My attacker – my sister – was two. We were on the rug in our living room, playing with wooden bricks. And something about my work on the castle we were building together must not have been to her liking. Because she suddenly picked up the biggest brick she could see and whacked me with it.

There was a little blood, lots of tears, and my sister was hauled away to a safe distance. And, thankfully, she never did it again. Instead, like most people, she steadily improved her ability to share, negotiate, resolve problems, and get her feelings across without resorting to violence.

There were blips along the way (and I'm sure I was no angel). But she learned to be creative with others in a much calmer and more collaborative way. Which was good for my health and safety and, as I’ve come to realize, an essential part of growing up.

Sadly, not everyone at work is quite there yet.

Workplaces at War

In her new book, "Sandbox Strategies for the New Workplace," Penny Tremblay imagines work as a place where we should be able to be creative with a wide range of people, explore what's possible, combine our talents, and have fun while we’re at it. Just like children playing in the sand (or on a living-room rug).

However, we're worse at it than ever, even with many of us now working remotely. In fact, research shows we’re experiencing more conflict than before the pandemic, not less.

So, whether it comes from a sense of unfairness about flexible work hours, personality clashes in virtual meetings, feelings of disconnection – and even exclusion – within a hybrid team, or any number of other potential triggers, Tremblay says that we need to be better at handling conflict than ever before.

And her solution is to look back to childhood – to see the skills that worked well in the sandbox.

Sandbox Strategies for Conflict

These aren't skills for avoiding conflict altogether. After all, great collaboration involves working through conflicting situations and embracing different viewpoints. As well as sometimes confronting unappealing topics to find healthy, creative solutions.

My sister and I would likely have built a better castle if we'd explored our different ideas and pooled our talents. Confrontation doesn't have to mean beating others over the head, figuratively or literally.

Instead, Tremblay's "sandbox strategies" are ways to benefit from the energy created by the “right kind of conflict.” They also bid to protect everyone involved. She paints a glossy picture of children at play, engrossed in a shared activity, experimenting, negotiating, working through any problems as they emerge. All the while constantly improving their coworking skills. And she outlines eight steps to success in her idealized sandbox – brought together in the acronym, "PLAY NICE."

Play Nice!

P, for example, is "position yourself for success." You have to be in the right mental and emotional state to cope with conflict. And preparing for new challenges often means dealing with unresolved conflicts first, or you might bring lots of negative ideas along with you.

As a parent, and especially during a decade working in schools, I often saw children struggling with situations before they'd even started. They'd be worrying about a play date or stressed about a group activity, because of negative experiences in the past.

L is for "lighten your load." Deal with the emotions that are creating conflict for you, or are stopping you from engaging with conflict bravely and positively.

The A in PLAY NICE is "actively listen." How often do kids – and adults – fall out because they don't or won't listen properly to what other people think or need?

And so, step by step, the PLAY NICE approach supports enjoyable, effective coworking, where conflict can be confronted, not dodged. And it leads to what the author calls "assertive play." Not brick-on-skull assertive, or even domineering or aggressive. But self-confident engagement, where people know they have things to contribute, and stake their claim to be fully involved.

The N is particularly important for that: "nurture relationships." However old we are, it's hard to suddenly start being collaborative and creative. You need to build trusting bonds over time. Looking back, I could have done more to make my little sister feel included in our castle-building game.

Conflict: Who's Being Left Out?

So I was particularly drawn to Tremblay's theme of inclusion. Again, parenting and teaching have both taught me that conflict often arises when people feel left out.

So, as we get to grips with virtual and hybrid working, we need to see when people aren’t being involved. Where they're being are left out of decision making, or are excluded from social events. Think of the child left to look on as others play a game, or not invited to that big party.

At work, conflicts that stem from inclusion – creating negative feelings and maybe even challenging behavior – can seriously damage the performance of individuals and teams.

In contrast, getting everyone to "play nice" gives you access to a range of experiences. It also promotes a rich diversity of ideas, and keeps everyone involved in tackling conflicts together. Then moving on.

Time to Grow Up?

The sandbox analogy only goes so far, of course. Different rules apply to children and adults – along with different consequences when things go wrong. Usually, when a child's playtime is over, someone else cleans up the mess.

What's more, as the book makes clear, serious conflict – like harassment or bullying – is anything but a childish matter, and needs to be dealt with way beyond the realm of "play."

However, it feels like we can learn much about dealing with conflicts now by considering the things we learned as kids. Like how to go into challenges with curiosity; include everyone in our games; compromise when necessary. And how we can achieve great things through creative differences and keep on developing our conflict skills – even when we got knocked back (by a brick to the head or otherwise).

It may feel like a stretch to compare adult workplaces with childhood sandboxes. And, I'll be honest, at times Tremblay's analogy comes close to falling apart.

But maybe that's the point. Because, now more than ever, we all need to practice balancing difficult ideas, making sense of differences, combining several viewpoints: "digging in" to conflict, and building great things together.

A few years have gone by, but maybe I'll give my sister a call and see if we can have another go at that castle.

Listen to Our "Sandbox Strategies" Book Insight

We review the best new business books and the tested classics in our monthly Book Insights, available as text or as 15-minute audio recordings.

So, if you're a Mind Tools Individual or Enterprise member, listen to the "Sandbox Strategies" Book Insight now!

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About the Author

Jonathan Hancock is a Senior Editor/Writer at Mind Tools. In his own right he's published 13 books about learning, written a memory column for Reader's Digest magazine, and acted as a consultant to a number of TV shows including "Child Genius."

Before joining Mind Tools, Jonathan spent a decade in education, as a teacher and eventually a headteacher. He's also an experienced broadcaster and event host, following 15 years working as a presenter and producer for the BBC.

The post Digging Into Conflict: How to "Play Nice" at Work appeared first on Mind Tools.

With the veneer of civilization removed, they descend into savagery. The strong dominate the weak. Fear and superstition overcome reason. Violence replaces collaboration.

I glanced up from the book. My classmates looked aggressive and mean. The headlines were about the breakdown of law and order. I nodded in recognition. Golding was on the money about human nature.

Civilizing Human Nature

Later, at college, I read "Leviathan," by Thomas Hobbes. (I was an English major, but Philosophy was cooler.) Hobbes' main idea was that civilized society couldn't hold together without a single, authoritative leader. For Hobbes, that meant a monarch.

I didn't want to agree with that. It went against my liberal, democratic instincts. But Hobbes showed me the alternative.

Anarchy, barbarism: call it what you will. It's not pretty. And it's inevitable, if you leave people to do their own thing.

Misunderstanding Human Nature

Or is it? Rutger Bregman doesn't think so. And he doesn't think much of Thomas Hobbes, either. In his own book, "Humankind: A Hopeful History," he sets out to correct some misunderstandings about human nature.

