“Collaboration is the way forward. When decisions are ‘dumped’ on people without real involvement, they feel left out of the process and are likely to resist the change.
But when they’re involved right from the beginning or somewhere along the line, they feel part of it which creates a sense of ownership and empowerment” – Olayinka Brenda Williams.
What do you do when you encounter a problem?
- Think inwardly until you’re able to find an answer
- Share the problem with others and seek opinions
We’ve always said that two good heads are better than one, but we don’t put this into practice when we need solutions to problems.
Our first instinct most times is to go inwards before reaching out to others.
In a rapidly changing world such as ours, effective collaboration can be a powerful interpersonal skill.
What Does Being an Outward-Facing Leader Mean?
Being an outward-facing leader is first recognizing that you don’t know it all, and that you need others as much as they need you.
At the core of outward-facing leadership is collaboration, teamwork, acceptance of shortcomings and open-mindedness.
It’s okay to ask for help whenever you need it. Each time you do, you’re simply exhibiting the qualities of an outward-facing leader.
The idea of leadership we inherited was one where the head makes all the decisions. Bears the burden alone and tries to find solutions to problems inwardly.
But this is a slow approach of getting things done, and it’s almost always not inclusive in nature.
What is Effective Collaboration?
Effective collaboration is a horizontal exchange of ideas between two or more people across different organisations or societal structure.
This can also mean getting more people involved in the ideation and decision making process.
Being an outward-facing leader means collaborating effectively, first with those within your network.
Secondly, it means extending that hand of collaboration to those outside your network who may have relevant contributions.
And of course, the only way to know if others have relevant contributions is to ask. That means doing away with assumptions.
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Ask yourself:
- Who can I work with?
- Who can I call?
- How diverse are my networks?
- Who are those doing similar work?
- Will this task be faster with someone else on board?
Similarly, they’ve always been this workplace bias against people who seek opinions or ask questions critical to the execution of their task.
People don’t want to come off as being ignorant, weak or dependent, hence they refuse to ask questions.
The core principle of being an outward-facing leader is to seek opinions, ideas and input from colleagues, friends and family as the case may be.
If we work for the same organisation, our goals should be aligned regardless of our department or hierarchical structure.
Collaboration therefore should be encouraged amongst co-workers.
What Can I Do?
You can take these steps to becoming open-minded to effective collaboration both within and outside your workplace:
- Don’t criticise those who seek opinions or ask questions
- Before sinking inwards for solutions, reach out to others for assistance
- Recognise the fact that everyone needs help, and so do you
- Give people the opportunity to help you
- Delegate when necessary
- Embrace diversity
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