Articles Review/Spotlight Artwork Jessica Snow & Four Traits of Collaborative Leaders

Articles Review/Spotlight Artwork Jessica Snow & Four Traits of Collaborative Leaders Order Description Write a 2 page report that summarizes and analyzes the two articles attached. One section of the report should summarize the articles, and then another section of the report should be used to draw connections between the concepts in the articles and the work experiences of a manager. Spotlight Artwork Jessica Snow Curly Words, 2011, acrylic on paper 17" x 21" Spotlight on Influence Connect, Then Lead To exert influence, you must balance competence with warmth. by Amy J.C. Cuddy, Matthew Kohut, and John Neffinger Amy J.C. Cuddy is an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Matthew Kohut and John Neffinger are the authors of Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential (Hudson Street Press, August 2013) and principals at KNP Communications. hbr.org July–August 2013 Harvard Business Review 55 Is it better to be loved or feared? employee with outmoded skills in a rapidly evolving industry). To be sure, we notice plenty of other traits in people, but they’re nowhere near as influential as warmth and strength. Indeed, insights from the field of psychology show that these two dimensions account for more than 90% of the variance in our positive or negative impressions we form of the people around us. So which is better, being lovable or being strong? Most leaders today tend to emphasize their strength, competence, and credentials in the workplace, but that is exactly the wrong approach. Leaders who project strength before establishing trust run the risk of eliciting fear, and along with it a host of dysfunctional behaviors. Fear can undermine cognitive potential, creativity, and problem solving, and cause employees to get stuck and even disengage. It’s a “hot” emotion, with long-lasting effects. It burns into our memory in a way that cooler emotions don’t. Research by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman drives this point home: In a study of 51,836 leaders, only 27 of them were rated in the bottom quartile in terms of likability and in the top quartile in terms of overall leadership effectiveness—in other words, the chances that a manager who is strongly disliked will be considered a good leader are only about one in 2,000. A growing body of research suggests that the way to influence—and to lead—is to begin with warmth. Warmth is the conduit of influence: It facilitates trust and the communication and absorption of ideas. Even a few small nonverbal signals—a nod, a smile, an open gesture—can show people that you’re pleased to be in their company and attentive to their concerns. Prioritizing warmth helps you connect immediately with those around you, demonstrating that you hear them, understand them, and can be trusted by them. Niccolò Machiavelli pondered that timeless conundrum 500 years ago and hedged his bets. “It may be answered that one should wish to be both,” he acknowledged, “but because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved.” Now behavioral science is weighing in with research showing that Machiavelli had it partly right: When we judge others—especially our leaders—we look first at two characteristics: how lovable they are (their warmth, communion, or trustworthiness) and how fearsome they are (their strength, agency, or competence). Although there is some disagreement about the proper labels for the traits, researchers agree that they are the two primary dimensions of social judgment. Why are these traits so important? Because they answer two critical questions: “What are this person’s intentions toward me?” and “Is he or she capable of acting on those intentions?” Together, these assessments underlie our emotional and behavioral reactions to other people, groups, and even brands and companies. Research by one of us, Amy Cuddy, and colleagues Susan Fiske, of Princeton, and Peter Glick, of Lawrence University, shows that people judged to be competent but lacking in warmth often elicit envy in others, an emotion involving both respect and resentment that cuts both ways. When we respect someone, we want to cooperate or affiliate ourselves with him or her, but resentment can make that person vulnerable to harsh reprisal (think of disgraced Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski, whose extravagance made him an unsympathetic public figure). On the other hand, people judged as warm but incompetent tend to elicit pity, which also involves a mix of emotions: Compassion moves us to help those we pity, but our lack of respect leads us ultimately to neglect them (think of workers who become marginalized as they near retirement or of an About the Spotlight Artist Each month we illustrate our Spotlight package with a series of works from an accomplished artist. The lively and cerebral creations of these photographers, painters, and installation artists are meant to infuse our pages with additional energy and intelligence to amplify