"Humankind" isn't actually a history, though it uses plenty of historical examples. It's a sustained argument for the basic decency and sociability of human beings.

And the problem isn't that we're not civilized enough. If anything, we're too civilized.

The Curse of Civilization

For 95 percent of human history, we were hunter-gatherers. We lived nomadic lives, sharing goods in common.

People collaborated to survive. Groups appointed leaders because they had useful skills, not because they were dominant.

Then, just recently – say, 15,000 years ago – we settled down. We planted crops, built towns, and started to think of stuff as "ours." And we began to defend it, banding together under strong leaders. Hey presto: civilization.

Hiding the Truth

But this, argues Bregman, ran contrary to true human nature, which is to socialize and share. Unfortunately, we've lost sight of this.

We're programmed to think the worst by news media, so we subscribe to "veneer theory," in which civilization is a thin skin protecting us from the worst excesses of our nature.

We also have our fears reinforced by science. Post-war social psychology designed experiments to prove that people were cruel and amoral. So, unsurprisingly, they found exactly that. But only by loading the dice.

A Kinder Reality?

We know that "Lord of the Flies" is fiction. But is it also wrong about people? What would have happened in reality? Bregman has some evidence.

Some Tongan schoolboys was marooned on a desert island in the 1960s. They didn't fight. In fact, they made rules to avoid conflict. Nor did they make weapons. They made tools and grew food. Behaving decently and fairly to each other, they thrived on the island for more than a year.

This reinforces Bregman's view of humanity. Fundamentally, we want to get along. It's optimistic, for sure. And there's no turning back the clock on civilization, for good or ill. But the book's chock-full of uplifting examples of how we're really not that bad. And that should be good news for all of us.

Download Our "Humankind" Book Insight

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Are you optimistic about the future? What's the true nature of human nature? Join the discussion by adding your thoughts below!

The post Human Nature: Not as Bad as We Think We Are appeared first on Mind Tools.

But it seems pretty clear that, post-pandemic, most of us are not going back to 100 percent office-based working.

As with all change, some of us are happy about it and others aren't. Many of us have worries. From anxieties about ensuring that we will be physically safe back in the office, to wondering how we will (re)connect with our colleagues. And whether it feels psychologically safe to do so.

One thing's for sure, managing a hybrid workforce requires different thinking. Managers and HR teams must review how they recruit, develop and motivate to get the best from their people in this new hybrid world.

Careful consideration of the policies, procedures and processes is needed to optimize productivity. At the same time, we also need to create an inclusive workplace culture for all. Regardless of where you're working from.

There are three issues in particular that concern me about long-term (permanent) hybrid working. How do we maximize our human connection, create positive team energy, and build a positive performance culture?

Hybrid Working: Maximizing Our Human Connection

We all require a deeper level of connection than is possible through transactional communications alone. As author and University of Houston research professor Brené Brown puts it, "We are hardwired for connections, curiosity and engagement."

When physically working together in an office, studies indicate that we spend something like 10 percent of our time forming the connections that allow successful collaborations to flourish.

We can miss such opportunities when we don't work together in the same place at the same time. So now we must make conscious efforts to recreate these opportunities for a hybrid workforce.

"There's a great opportunity to begin to explore how we create an environment that is safe for people who want to have conversations about flexibility, who want to be flexible, vs. fighting that change."

Peter Yobo, PWC

As always, managers need to lead by example: in this case, to avoid communications becoming superficial. But we can all make a positive difference. Have you thought about what you could do to generate a greater feeling of camaraderie in your team? How can you organize projects so that people have adequate opportunity to bounce ideas off each other?

We all need to look for different ways to connect in this hybrid world. But how could you foster a greater sense of community? How can you build opportunities for people to interact?

From the people I work with, I observe that managing a hybrid team requires an element of over-communication. We need to create the time and space for better quality conversations to take place. This will help to develop that deeper sense of human connection in a hybrid world. And this needs persistence.

Creating Positive Energy on a Hybrid Team

Our personal energy is enhanced through uplifting, invigorating and rejuvenating team relationships. It's this relational energy that helps create positive and productive working environments.

Have you ever "felt" the energy of a team when you enter a room? I really believe that team performance generally matches the energy within the team. But where there's negative energy, teams can perform significantly worse than those with positive energy.

How mentally engaged staff are at work, how enthused they are about their jobs and how willing they are to make extra effort, is largely determined by the type of energy generated when everyone works together.

So, if positive energy is transmitted when we're in contact with each other, managing a hybrid team will require processes and time for people to "get relational" with one another. Team members will need time to communicate and connect, because it will create positive energy. Regardless of where people work from, or when they work.

Have you considered whether it's feasible to physically get teams together occasionally, to connect face-to-face, to generate that positive relational energy? If that's not possible, hybrid teams need to embrace video conferencing in ways that capture and enhance the collective energy.

How Do We Create a Positive Performance Culture?

Regular check-ins with colleagues must surely be a quick win. Whether it's 30 minutes every day, 45 minutes a week or an hour every month, it's important to schedule them into diaries. Make them a regular commitment, whether that's face-to-face or virtually.

By establishing clear expectations, creating a performance management routine, and regularly evaluating progress against goals, we can be confident that performance is being managed effectively. Issues are picked up early and people are supported to do a great job.

So Is Hybrid Here to Stay?

Although it's certainly more challenging to manage, allowing teams to work varying hours, times, and locations can bring mutual benefit. Hybrid working offers more flexibility and will help more people access the labor market. It will support people to stay in work, allowing individuals to manage caring responsibilities and achieve a better work-life balance.

Hybrid working can also support enhanced employee engagement and wellbeing. Other important benefits could surely include increased loyalty and commitment, and higher job satisfaction. We can expect increased engagement, reduced absenteeism and better mental health. Not to mention improvements in performance, motivation and productivity.

Despite some fears which need to be overcome, it seems that the future of the workforce is a hybrid one. And, actually, it's already here, isn't it?

Hybrid Working: Your Fears and Solutions

In our #MTtalk Twitter chat last Friday, we discussed how you feel about hybrid working. Here are all the questions we asked, and some of the best responses:

Q1. Hybrid working is a mix of working virtually and face-to-face. Is it just a fad or is it here to stay?

@pavelStepanov77 It will probably stay for a year or two. When all workers are already vaccinated, businesses will probably go back to normal.

@SoniaH_MT #HybridWorking is HERE TO STAY! Some have wanted their companies to adopt it "forever." Certain conditions have forced companies to embrace this alternative work environment – if they wanted to remain in business.

Q2. What do you find attractive about the idea of hybrid working? What are your fears?

