teams together and activate change
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Capabilities
The individual skills and collective capabilities an organization needs to deliver on its promised value
Collaborating effectively is not an innate talent. It requires individuals to have a set of specific skills, but more importantly, it demands intention and mindfulness. Our development sessions incorporate deep reflection, peer coaching, and innovative practices to inspire teams to set a new standard for how they invest their time and energy.
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Culture
The signals that employees receive on a day-to-day basis about what is valued and rewarded in the organization
A culture of excellence, inclusion, and psychological safety is foundational to realizing your collaborative potential. We help you strengthen the threads of your Collaborative Fabric to manifest a resilient culture that embodies the values of the people on the team.
Get Started
Most engagements with Stop Meeting Like This are custom-designed to meet your unique needs and goals. Reach out to us at info@stopmeetinglikethis.com for more information or to schedule a call.
We also offer an array of one-hour to half-day courses designed to help your team begin to build skills for smarter collaboration. Start with one or create your own series. Check out our current course catalog and send us a note at info@stopmeetinglikethis.com to schedule or to learn more.