what are often complex and abstract concepts. This month’s artist is Jessica Snow, a San Francisco–based abstract painter. “The most interesting pieces are those in which something has been left unresolved,” she says. “Its reason for being has not been entirely spelled out for the viewer or even for the artist.” View the artist’s work at Artspace.com and galleriurbane.com. Photography: klea mckenna 56 Harvard Business Review July–August 2013 Spotlight on Influence When Strength Comes First Most of us work hard to demonstrate our competence. We want to see ourselves as strong—and want others to see us the same way. We focus on warding off challenges to our strength and providing abundant evidence of competence. We feel compelled to demonstrate that we’re up to the job, by striving to present the most innovative ideas in meetings, being the first to tackle a challenge, and working the longest hours. We’re sure of our own intentions and thus don’t feel the need to prove that we’re trustworthy— despite the fact that evidence of trustworthiness is the first thing we look for in others. Organizational psychologists Andrea Abele, of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and Bogdan Wojciszke, of the University of Gdansk, have documented this phenomenon across a variety of settings. In one experiment, when asked to choose between training programs focusing on competence-related skills (such as time management) and warmth-related ones (providing social support, for instance), most participants opted for competence-based training for themselves but soft-skills training for others. In another experiment, in which participants were asked to describe an event that shaped their self-image, most told stories about themselves that emphasized their own competence and self-determination (“I passed my pilot’s license test on the first try”), whereas when they described a similar event for someone else, they focused on that person’s warmth and generosity (“My friend tutored his neighbor’s child in math and refused to accept any payment”). But putting competence first undermines leadership: Without a foundation of trust, people in the organization may comply outwardly with a leader’s wishes, but they’re much less likely to conform privately— to adopt the values, culture, and mission of the organization in a sincere, lasting way. Workplaces lacking in trust often have a culture of “every employee for himself,” in which people feel that they must be vigilant about protecting their interests. Employees can become reluctant to help others because they’re unsure of whether their efforts will be reciprocated or recognized. The result: Shared organizational resources fall victim to the tragedy of the commons. When Warmth Comes First Although most of us strive to demonstrate our strength, warmth contributes significantly more to others’ evaluations of us—and it’s judged before Idea in Brief THE PROBLEM Typically, leaders emphasize their strength or competence in the workplace, which can alienate colleagues and direct reports. THE ARGUMENT Decades of sociology and psychology research show that by first focusing on displaying warmth—and then blending in demonstrations of competence—leaders will find a clearer path to influence. THE LESSONS This is difficult to do but not impossible, depending on your chemical and dispositional makeup. The authors offer specific guidelines on how to project warmth and strength in various situations. How will people react to your style? Research by Amy Cuddy, Susan Fiske, and Peter Glick suggests that the way others perceive your levels of warmth and competence determines the emotions you’ll elicit and your ability to influence a situation. For example, if you’re highly competent but show only moderate warmth, you’ll get people to go along with you, but you won’t earn their true engagement and support. And if you show no warmth, beware of those who may try to derail your efforts—and maybe your career. LOW HIGH HIGH Competence WARMTH ACTIVE HARM PA SSIVE HARM ACTIVE Engagement PITY ADMIRAT ION ENVY CONTEMPT PA SSIVE support hbr.org July–August 2013 Harvard Business Review 57 Connect, Then Lead competence. Princeton social psychologist Alex Todorov and colleagues study the cognitive and neural mechanisms that drive our “spontaneous trait inferences”—the snap judgments we make when briefly looking at faces. Their research shows that when making those judgments, people consistently pick up on warmth faster than on competence. This preference for warmth holds true in other areas as well. In a study led by Oscar Ybarra, of the University of Michigan, participants playing a word game identified warmth-related words (such as “friendly”) significantly faster than competence-related ones (such as “skillful”). Behavioral economists, for their part, have shown that judgments of trustworthiness generally lead to significantly higher economic gains. For example, Mascha van ’t Wout, of Brown University, and Alan Sanfey, of the University of Arizona, asked subjects to determine how an