@virtudeskcom Working in the office with a mix of working from home improves working satisfaction. It also increases the productivity of your employees. One of the fears we are seeing is the consistency of the employees. Some of them may abuse the benefit of the setup.

@GThakore Effective in current scenario! However, connective touch is missed in virtual working.

Q3. How do you remain motivated and focused when you're virtual compared with face-to-face?

@Yolande_MT Motivation isn't a problem – it's a bigger problem for me to be motivated to switch off too. I've learned, though.

@MindfulLifeWork I think real motivation comes from connecting our personal meaning to our work's meaning. If that connection is solid, motivation is overflowing. Being fully honest with ourselves is essential. Staying organized also helps!

Q4. How do you coordinate tasks, meetings etc. with colleagues who are also working hybrid schedules?

@yehiadief I think we should be good friends rather than good coordinators – it will ease the day.

@SoniaH_MT To coordinate tasks, meetings etc., with other hybrid-scheduled colleagues, we would need a centralized collaboration or project management software.

Q5. How is hybrid working affecting the quality of your workplace relationships?

@PmTwee Hybrid working works effectively only if parties should agree on terms. So that they won't fall out of sync, irrespective of physical distance.

@TheTomGReid As a strong introvert, most workplace relationships were a bothersome distraction to me. I've been called anti-social, and perhaps I am a bit. But I'm AT work TO work, not to socialize.

Q6. How do you build community, morale and celebrate milestones with colleagues while hybrid working?

@J_Stephens_CPA Company Bingo nights have been a big hit. Our team tries to schedule a monthly #VirtualHappyHour – which connects the WFH staff that used to be left out on the office happy hour. (I'm hosting today as a matter of fact.)

@SarahH_MT JUST DO IT! I don't see any reason why you can't still build community, morale and celebrate milestones. As long as the leadership culture is one of prioritizing these things as important – and encouraging time for this to happen, remotely if needed.

Q7. Why might people's visibility be an issue with hybrid working?

@MarkC_Avgi For micromanaging owners or supervisors, the visibility of those who work for them is a HUGE issue!! For those who are able to properly manage, being aware of what their people are doing is much better than just visibility.

@WonderPix Out of sight...be sure to self-promote, share what you're doing, connect for informal chats, make the effort. Just like you would if you were co-located.

Q8. How would you convince your supervisor that it's a good idea for you to adopt or continue a hybrid schedule?

@Midgie_MT Highlight the increase in productivity. Agree set deliverables and deadlines, then let me do the work.

@ColfaxInsurance Your supervisor should have each team member's best interests as a priority. If you're genuinely doing better work in a hybrid schedule, and you can give good points and show proof, there should be no reason why they can't accommodate you.

Q9. What are your tips for leading and/or managing hybrid working teams?

@MindfulLifeWork Adopt a coaching mindset that seeks to develop and delegate, rather than supervise and control. A lack of trust results in stifled workers. Hybrid work has forced companies to trust their personnel and it's mostly paying off... scale trust.

@TheToniaKallon As a leader or manager: 1) Work with your team to set working agreements while understanding that each person has different needs. 2) Be open to sharing and receiving feedback and adjust accordingly. 3) Acknowledge and recognize everyone, regardless of location!

Q10. All in all, is hybrid working likely a long-term solution for you/your organization, or not. Why?

@JKatzaman Hybrid work can be done long term, especially if stakeholders get comfortable with it and come to expect the arrangement.

@MikeB_MT Remains to be seen. I think there will be an element of hybrid work that stays for some employees, but there seems to be a strong pull to return to more traditional on-site work. I'm hopeful that, through trust and progress, we'll continue to become more flexible.

To read all the tweets, have a look at the Wakelet collection of this chat over here.

Coming Up

New ways of working are forcing us to do things differently, and they influence how we interact with our colleagues. All of us are very good at doing some things, but not other things.

Next time on #MTtalk, we're going to talk about your superpower and how to find it, use it and share it. In our Twitter poll this week, we'd like to know what you think of when you hear the word "superpower."

Useful Resources

In the meantime, if you want to explore the topic that we covered this week, check out the resources below. (Please note that some of these may only be available in full to members of the Mind Tools Club and to Mind Tools for Business licensees.)

Hybrid Working

Flexible Working

Return to Work

Health and Hygiene at Work

Getting Noticed

Holding People Accountable

Working in a Virtual Team

Top 10 Challenges of Managing a Virtual Team Infographic

Preventing Manager Dependency

The Four Principles of Change Management

The post Hybrid Working: Your Fears and Solutions — #MTtalk Roundup appeared first on Mind Tools.

Virtual Brainstorming Versus In-Person Brainstorming

Your "gut feeling" may be that virtual brainstorming sessions are in no way as effective as in-person ones. But, actually, virtual sessions can prove to be better on several counts!

In a 2015 Harvard Business Review article, Why Brainstorming Works Better Online, psychologist Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic states that "...virtual [brainstorming] sessions generate more high-quality ideas and have a higher average of creative ideas per person, as well as resulting in higher levels of satisfaction with the ideas." Chamorro-Premuzic's research also revealed that almost 70 percent of participants perform worse in traditional sessions compared to virtual ones.

This is often because, in virtual brainstorming sessions, people must initially work solo before submitting their ideas. This can offer a number of advantages. For one thing, it means people can submit their ideas anonymously, thereby reducing fear of judgment.

It can also produce more diverse results because participants are less likely to be influenced by others. Giving in to groupthink can sometimes lead to conformity. But, virtual meetings level the playing field. They prevent dominant participants from talking too much and eclipsing other, more introverted team members.

Virtual Brainstorming Techniques

Brainwriting

The practicalities of hosting a virtual brainstorming session may feel overwhelming. But one great method you can use is brainwriting.

A popular and lively form of brainwriting is known as "6-3-5." During a 6-3-5 session, brainwriting exercises are split into several rounds. In each round, six people write down three ideas each within five minutes.

To learn more about this technique, check out our article on Brainwriting.

Figure Storming 

Another technique I've used is Figure Storming, which can be easily adapted for virtual brainstorming events. It's a useful and fun way to tackle an issue or problem by putting yourself in someone else's shoes.

To use Figure Storming use the following steps:

• Step One: Get each participant to select a well-known figure of their choosing. This could be someone from industry, a literary or historical figure, a celebrity, an idol, a boss, or a customer.

• Step Two: Once participants have chosen their figure, encourage them to put themselves in that person's shoes. How do they think the person would approach the problem? What solutions might they come up with?

For example, a marketing manager of a small business who I was working with wanted to modernize his marketing strategy. But he found that traditional brainstorming wasn't yielding satisfactory results. So, we decided to switch tactics and use Figure Storming.

