Our understanding of the world is greatly limited.

Big challenges bring great complexity and a greater need to gather others’ perspectives.

Collaboration builds stronger relationships and buy-in.

“Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds.” Alexander Graham Bell

  • Do you truly want to see what you don’t currently see?
  • Our understanding of the world is greatly limited, and true collaboration is about seeing what we don’t currently see.

Confirmation bias, or seeking out information that validates our current beliefs, can disguise itself as curiosity and collaboration. This can create the Illusion of Collusion.

Your Robot can perceive collaboration as a threat to the Familiar Zone and sound alarms to avoid it.

We may also be hesitant to deeply collaborate out of fear of looking like we don’t already know.

Collaboration can be a clever way to avoid making a decision or having others to share the blame with.

The benefits of collaboration are making better decisions and building stronger relationships and buy-in.

  • Big challenges bring great complexity and a greater need to gather others’ perspectives.
  • It takes time to truly collaborate with others and receive valid results.

Collaboration takes more time – at least in the short term. If it leads to a better decision, it can save time later. But not always.

We have to do the cost/benefit analysis for the time investment required for collaboration. We simply don’t have enough time to collaborate on everything.

Collaboration can be a clever way to avoid making a decision or having others to share the blame with.

The benefits of collaboration are making better decisions and building stronger relationships and buy-in.

  • Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds.” - Alexander Graham Bell
  • Choosing to collaborate is important, but choosing who to collaborate with is just as important.

When searching for the right people to collaborate with, it helps to ask yourself these questions:

  • Who has a viewpoint different from mine?
  • Am I choosing someone just because they agree with me?
  • Will they tell me the truth?
  • Have I built enough emotional capital to ask them?
  • What are my blind spots, and who can see past them?
  • What skills don’t I have?

  1. State your intention to listen, learn, and collect information – not necessarily decide.
  2. State your issue.
  3. State your preferences or bias. If you know what you already want to do, ask for help in making sure you are not just confirming your own bias.
  4. Listen, take notes, ask questions, and practice active listening. Manage debates to avoid ideas being pushed aside or people feeling unsafe in offering their point of view.

Others invested their time and energy to help you, so make sure you show your appreciation by letting them know what the outcome was. This prevents the Illusion of Inclusion and builds Emotional Capital.