endowment should be allocated. Players invested more money, with no guarantee of return, in partners whom they perceived to be more trustworthy on the basis of a glance at their faces. In management settings, trust increases information sharing, openness, fluidity, and cooperation. If coworkers can be trusted to do the right thing and live up to their commitments, planning, coordination, and execution are much easier. Trust also facilitates the exchange and acceptance of ideas—it allows people to hear others’ message—and boosts the quantity and quality of the ideas that are produced within an organization. Most important, trust provides the opportunity to change people’s attitudes and beliefs, not just their outward behavior. That’s the sweet spot when it comes to influence and the ability to get people to fully accept your message. The Happy Warrior The best way to gain influence is to combine warmth and strength—as difficult as Machiavelli says that may be to do. The traits can actually be mutually reinforcing: Feeling a sense of personal strength helps us to be more open, less threatened, and less threatening in stressful situations. When we feel confident and calm, we project authenticity and warmth. Understanding a little bit about our chemical makeup can shed some light on how this works. The neuropeptides oxytocin and arginine vasopressin, for instance, have been linked to our ability to form human attachments, to feel and express warmth, and to behave altruistically. Recent research also The primacy of warmth manifests in many interrelated ways that powerfully underscore the importance of connecting with people before trying to lead them. Why Warmth Trumps Strength The Need to Affiliate People have a need to be included, to feel a sense of belonging. In fact, some psychologists would argue that the drive to affiliate ranks among our primary needs as humans. Experiments by neuroscientist Naomi Eisenberger and colleagues suggest that the need is so strong that when we are ostracized—even by virtual strangers—we experience pain that is akin to strong physical pain. “Us” Versus “Them” In recent decades, few areas have received as much attention from social psychology researchers as group dynamics—and for good reason: The preference for the groups to which one belongs is so strong that even under extreme conditions—such as knowing that membership in a group was randomly assigned and that the groups themselves are arbitrary— people consistently prefer fellow group members to nonmembers. As a leader, you must make sure you’re a part of the key groups in your organization. In fact, you want to be the aspirational member of the group, the chosen representative of the group. As soon as you become one of “them”—the management, the leadership—you begin to lose people. The Desire to Be Understood People deeply desire to be heard and seen. Sadly, as important as perspective-taking is to good leadership, being in a position of power decreases people’s understanding of others’ points of view. When we have power over others, our ability to see them as individuals diminishes. So leaders need to consciously and consistently make the effort to imagine walking in the shoes of the people they are leading. suggests that across the animal kingdom feelings of strength and power have close ties to two hormones: testosterone (associated with assertiveness, reduced fear, and willingness to compete and take risks) and cortisol (associated with stress and stress reactivity). One study, by Jennifer Lerner, Gary Sherman, Amy Cuddy, and colleagues, brought hundreds of people participating in Harvard executive-education programs into the lab and compared their levels of cortisol with the average levels of the general population. The leaders reported less stress and anxiety than did the general population, and their physiology backed that up: Their cortisol levels were significantly lower. Moreover, the higher their rank and the more subordinates they managed, the lower their cortisol level. Why? Most likely because the leaders had a heightened sense of control—a psychological factor known to have a powerful stress-buffering effect. According to research by Pranjal Mehta, of the University of Oregon, and Robert Josephs, of the University of Texas, the most effective leaders, regard- 58 Harvard Business Review July–August 2013 Spotlight on Influence less of gender, have a unique physiological profile, with relatively high testosterone and relatively low cortisol. Such leaders face troubles without being troubled. Their behavior is not relaxed, but they are relaxed emotionally. They’re often viewed as “happy warriors,” and the effect of their demeanor on those around them is compelling. Happy warriors reassure us that whatever challenges we may face, things will work out in the end. Ann Richards, the former governor of Texas, played the happy warrior by pairing her assertiveness and authority with a big smile and a quick wit that made it clear she did not let the roughand- tumble of politics get her down. During