Being a marketing specialist, he'd read some books by marketing guru Seth Godin. So I asked him to envision how Seth Godin would approach the issue. Suddenly his eyes lit up. We brainstormed the issue, and he came up with a surprising number of ideas.

Addressing an issue by looking at it from the perspective of another person can yield more interesting and diverse results. Figure Storming can be particularly helpful when you feel like you've hit a "brick wall" and don't know where to go next. It's good at shaking things up and can free you from rigid or unconstructive thinking patterns.

Virtual Brainstorming Tools

There are loads of virtual brainstorming apps you and your team can make use of. One great tool is ideaboardz, which you and your team can use to write down and share your ideas virtually.

Here's how to use it:

• Get each team member to write down their ideas on a virtual ideas board.
• They can then share the URL of the ideas board with the moderator, who then combines and sort through them.
• The moderator then distributes these combined ideas to the team.
• The team can vote on the top three or four ideas to take forward.

There are several other virtual brainstorming tools out there that offer similar services. These include:

• Mural – allows you to add ideas onto a virtual whiteboard using sticky notes which you can organize into lists, flowcharts, diagrams, methods, and pictures.
• Miro – you can select from 120 brainstorming templates, including Kanban Boards, Mind Maps, User Story Maps and Customer Journey Maps.
• Stormboard – people can add pictures, sticky notes, sketches and documents onto a shared stormboard. You can then organize, comment, vote on or assign these to different team members.
• LucidSpark – a virtual whiteboard that people can add ideas and drawings to, which you can then organize using tags and vote on. This app also includes a handy "timer" feature so that you can time your brainstorming sessions.

Tips for Hosting a Virtual Brainstorming Session

When moderating a virtual brainstorming session, it's your responsibility to create an environment where everyone feels able to speak up. Here's a few quick rules that can help you to run a successful and effective virtual brainstorming session:

Don't Be Afraid to Press Mute!

The mute button's there for a reason – so use it! Give everyone a chance to speak by calling on specific people and encouraging others to set themselves to mute. This will prevent discussions being dominated by just one or two "loud" voices. And will mean that people can really "listen" and "hear" each other properly.

Lay Down Some Ground Rules

Set out some ground rules upfront, and go over these quickly at the start of each session. When people know what they need to do and are clear on the detail and purpose of the meeting, they will be more open to participating and sharing their ideas.

Include your "mute button rules." For example, you could say, "In the interest of time and to give everyone a chance to contribute, a person is allowed to have the floor no more than twice in a row, and then it's someone else's turn. Make sure that you switch on your mute button when someone else is speaking."

Other things to include in your "Ground Rules" could be your contingencies for poor internet connection. What should people do if their connection fails? Or if their microphone doesn't work? Could they include comments in the Chat function instead?

You may also want to explain how the session will work and give a mini-introduction on the type of virtual brainstorming tech that you'll be using. You could even allow two or three minutes for people to play around with the tech before you start the main session.

Preparation Is Key

I find that the power of brainstorming is greatly enhanced when participants put in a little prep work first.

This could include checking and testing your virtual meeting software ahead of time, checking microphones, and spending some time playing around with the virtual brainstorming app you've chosen to use. Doing this will help to boost people's confidence and increase engagement when you come to host your virtual brainstorming session.

If you have any tips or tricks that you've found useful when hosting virtual brainstorming sessions, please share them in the Comments section, below.

The post Virtual Brainstorming Tips and Tricks appeared first on Mind Tools.

There are things in life that we can only do alone, like reading a book, finding the motivation to go to the gym class, or committing to self-care. But there are also many things that we can't do alone.

Imagine being the fastest relay athlete in the world, but refusing to hand the baton to your teammate. You'd all lose. I've heard brilliant violinists and pianists, but none of them can "be" an orchestra. A symphony requires collaboration.

Even some of the greatest geniuses in history collaborated with others. Take Albert Einstein, for example. One of his fellow students, Marcel Grossman, was a brilliant mathematician and his notes were of great help to Einstein. In 1913, they jointly published a paper which laid the groundwork for the theory of general relativity. 

As another famous physicist, Isacc Newton, once said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Even though he worked on his own, Newton's theories were in large part thanks to the pioneering research of those who came before him.

Three Essential Collaboration Skills

With the COVID-19 pandemic (and the subsequent restrictions and lockdowns) still disrupting our working lives, many of us find ourselves doing our day-to-day work from kitchen tables or bedrooms. Gone are the water-cooler chats, spontaneous huddles, and impromptu brainstorming sessions. All of us have learned to collaborate in new ways. This got me thinking about the skills you need to collaborate successfully.

Mindful Communication

High on my list of must-have skills, is mindful communication – and it's more than simply talking and listening. 

Mindful communication is about taking the time to consciously put yourself in the position of those with whom you're communicating. What are you assuming about them/their position/their knowledge? How does this influence the quality of your communication?

Mindful communication is also about listening closely to what is said, and noticing what isn't said, too.

An Open Mind

A second skill or mindset, that I think is important, is having an open mind.

To collaborate well you have to be able to listen to – and accept – new ideas and new ways of doing things. It also means being creative in the moment and asking, "How can we best make this work now?" The solution might not be perfect, but it might be the beginning of something much bigger.

Mandatory lockdowns have shown us that the previously unimaginable – like entire corporations switching to remote work overnight – are indeed possible.

Adaptability

My third and final "go-to" skill is adaptability. Sometimes it's necessary to change plans, direction or strategy at the drop of a hat. If you don't adapt, you'll be left behind – fast.

However, with adaptability in mind, it's also important to remember that sometimes collaboration might slow down progress or result in groupthink. It's important to be aware of the pros and cons – and to adapt as needed.

Is Collaboration the New Cool?

Expressions such as, "Collaborate, don't compete," are telling of a general change in attitude. Collaboration is quickly replacing competitiveness as what many see as the key to success, and organizations are focused on fostering a sense of community and shared ownership in critical areas.

During our #MTtalk Twitter chat last Friday, we talked about the pros and cons of collaboration. Here are the questions we asked and some of your most insightful responses:

Q1. Collaboration is just a fashionable fad – it'll pass. Agree/disagree? Why?

@MduduziTNtuli I think it is the way to go now, looking at growing or empowering each other. I believe in opening opportunities for others and building a relationship – and it will not fade away.

@miladechant Collaboration is never a fad and has never been a fad. It is a human support system. Collaboration has been in existence for eons – from tribes to village communities, to nomads to families to various communities.

Q2. Is collaboration always a good idea? Why or why not?

@JusChas Collaboration is not always a good idea. I say this b/c in reality, some things just won't mesh. Can the sheep and lion truly live in peace? And why do they need to work or live together? Yet, it doesn't mean collabs are not necessary.

