Creating a collaborative environment

Inspire, enable & support each other as we learn every day

This post shares a very practical approach to creating a collaborative environment to inspire, enable and support each other as we learn every day.

Picture a traditional wedding cake; it has many layers, is often the same taste on every layer, it is heavy and it is a traditional style and structure. Now let’s consider other types of cake, like cupcakes. What emotions do cupcakes conjure up? Variety of flavours, colourful and bite sized;
yum yum!

Training at work can be viewed like the old style wedding cake, a big event for a large group of people, a big meal, some speeches (some better than others!), the cake and some dancing…..OK not all training has dancing, but the best ones do have music!

The problem we see in many organisations is that there isn’t a collaborative environment in which to learn.

But this is what people want.

Only a handful of professionals take ownership of this and will create and nurture such an environment - they are the top 5% in their competitive set.

But why do the majority fail to do it? Responses include; I don’t know how, it might be too hard, I’m too busy (which is the default response for so many!).



One really practical way to create a collaborative environment is to take a tool many of us may use
for our Fitness Classes and apply it to our business environment. I go to an amazing place called Fitness Flex for boot camp and box camp classes, and two reasons why it is so amazing are 1) the interaction with the people who participate and 2) classes run from 5.20am to 9pm at night and you can switch in and out of classes by using the Team Up app. So frankly, I have no excuse not to turn up and ‘I’m too busy’ is revealed as the excuse it really is! Guess what? I attend the classes which work for my schedule, keep going back and build my fitness.

I’m sure there are many apps and platforms like Team Up, so select the one which can work for you and your colleagues.

Here are 3 easy steps to creating a collaborative environment to inspire, enable and support each other to learn every day:

1. Ask colleagues who would be willing to participate in: coaching sessions, lunch and learn sessions and rehearsals before big events.
2. Go to https://www.teamup.com (free edition exists) and set up 3 x type of events which offer coaching, lunch and learn or rehearsal slots. Select the re-occurring dates and times to help build habits and routines and offer a variety of times of the day and days of the week to give choice.
3. Ask people to ‘sign in’ to Team Up and select the sessions/events they wish to participate in.
   
   
   
   Like many things, start small and then build it up. It’s okay if some events/sessions are not used, or if only a few people use them to start with. Look to spread the word, ask people to share their experiences with others and nurture the collaborative environment you are creating.
   
   #coaching #performance #teams #learning
   
   I would love to hear from you and to hear your experiences, as you create and nurture a collaborative environment to learn every day. So add a comment and share a picture or image of what agility means to you.
   
   Please also like and share this article. So you can inspire, enable and support your friends and network so they too can get also enjoy the benefits of learning every day and being fit for the future.