crises, these are the people who are able to keep that influence conduit open and may even expand it. Most people hate uncertainty, but they tolerate it much better when they can look to a leader who they believe has their back and is calm, clearheaded, and courageous. These are the people we trust. These are the people we listen to. There are physical exercises that can help to summon self-confidence—and even alter your body’s chemistry to be more like that of a happy warrior. Dana Carney, Amy Cuddy, and Andy Yap suggest that people adopt “power poses” associated with dominance and strength across the animal kingdom. These postures are open, expansive, and space-occupying (imagine Wonder Woman and Superman standing tall with their hands on their hips and feet spread apart). By adopting these postures for just two minutes prior to social encounters, their research shows, participants significantly increased their testosterone and decreased their cortisol levels. Bear in mind that the signals we send can be ambiguous— we can see someone’s reaction to our presence, but we may not be sure exactly what the person is reacting to. We may feel a leader’s warmth but remain unsure whether it is directed at us; we sense her strength but need reassurance that it is squarely aimed at the shared challenge we face. And, as we noted earlier, judgments are often made quickly, on the basis of nonverbal cues. Especially when facing a high-pressure situation, it is useful for leaders to go through a brief warm-up routine beforehand to get in the right state of mind, practicing and adopting an attitude that will help them project positive nonverbal signals. We refer to this approach as “inside-out,” in contrast to the “outside-in” strategy of trying to consciously execute specific nonverbal behaviors in the moment. Think of the difference between method acting and classical acting: In method acting, the actor experiences the emotions of the character and naturally produces an authentic performance, whereas in classical acting, actors learn to exercise precise control of their nonverbal signals. Generally speaking, an inside-out approach is more effective. There are many tactics for projecting warmth and competence, and these can be dialed up or down as needed. Two of us, John Neffinger and Matt Kohut, work with leaders from many walks of life in mastering both nonverbal and verbal cues. Let’s look now at some best practices. How to Project Warmth Efforts to appear warm and trustworthy by consciously controlling your nonverbal signals can backfire: All too often, you’ll come off as wooden and inauthentic instead. Here are ways to avoid that trap. Find the right level. When people want to project warmth, they sometimes amp up the enthusiasm in their voice, increasing their volume and dynamic range to convey delight. That can be effective in the right setting, but if those around you have done nothing in particular to earn your adulation, they’ll assume either that you’re faking it or that you fawn over everyone indiscriminately. A better way to create vocal warmth is to speak with lower pitch and volume, as you would if you were comforting a friend. Aim for a tone that suggests that you’re leveling with people—that you’re sharing the straight scoop, with no pretense or emotional adornment. In doing so, you signal that you trust those you’re talking with to handle things the right way. You might even occasionally share a personal story—one that feels private but not inappropriate— in a confiding tone of voice to demonstrate that you’re being forthcoming and open. Suppose, for instance, that you want to establish a bond with new employees you’re meeting for the first time. You might offer something personal right off the bat, such as recalling how you felt at a similar point in your career. That’s often enough to set a congenial tone. Validate feelings. Before people decide what they think of your message, they decide what they think of you. If you show your employees that you hold roughly the same worldview they do, you demonstrate not only empathy but, in their eyes, common sense—the ultimate qualification for being listened to. So if you want colleagues to listen and agree with you, first agree with them. Before people decide what they think of your message, they decide what they think of you. hbr.org July–August 2013 Harvard Business Review 59 Connect, Then Lead Imagine, for instance, that your company is undergoing a major reorganization and your group is feeling deep anxiety over what the change could mean—for quality, innovation, job security. Acknowledge people’s fear and concerns when you speak to them, whether in formal meetings or during watercooler chats. Look them in the eye and say, “I know everybody’s feeling a lot of uncertainty right now, and it’s unsettling.” People will respect you for addressing the elephant in the room, and will be more open to hearing what you have to say. Smile—and mean it. When we smile sincerely, the warmth becomes self-reinforcing: Feeling happy makes us smile, and