@DhongdeSupriya Absolute words like "always" are misleading! It's not a good idea if collaboration is done for some ulterior motive! After all the world is not a fair place.

Q3. What has the pandemic taught us about collaboration?

@J_Stephens_CPA You don't have to be physically present to another person to collaborate.

@letusthink2  It's taught us the importance of COMMUNICATION and how it can change.

Q4. What damage does lack of collaboration do to a person or team?

@WonderPix Lack of collaboration can lead to loneliness, lower productivity, less team cohesion.

@lg217 You can fall behind on work/times/industry standards/innovations, lose touch with your team, and you miss out on so many opportunities for growth and learning!

Q5. Why do people resist collaborating? What makes it difficult to collaborate?

@TwinkleEduCons To be a comfortable collaborator, you have to be clear about your goals and boundaries, and confident to stick to them. Particularly if you do not know the person you are collaborating with well. I'd probably avoid collab with an overbearing glory-hunter!

@Yolande_MT A person with a "me, me, me" attitude resists collaboration because their ego is in the way.

Q6. What does successful collaboration look like?

@aamir9769 Successful Collaboration looks like a vibrant positive atmosphere in the team with the cheering faces. You will not see jealousy or ego revolving around.

@Queen_Nandi Shared vision, common interest, shared responsibility, shared enthusiasm.

Q7. How have you been able to collaborate remotely? Is it as effective as in person?

@MicheleDD_MT [I've] worked in a virtual organization for several years. It is very effective with the right tools, processes and skills in place.

@lsmurthy99 Crisis brings innovation and people connect as well. Though it takes great efforts in virtual meeting to have patience and perseverance – little more than in personal meetings. The intent and content drives better collaboration.

Q8. What tools have you used to work collaboratively?

@ColfaxInsurance Zoom has been key for collaborations for us. I've also joined quite a few Twitter chats and collaborated that way with many people.

@JKatzaman The handiest collaboration tool is the cellphone, to carry on conversations. Email and video chats also help, if only to save gas on the commutes.

Q9. What behaviors support effective collaboration?

@Chetna1806 Listening to others, looking for learning, and having a common goal helps in facilitating collaboration.

@SizweMoyo Respecting deadlines, keeping up with the schedule, doing your part of the work, etc. These are vital to the team feeling good that they don't have to parent anyone, and that everyone is doing something without the team having to break into teams within the team.

Q10. How do you help your team to become better collaborators?

@paulottewell Fostering a culture in which collaboration is mutually beneficial, self-reinforcing, and recognized/rewarded.

@Midgie_MT By offering to share my experiences using different technology platforms. By speaking with our technology expert, together with a colleague to discuss and discover tools and approaches that could meet our needs.

Thank you to everyone who joined our chat. To read all the tweets from the session, have a look at the Wakelet collection of the chat.

Coming Up

The world of work has changed considerably as a result of the pandemic. For our next #MTtalk we're going to discuss how people's careers have been impacted. In our poll this week, we'd like to know how you feel about your career plans. To see the poll and cast your vote, please click here.

Resources

How to Collaborate Successfully

Breaking Down Silos at Work

Walking Meetings

Engaging People in Learning

Collaborative Intelligence

Too Many Cooks: When Collaboration is a Recipe For Disaster!

How Businesses Work Together

Working in a Virtual Team

Managing in a Matrix Organization

Mindfulness in the Workplace

8 Ways to Improve Your Powers of Observation

The post Is Collaboration the New Cool? – #MTtalk Roundup appeared first on Mind Tools.

Four members of the Mind Tools Content team stepped into an office at the National Museum of Egyptology. Moments later, they discovered that they were locked in.

They had an hour to work out who'd trapped them, and how to get out. If they didn't, a priceless artefact would disappear for ever – and the museum's reputation with it.

There was a pile of documents on the desk in front of them. On top of the pile was a letter, addressed to them. And the clock was ticking...

Secrets of the Escape Room

Pause the countdown for a moment. Let me explain how my colleagues had ended up in this strange situation.

I'm a writer here at Mind Tools, and I'd recently finished an article on escape rooms: collaborative, puzzle-solving challenges that are becoming increasingly popular with workplace teams. To accompany the article, I'd decided to create a downloadable kit, to give people everywhere a taste of this exciting new approach to team building.

What's more, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, I'd seen this as an opportunity to let people practice working with others remotely. And, if they could have some fun in the process, all the better.

So I came up with "The Lost Labyrinth," a themed escape game designed to work either face-to-face or with players connected online. I needed a team prepared to take a step into the unknown to test it out – and, thankfully, I didn't have far to look.

The Escape Room Team

Matt: A Mind Tools Content Editor, and a successful escapee from several physical escape rooms. Trusted to use his logical thinking and leadership skills to captain the team.

Kevin: Another experienced Content Editor, but a novice at escape rooms. Always ready for a challenge, however, and known to have excellent calculation and risk-management skills.

Rosie: An Assistant Writer/Editor, with one escape room success already under her belt. Renowned for a sharp eye for detail and high level of creative flair.

Alice: Our Content Team Assistant. An escape room newbie, but a confident team player and an expert problem solver.

And me: writer by day, puzzle fan and escape game enthusiast by night… now eager to gauge the success of my kit – and my colleagues!

Ready for Lockdown

So there they were that Wednesday morning: four team members sitting in front of laptops in their own homes – but also, by the magic of technology and imagination, at a table in a darkened museum, with a devilish plan to foil.

59 Minutes Left

The game was on. From my position in the shadows (or at least with my camera turned off!), I watched events unfold.

Rosie: Admittedly, my expectations of a virtual escape room were pretty low. I'd done one real-life escape room in the past, and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I doubted that an online version could be anywhere near as convincing as the real thing. How wrong I was.

Matt: We all joined the team call raring to go. But we quickly realized that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park.

Alice: I was a bit anxious that I'd struggle with the puzzles – especially since I'd only just woken up – and didn't want to slow the group down. But I was up for a challenge, and intrigued by the Egyptian-themed "whodunnit" narrative. So I channelled my inner Sherlock, and threw myself into solving the case of "The Lost Labyrinth."

Kevin: Only afterward did I discover that some people had tackled an escape room before. No wonder they were so good! Anyway, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it…

48 Minutes Left

The players were now in no doubt about the perilous position they were in, and the level of teamwork they'd need to get out of it!

Rosie: As soon as we started, I was struck by how absorbed I was. At times I truly believed I was stuck in our tiny spare room! Perhaps my confinement at home for the last couple of weeks had given me an overactive imagination!

Matt: The opening puzzle left us completely stumped for a good few minutes – you could almost hear our brains creaking into gear. But, as we progressed, stumbling blocks became manageable, connections were easier to make, and we tuned in to each other's ways of thinking.