smiling makes us happy. This facial feedback is also contagious. We tend to mirror one another’s nonverbal expressions and emotions, so when we see someone beaming and emanating genuine warmth, we can’t resist smiling ourselves. Warmth is not easy to fake, of course, and a polite smile fools no one. To project warmth, you have to genuinely feel it. A natural smile, for instance, involves not only the muscles around the mouth but also those around the eyes—the crow’s feet. So how do you produce a natural smile? Find some reason to feel happy wherever you may be, even if you have to resort to laughing at your predicament. Introverts in social settings can single out one person to focus on. This can help you channel the sense of comfort you feel with close friends or family. For example, KNP worked with a manager who was having trouble connecting with her employees. Having come up through the ranks as a highly analytic engineer, she projected competence and determination, but not much warmth. We noticed, however, that when she talked about where she grew up and what she learned about life from the tight-knit community in her neighborhood, her demeanor relaxed and she smiled broadly. By including a brief anecdote about her upbringing when she kicked off a meeting or made a presentation, she was able to show her colleagues a warm and relatable side of herself. One thing to avoid: smiling with your eyebrows raised at anyone over the age of five. This suggests that you are overly eager to please and be liked. It also signals anxiety, which, like warmth, is contagious. It will cost you much more in strength than you will gain in warmth. How to Project Strength Strength or competence can be established by virtue of the position you hold, your reputation, and your actual performance. But your presence, or demeanor, always counts, too. The way you carry yourself doesn’t establish your skill level, of course, but it is taken as strong evidence of your attitude— how serious you are and how determined to tackle a challenge—and that is an important component of overall strength. The trick is to cultivate a demeanor of strength without seeming menacing. Feel in command. Warmth may be harder to fake, but confidence is harder to talk yourself into. Feeling like an impostor—that you don’t belong in the position you’re in and are going to be “found out”—is very common. But self-doubt completely undermines your ability to project confidence, enthusiasm, and passion, the qualities that make up presence. In fact, if you see yourself as an impostor, others will, too. Feeling in command and confident is about connecting with yourself. And when we are connected with ourselves, it is much easier to connect with others. Holding your body in certain ways, as we discussed above, can help. Although we refer to these postures as power poses, they don’t increase your dominance over others. They’re about personal power—your agency and ability to self-regulate. Re- Are You Projecting Warmth? How you present yourself in workplace settings matters a great deal to how you’re perceived by others. Even if you’re not feeling particularly warm, practicing these approaches and using them in formal and informal situations can help clear your path to influence. When standing, balance your weight primarily on one hip to avoid appearing rigid or tense. Tilt your head slightly and keep your hands open and welcoming. Warm Cold Avoid standing with your chin pointed down. Don’t pivot your body away from the person you’re engaging with. Avoid closed-hand positions and cutting motions. illustrat ion: colin haye s 60 Harvard Business Review July–August 2013 Spotlight on Influence cent research led by Dacher Keltner, of the University of California, Berkeley, shows that feeling powerful in this way allows you to shed the fears and inhibitions that can prevent you from bringing your fullest, most authentic and enthusiastic self to a high-stakes professional situation, such as a pitch to investors or a speech to an influential audience. Stand up straight. It is hard to overstate the importance of good posture in projecting authority and an intention to be taken seriously. As Maya Angelou wrote, “Stand up straight and realize who you are, that you tower over your circumstances.” Good posture does not mean the exaggerated chest-out pose known in the military as standing at attention, or raising one’s chin up high. It just means reaching your full height, using your muscles to straighten the S-curve in your spine rather than slouching. It sounds trivial, but maximizing the physical space your body takes up makes a substantial difference in how your audience reacts to you, regardless of your height. Get ahold of yourself. When you move, move deliberately and precisely to a specific spot rather than casting your limbs about loose-jointedly. And when you are finished moving, be still. Twitching, fidgeting, or other visual static sends the signal that you’re not in control. Stillness demonstrates calm. Combine that with good posture, and you’ll achieve what’s known as poise, which telegraphs equilibrium and stability, important aspects of credible leadership presence. Standing tall is an especially good way to project strength because it doesn’t interfere with warmth in the way that other signals of strength—cutting gestures, a furrowed brow, an elevated chin—often do. People who instruct their children to stand up straight and smile are on to something: This simple combination is perhaps the best way to project strength and warmth simultaneously. If you want to effectively lead others, you have to get the warmth-competence dynamic right. Projecting both traits at once is difficult, but the two can be mutually reinforcing—and the rewards substantial. Earning the trust and appreciation of those around you feels good. Feeling in command of a situation does, too. Doing both lets you influence people more effectively. The strategies we suggest may seem awkward at first, but they will soon create a positive feedback loop. Being calm and confident creates space to be warm, open, and appreciative, to choose to act in ways that reflect and express your values and priorities. Once you establish your warmth, your strength is received as a welcome reassurance. Your leadership becomes not a threat but a gift. HBR Reprint R1307C Lean inward in a nonaggressive manner to signal interest and engagement. Place your hands comfortably on your knees or rest them on the table. Aim for body language that feels professional but relaxed. Warm Cold Try not to angle your body away from the person you’re engaging. Crossing your arms indicates coldness and a lack of receptivity. Avoid sitting “at attention” or in an aggressive posture. hbr.org July–August 2013 Harvard Business Review 61 Connect, Then Lead “For the plaintiff in this case, your honor, the product’s bold assertion— ‘easy-opening lid’—was a cruel and vicious lie.” Cart oon: Nick Downes Harvard Business Review Notice of Use Restrictions, May 2009 Harvard Business Review and Harvard Business Publishing Newsletter content on EBSCOhost is licensed for the private individual use of authorized EBSCOhost users. It is not intended for use as assigned course material in academic institutions nor as corporate learning or training materials in businesses. Academic licensees may not use this content in electronic reserves, electronic course packs, persistent linking from syllabi or by any other means of incorporating the content into course resources. Business licensees may not host this content on learning management systems or use persistent linking or other means to incorporate the content into learning management systems. Harvard Business Publishing will be pleased to grant permission to make this content available through such means. For rates and permission, contact permissions@harvardbusiness.org. Published: September 3, 2012 Business Literature: Author's Choice Four Traits of Collaborative Leaders Zachary Tumin and William Bratton, coauthors of Collaborate or Perish! Reaching across Boundaries in a Networked World, introduce an excerpt about how managers can become collaboration catalysts from The Collaboration Imperative: Executive Strategies for Unlocking Your Organization’s True Potential, by Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese. Hum an beings hav e been collaborating since the first m astodon hunt, but today there is m ore collaboration than ev er. From the m arketplace to the battlefield, no one’s going it alone. The difference now is that we are where Marshall McLuhan and Alv in Toffler said we’d be — the world is an electronic v illage in which the power of sm all groups to disrupt the status quo is soaring and response tim es are fast approaching zero. Digital technology has changed ev ery thing. Or has it? Technology is an essential elem ent of collaboration, but it’s no silv er bullet. It can take out the friction, but in this era of big data, there are still plenty of big collaborativ e failures. What m akes collaboration so hard? It necessitates reaching across boundaries, building trust quickly , joining the assets of m ultiple networks, and m aking ev ery thing work together. All in an env ironm ent where y ou m ay hav e little or no form al authority , y et face the challenge of ov ercom ing legacy sy stem s, slow-m ov ing bureaucracies, and m ind-sets that fav or collaboration only as a last resort. In short, successful collaboration requires leadership. This excerpt from a book by Cisco executiv es Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese explains the key behav iors that leaders m ust exhibit to support and enhance collaboration. Ev ery leader looking to unpack the riddle of collaboration and chart a sure path forward should read it. — Zachary Tumin and William Bratton An excerpt from Chapter 2 of The Collaboration Imperative: Executive Strategies for Unlocking Your Organization’s True Potential In order to becom e a chief cataly st for collaboration, y ou will hav e to m odel behav iors that em body the way y ou’d like y our em ploy ees to work. For 