Alice: I think that this game is great for teams who are struggling to communicate, or those that need practice collaborating on projects. I could almost feel our team being energized and sharpened as we pushed on through the puzzles. Each person brought a different skill or attribute, and I was glad that we were all in it together!

Kevin: Solving fiendish clues with the aid of a hieroglyphic code breaker, applying logic, understanding the mind of our captor, finding ways to unravel seemingly incomprehensible pointers… I was never going to do it on my own. But as a team – well, that was a very different matter. Through brainstorming, batting ideas back and forth, and by making some bold group decisions, we were on track to save the day.

37 Minutes Left

By now, several important parts of the mystery had been solved – but, each time, a fresh puzzle presented itself.

Matt: Somewhat naively, I hadn't expected the escape room to be quite so challenging. But, as Jonathan commented later, if it isn't hard then there's really no point. I also hadn’t expected the variety of skills that would be required. It quickly became apparent that problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity were all essential.

Rosie: I had to remind myself that this was a team-building exercise, and that I needed to lower my voice and let other people get involved. I have a habit of taking over in group activities, so this certainly helped to highlight that and encourage me to step back from time to time.

Matt: I was in charge of the "decoder" that was needed for some of the puzzles. Code breaking is not one of my strong suits, nor is handling frustrated teammates losing patience with me… However, I got the hang of it eventually. Just about.

Alice: We were all caught up in the adventure. My big tip to other teams would be to listen properly to the Game Master's instructions and hints, as well as to your teammates' ideas. You'll miss vital clues and connections if you don't. Be patient, too. There are times where you'll need to try several different approaches before you get unstuck.

13 Minutes Left

By this point, the team had developed some creative ways for communicating remotely, including holding up important clues to the camera.

Alice: If you're doing this virtually, I think having a good video call app is key. It helps if everyone can see and hear each other clearly, and knows how to get in on the action.

Matt: The challenge was intensified by collaborating remotely, but we made the most of it, enjoying the chance to be immersed in the game and forced to work and think as one.

Alice: When you're in the same physical space as a team, you can point to things and see what the other players are looking at. But working together through a screen means you have to be thorough and detailed when you're communicating your thinking.

Four Minutes Left

The time was nearly up, and the players were now tantalizingly close to escaping. A few hints from the Game Master nudged them even closer, and suddenly everyone was firing off ideas.

Matt: I was most impressed with all our random, excitable outbursts of correct answers at various moments – when the stars aligned, and the answers to complex cryptic clues suddenly became clear as day.

Kevin: One person's breakthrough led to eureka moments for the rest of the team. So, in the end, step-by-step, breakthrough-by-breakthrough, we found our way out. Together.

Teamwork in the Escape Room

It was fascinating to watch how my four co-workers tackled the challenges I'd set. They willingly pushed their collaboration, communication, and creative thinking skills to the limit as the minutes flew by, working with energy and enthusiasm.

They all brought different things to the task – like Kevin, working quietly in the background and then suddenly remembering a clue he'd spotted earlier, or Alice meticulously deciphering the hieroglyphs. Rosie had flashes of creative brilliance as she saw connections that no one else had spotted. Matt was determined to master that devilish decoder!

And, crucially, they all supported each other, praising breakthroughs, encouraging everyone to keep going – and not showing too much frustration when others didn't quite get things right!

Working in the Dark

Escape rooms challenge you to cope when you don't know what to do next, and the Mind Tools team showed admirable strength of mind and character when those moments arose. I loved watching and listening to the to-and-fro of ideas – usually ending up with a burst of excitement when their joint ideas formed into a way forward.

In these games, as in life, it's important to know when to ask for help. As Game Master, I was ready with hints and clues when required. But mostly it was the team's collaborative energy, flexible thinking skills, and never-say-die attitude that got them out of the locked room with the information they needed – and just seconds to spare.

30 Seconds Left: Free at Last!

The door was unlocked, the treasure was safe, and the criminal plan was in tatters. Despite having to communicate at a distance, the team had worked together to achieve something very satisfying – against all the odds.

Alice: Wow, that was so much fun! What a great way to test and develop a huge range of skills, while strengthening our team's relationship at the same time. I loved the satisfaction of correctly solving each puzzle as a group. I now have an even stronger respect for my quick-thinking teammates.

Rosie: Once we'd successfully "escaped" and identified the culprits, it's safe to say that I was excited and exhausted in equal measure! It was great fun – not only getting to speak to my teammates outside of a formal meeting, but also simply working together again. It felt like the good old days.

Your Turn in the Escape Room

So the Mind Tools team beat "The Lost Labyrinth." I wonder if yours would, too. Locked in a room, with a complex new problem to solve, would your people rise to the challenge? There's only one way to find out…

To learn more about using puzzle-solving games to test and strengthen your team, read our new article on Escape Rooms. Mind Tools Club and Connect members can then download and play "The Lost Labyrinth" for themselves.

And when you've done that, we'd love to hear what happened! Please tell us about your team's adventure, in the Comments section, below.

The post Unlocking the Power of Teamwork: Mind Tools Vs. the Escape Room! appeared first on Mind Tools.

I love puzzles, and I've included lots of them in this blog. They're fun challenges, perfect for sharing, and a great way to test a range of thinking skills. But they also reveal the serious professional benefits that come from learning how to think creatively.

I was reminded of this when I read "The Creative Thinking Handbook," the new book from creativity guru Chris Griffiths. It's sprinkled with puzzles that illustrate the dos and don'ts of problem solving. Griffiths shows what a difference it can make when we develop a robust creative process – as individuals, teams and entire organizations.

Before writing, I spent 10 years as a teacher, and I often used puzzles to stretch my students' thinking. As the kids grappled with intriguing problems, they gained the confidence to take risks, to keep going, and to be creative as part of a team.

Now, after moving back into a business environment, I realize that these skills are more important in the workplace than ever. So try to match wits with me – and, in the process, see how you can start to think better, and achieve more, wherever you work.

Puzzles and Riddles

Let's start with one of my favorites. 

Puzzle 1: If these nine dots were printed on paper, how could you link all nine by drawing just four straight lines – and without taking your pen off the page?

Have a go – it's not as easy as it looks! If you're stuck, see if someone nearby has any ideas. And try to recognize how you tackle this puzzle – because your strategies here should reveal a lot about your approach to problem solving as a whole.

In case you don't crack it, the answer to this and all my other puzzles are at the end of the blog. But try to resist the temptation to look too soon! You've got a lot to gain from stretching your thinking skills and persisting even if your first attempt fails. It's like resistance training for your brain, building strength to tackle the real-life problems that crop up every day. 