1 50 y ears, corporations, gov ernm ents and m ilitaries were built for up-and-down leadership, with incentiv es and rewards that discouraged cross-organization thinking and, in m any cases, actually created or encouraged internal com petition. Your challenge is to dev elop and m odel the behav iors required to inspire people and team s to genuinely break through organizational silos and m ake collaboration a com petitiv e adv antage. How y ou lead y our people has a direct im pact on y our ability to elim inate or m itigate the ty pes of hum an behav iors that slow organizations down. In our experience, both inside Cisco and with our custom ers, highly collaborativ e leaders share four leadership traits. They : Focus on authentic leadership and eschew passiv e aggressiv eness Relentlessly pursue transparent decision m aking View resources as instrum ents of action, not as possessions Codify the relationship between decision rights, accountability and rewards Focus on authentic leadership and eschew passive aggressiveness. For collaboration to succeed, leaders need to be authentic. Cisco studied which characteristics of leaders on collaborativ e team s are m ost im portant, and we found that the m ost critical attribute was a leader’s willingness to follow through on com m itm ents. This inv olv es two elem ents. First, as a leader of a team , departm ent or business unit with people, budgets and resources under y our control, y ou m ust follow through on organizational com m itm ents. Unfortunately , people don’t alway s do what they prom ise. Passiv e aggressiv eness is a subtle, nuanced form of hum an behav ior in which people find way s to underm ine others. They often giv e tacit agreem ent in a m eeting, for exam ple, but then proceed to take counterproductiv e action once the m eeting is ov er. Or they m ight agree to help another team , but then are slow to follow through or put an underperform er on the assignm ent. Think of how m uch organizational inertia is created because leaders don’t alway s do what they say they will do. Second, when there is disagreem ent about a decision — one m ade by y ou or som eone else — fight the instinct to m ake it personal. Ultim ately , m ost disagreem ents are not personal in nature, but rather result from differing approaches to m aking a decision. The m ore y ou focus on com m unicating what driv es y our decision m aking, the m ore tim e y ou can spend m aking good decisions instead of arguing a choice with a peer. This leads us to the next leadership trait. Relentlessly pursue transparent decision making. Decisions are alway s about m aking choices; it’s critical that y ou are clear about how y ou m ake them . Tell people y our sty le and thought process for nav igating tricky , or ev en ev ery day , decisions. In our experience, and this is backed up by research, there’s a direct relationship between the agility and resilience of a team and the transparency of its decision-m aking processes. When y ou’re open and transparent about the answers to three questions — who m ade the decision, who is accountable for the outcom es of the decision, and is that accountability real — people in organizations spend far less tim e questioning how or why a decision was m ade. Think of how m uch tim e is wasted ferreting out details when a decision is m ade and com m unicated because the people who are affected don’t know who m ade the decision or who is accountable for its consequences. … As a leader, y our responsibility is to docum ent the key decision paths of y our organization and com m unicate them to y our team as often as y ou can. There was a tim e in business when hoarding inform ation was a source of organizational power. Today , the inv erse is true if y ou want to m otiv ate a team that is increasingly m obile, global and socially driv en. Explain the guiding principles of y our decision-m aking sty le at each stage of y our organization’s decision paths. Share y our biases and tell war stories of how y our successes and failures shaped these biases. We often hear the phrase “intelligent risk taking” — nothing em powers people to take good risks m ore than understanding the conditions for taking the risk in the first place. Transparent decision m aking is critical to em powering y our people. View resources as instruments of action, not as possessions. The prom ise of flexibility and agility as an organization, inspired by establishing shared goals across organizational boundaries, is only attainable if y ou back it up by sharing resources as well. It’s hardly a new observ ation that people som etim es stockpile resources around their business unit or departm ent, or are slow — perhaps ev en hesitant — to share those resources with other departm ents. There m ight ev en be incentiv es in place that discourage sharing. For as long as com panies hav e pursued profits, the size of one’s organization has defined the size of one’s financial opportunity . But are y our resources truly applied as optim ally as possible to y our m arket opportunities in a way that best serv es the total business? By unlocking these trapped resources, organizations can m ore quickly and successfully pursue em erging m arket opportunities. Hav ing a com m on approach to assess and com m unicate resource decisions is critical to creating a transparent env ironm ent am ong leaders. The m ore transparent the env ironm ent, the m ore willing leaders will be to share resources in support of the shared goals of the entire business, and the harder it will be for resisters to hoard them . This shift in approach is not an easy one for leaders to m ake and requires a balancing act between clear expectations, patience and follow through. Ultim ately , it’s as m uch a m indset as it is a process. The fundam ental enablers of collaborativ e leadership are v iewing resources as instrum ents of action rather than as possessions and aligning y our com pany ’s larger shared goals to an accountability sy stem that includes rewards and incentiv es for working together effectiv ely . Codify the relationship between decision rights, accountability and rewards. Modeling the desired collaborativ e behav iors — showing y our em ploy ees that y ou walk the talk — is the goal. But what happens when y ou’re not around? The m ore these behav iors are codified into an end-to-end sy stem across y our organization, the greater the odds of collaboration succeeding when y ou’re not there to reinforce cultural norm s. As y ou define the decision paths of y our organization and build a com m on v ocabulary to m ake those decision paths as transparent as possible, take the tim e to establish clear param eters. Who gets to m ake decisions? Are all decisions tied to funding? These are the ty pes of questions to which ev ery one m ust know the answers. Publish the param eters for these decision rights and tell people which leaders hav e these rights — that inform ation is crucial to breaking through any consensus logjam ; decision-rights holders should hav e 51 percent of the v ote when collaborativ e team s can’t reach natural agreem ent. Hav ing published decision rights is just one elem ent of an accountability sy stem . While it’s nev er pleasant to talk about the consequences of poor decisions, the reality is that to succeed, collaboration dem ands m ore distributed and em powered actions across y our organization. With that em powerm ent com es not only m ore good outcom es but also the increased potential for bad ones. You will need to consider new way s of gaining input from team s on the quality of collaborativ e decision m aking and reward people who consistently m ake good decisions in a collaborativ e env ironm ent. As part of their ov erall perform ance m anagem ent, ev ery Cisco em ploy ee is m easured by peers and their m anagers on their collaboration factor, the result of which directly im pacts how their perform ance is rated and, ultim ately , the size of their total com pensation. Other factors that determ ine the size of bonuses are tied to how well em ploy ees collectiv ely perform in achiev ing certain shared goals that Cisco establishes annually , such as custom er-satisfaction m etrics and financial results. Collaborativ e cultures not only foster team work, they also reward it. Perform ance m easures m ust strike a balance between how well em ploy ees carry out their indiv idual roles and how m uch they contribute to collectiv e outcom es. — Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese Reprinted with perm ission of the publisher. Copy right ©2 01 2 Cisco Sy stem s Inc. THE REVIEWERS Zachary Tumin is the coauthor, with William Bratton, of Collaborate or Perish! Reaching across Boundaries in a Networked World (Crown Business, 2012). He leads the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ project in Information and Communications Technology and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School and directs the Harvard component of a joint Harvard–MIT initiative in cybersecurity. William Bratton is chairman of Kroll Inc., a leading security and risk consultancy owned by Altegrity, Inc. Previously, Bratton was police commissioner of Boston and New York City, and police chief of Los Angeles. He is also the coauthor of Turnaround: How America’s Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic (with Peter Knobler, Random House, 1998). THIS BOOK The Collaboration Imperative: Executive Strategies for Unlocking Your Organization’s True Potential (Cisco Systems, 2011), by Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese Ron Ricci is vice president of corporate positioning at Cisco Systems Inc. He is also the coauthor of Momentum: How Companies Become Unstoppable Market Forces (with John Volkmann, Harvard Business School Press, 2003). Carl Wiese is senior vice president at Cisco Systems Inc., and leader of its multibillion-dollar global collaboration business. He is a veteran computer, data, and telecommunications industry executive with more than 25 years of experience in sales, marketing, services, and product management.