Puzzles for Learning

Puzzles get you thinking and learning in new ways. They force you to challenge the idea that there's only one way of doing things, and they train you to explore a range of options. By doing that, you develop a much richer understanding of any situation, and get your "creative juices" flowing.

You also get a taste of metacognition – "thinking about thinking." If you let them, puzzles will give you valuable insights into the way you approach problems. And the more alert you are to what's going on in your brain when you're in puzzle-solving mode, the more you'll gain, and the faster you'll grow.

Your experiences should also help others to unlock their creativity. And by leading creative-thinking teams, you can make your whole organization more exciting, more innovative, and more successful.

Avoid the Thinking Traps

In puzzles, as in life, you often learn more from your mistakes. It's particularly important to notice which styles of thinking help you to find answers, and which get in the way. In fact, many of the best puzzles are designed to tempt you into these thinking "traps."

For example:

Puzzle 2: A horse is tied to a 10-foot rope, so how does it reach the bale of hay 15 feet away? (This question tempts you to make assumptions – which are so often the enemies of creative problem-solving.)

Or this:

Puzzle 3: If a plane crashes exactly on the border between France and Germany, in which country should the survivors be buried? (Many people get this one wrong by overlooking the obvious.)

And this:

Puzzle 4: Bob and Ben were born on the same day, to the same parents, but they aren't twins. How come? (You'll only solve this puzzle if you can take a seemingly impossible situation, and find a new way of looking at it.)

When the time comes to check the answers, notice any thinking traps you fell into. Think about whether you ever make the same mistakes with real-life problems!

Positive Problem-Solving Strategies

As well as avoiding the traps laid by puzzles writers, you also need to have a range of effective thinking strategies if you're going to find the answers.

Puzzles are a great way to build confidence, and strengthen persistence, open-mindedness, and flexibility. As you work out exactly what a question is asking, discard any "red herrings," and try various positive tactics until one works. In that way, you train yourself to take a strategic, energetic, and resilient approach to solving problems. 

Use some more of mine to put yourself to the test.

For each of the following questions, choose a strategy to start with. But, if that doesn't work, find a different plan of attack. See what happens when you ask friends and family for their ideas. And don't give up. Sometimes, like Sherlock Holmes playing his violin, you'll need to go away and do something else to cut loose your creativity and make the breakthrough. 

Puzzle 5: Where in the world does Friday come before Thursday?

Just as tricky is this:

Puzzle 6: Which substance is represented by the letters HIJKLMNO?

This is fiendish:

Puzzle 7: 3, 3, 5, 4, 4, 3, 5, 5, ? What's next in this numeric code – and why?

Puzzles With Words

Our brains work through connections, and puzzles strengthen our ability to make links, see patterns, and piece things together. They also provide a rich opportunity to collaborate with other people.

Word problems are particularly good for this. When you work on a cryptic crossword with a friend, for example, you have the opportunity to explore someone else's understanding of the possibilities of language.

You find yourself looking at words and phrases in a new light, making new connections, and exploring seemingly meaningless clues from different angles. Until, suddenly, something clicks.

Here are three to try now, on your own – or, even better, in collaboration with someone sitting nearby!

Puzzle 8: Mode of transport crashed in Nepal (5) (Clue: "crashed" means that there's an anagram here.)

Puzzle 9: Singer in tunnel visit (5) (Clue: the singer's name is in "tunnel visit.")

Puzzle 10: Moscow funding? (7) (Clue: it's a word that could define "Moscow" AND "funding.")

Puzzles Boost Profits!

In education, training, and in the world of work generally, I've seen the way that puzzles can inspire a curious, playful attitude. And it spreads. It can change the way any kind of organization works for the better.

As Griffiths shows in his book, creative companies are some of the most enjoyable to work in – and among the most successful in the long term.

One reason for this is that playing around with puzzles gets you used to making mistakes. Good puzzle-solving involves free thinking and gathering a range of ideas from the whole team.

But it also requires staying focused on the question, and making sure that your solution answers it well.

Train Your Creative Brain

These days, there's no shortage of puzzles to challenge yourself with, in books, magazines and online. So take every chance you get to put your brain to work, and to share the fun with others.

Most importantly, see what happens when you put your problem-solving skills to use. You'll likely have a different outlook on real-world problems, because you'll have a range of powerful ways to solve them.

And here's one more puzzle from me to keep you practicing this creative – but concerted – approach. Why not share it with your colleagues? One person might solve it, or maybe you'll get there together.

Puzzle 11: You've put a coin inside an empty wine bottle and sealed it with a cork. How can you remove the coin without pulling the cork out of the bottle, and without damaging the bottle or the cork?

Get the Answers – by Opening Your Mind!

As "Creative Thinking Handbook" author Chris Griffiths puts it, creative thinking is about much more than "thinking outside of the box." It's about getting rid of the box altogether! And that's why I chose the puzzle at the start of this blog – because you won't solve it by staying within the confines of the grid itself.

You need to stretch some of your lines beyond its boundaries, and move into the white space outside.

When you're ready, there's a diagram below to explain the full, surprisingly simple (though sneaky!) solution.

Puzzles in a New Light

It's a great feeling when you solve a puzzle like this. But the best puzzles should keep you entertained and intrigued while you're still wrestling with them, allowing you to enjoy the process of training your creative brain.

So, see how well you get on with the ones I've set here – maybe with "The Creative Thinking Handbook" by your side! Share them to challenge your friends. And see if you notice a difference when you put your new, confident problem-solving strategies into action at work. 

"The Creative Thinking Handbook: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Problem Solving in Business," by Chris Griffiths with Melina Costi, is published by Kogan Page.

If you're a Mind Tools Club member, you can listen to our Book Insight review.

Answers to the Puzzles

1.

2. The other end of the rope isn't tied to anything.

3. Survivors don't need to be buried anywhere.

4. They're two of a set of triplets.

5. In a dictionary.

6. Water: "H to O"! (H₂O)

7. 4 (As the question says, it's a "numeric" code, but it's based on the number of letters in each number word: one (3 letters), two (3), three (5), and so on. So the next number is nine, which has four letters in it.)

8. plane

9. Elvis

10. capital

11. Push the cork into the bottle.

About the Author

Jonathan was World Memory Champion and has written extensively about learning. He also spent 15 years as a BBC Radio presenter, followed by a decade as a teacher and school leader. Jonathan writes many different Mind Tools resources, as well as presenting videos and podcasts. He’s particularly proud of his articles about tackling discrimination, embracing neurodiversity, and supporting working parents. Jonathan enjoys running, crosswords, and traveling with his family. His top advice is to keep reflecting on how you feel about your work. “Life’s too short to be unhappy. If something’s not right – change it!”

The post If You Can Solve These Puzzles, You'll Have a Head Start at Work! appeared first on Mind Tools.

And, as the writer Annie Dillard once said, "How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives." So, it's only natural that some of the closest relationships that we form are with people we see every day at work.

In fact, having work colleagues that you count as friends, or even partners, can have significant personal and organizational benefits. It can improve staff retention, job satisfaction, morale, teamwork, collaboration, and productivity.

What Are the Risks of Relationships at Work?

But, a 2015 study revealed that there are also risks in having personal relationships at work. For example, they can be a major distraction. Small talk with co-workers is one thing, but these chats can sometimes lead to deeper discussions – which, while fun, can eat into core work time.

Personal relationships at work can lead to emotional exhaustion, too. Friendships take effort, after all, and the time and energy we put into them can take its toll.

Then there are the ugly ramifications if things go wrong. If a relationship turns sour, you can't just walk away – you'll likely still have to see that person every day. We're also more likely to feel envious of the people we are close to, which can cause problems if, say, your spouse gets promoted over you.

Finally, there's the big issue that's on everyone's minds at the moment – personal boundaries. What if someone oversteps the mark and becomes a bit too friendly or, worse, behaves inappropriately? Where does the professional relationship stop and the personal start?

Your Tips for Managing Personal Relationships at Work

We wanted to find out your thoughts on how to deal with personal relationships in the workplace. So, we threw this question out to our followers on social media. As ever, the responses that we received gave some great insights into the topic. Here are some of the best ones:

Communication and Listening Are Essential

An interesting conversation developed on Twitter, which focused on how good communication and, in particular, good listening skills can help to solidify relationships at work.

@SavvySarahSPM kick-started the discussion with her comment, "Take time to invest in your workplace relationships – show genuine interest in others, get to know people as individuals, learn about what motivates them. We can all make positive connections with those we work with without necessarily being friends. Everyone benefits."

This sparked a debate about how to show "genuine" interest in others, with many of you suggesting that the key is to listen. As @Midgie_MT explained, "People tend to listen just waiting for their chance to reply! It takes practice and some effort to be fully present and to fully listen!"

Another of our followers, @joolsbk, labeled this kind of listening "autobiographical." She went on to say, "It has been such a useful term when working with people new to coaching and other situations where they need to learn to listen deeply."

Don't Forget the Bottom Line

Some of you suggested that the responsibility of managing personal relationships at work should be down to the organization. LinkedIn follower Stephen Thorlby-Coy said that organizations should, "Treat staff as adults! Friendships and romantic relationships are inevitable – as are conflict and falling out. Managers should focus on managing work impact, not the cause."

Noha Kamel, also on LinkedIn, agreed. She said, "The most important guideline is our organization's welfare." She also recommended staying clear of "ego attacks."

Separating the Personal and Professional

Interestingly, many of you believe that the key to successfully managing personal relationships at work is to avoid them entirely!

As LinkedIn follower Yolande explained, "Keep it professional. If you want to be friends with someone, be sure that both of you understand that work is work, and friendship is friendship, and you can't mix the two." Todd William Bagnall agreed. He said, "Each situation is different. I try to steer clear of sentimental relationships at work as they can affect decision making."

On Facebook, our friend Precious Anum took a similar stance. She said, "Never mix personal and professional life." Mohammad Ismail Banat, said that, for him, keeping the personal separate from the professional helps him to avoid unconscious bias. He revealed, "I am positively tough, hence I will not allow personal relationships to be mixed with work. Usually, having a personal relationship with a colleague means that I should give him/her extra attention and waste more time on personal things rather than work."

Do you agree that personal relationships have no place at work? Or, if not, how do you make sure that they don't affect your professionalism and productivity? Share your thoughts, below.

The post Your Tips for Managing Personal Relationships at Work appeared first on Mind Tools.

The Writers' Room. Yes, that was the answer. The way forward. The dream job. A "meeting of minds." The ultimate in teamwork. Collaboration on the grandest of scales. Like the elegant murmuration of starlings swooping through the sky as one.

Meanwhile, back in my reality, I'm sweating in solitude over my latest editing assignment. I'm just about ready to hand the story over to my boss, who will then retreat into his office to "revise it." The next time I see it, the article will be printed in the newspaper. It will have been changed. Probably quite substantially. Possibly beyond recognition.

Preparing the Daily Horoscopes

I won't be told why, and I won't ask. If what I've done has met with any level of approval, I will be instructed to edit another piece for the paper. If not, I will be given the task (punishment) of preparing the daily horoscopes or the crossword puzzles for the next two weeks.

Welcome to the paranoia-infused grind of being a lowly sub-editor on a U.K. national newspaper in the 1990s. And that's pretty much how things were for a couple of years. Dark moments. Chinks of light. Then, one day, things changed. For the worse!

"Ian! I've got a project for you. We've got a new lifestyle magazine that we want to launch. You'll be working as part of a team of four, preparing some trial editions."

Collaboration Comes Home

The word "team" hit home. It's all going to be OK, I thought. My lonely labors are over! The bosses have seen sense. Collaborative working. Spreading the load. Maximizing the creativity. Boosting my ego without burning out. I'd arrived!

Not quite. I'd exited solitary confinement and was about to enter a whole new world of pain, called "Collaborative Overload."

And that's because "The Lifestyle Magazine Project" came with a host of issues that can be characteristic of collaborative projects: the excessive emails; the meetings too numerous to mention; the politics; the "Is really this my job or someone else's?"; and, of course, the cries of "WHO THE HELL IS IN CHARGE OF THIS PROJECT?" And, for the person who likes to say "Yes," (or the "extra-miler" as they are sometimes called) collaborative overload is particular painful, as this Mind Tools article illustrates.

So, in my example, instead of proving that "two heads are better than one," we were four "headless chickens." This is clearly an example of a collaboration that went wrong, almost as wrong as David Bowie and Mick Jagger's 'Dancing in the Street.' But it doesn't need to be this way. Just as Bowie turned things round (sort of) with Queen and 'Under Pressure,' collaboration can work.

Ensure Effective Collaboration

One way of trying to ensure effective collaboration is by rewarding it. One of the downsides of teamwork is that sometimes, the leaders or "stars" take all the credit, leaving the "helpers" firmly on the sidelines. Not good. Assistance needs recognition.

It is also important that managers are able to identify projects that lend themselves to collaboration, and are equally able to pinpoint individuals who work well in a team setting and those who don't!

The good news is that Mind Tools has plenty of resources on team and project management. And, as luck would have it, we will shortly be publishing an article on the pros and cons of collaborative working. We'll keep you posted!

Meanwhile, can you think of a time when you became a victim of collaboration overload, or when a collaborative project went particularly well? Let us know in the comments section, below.

The post Too Many Cooks: When Collaboration is a Recipe For Disaster! appeared first on Mind Tools.