...rants by Asheesh Mehdiratta on Coaching, Transformation and Change

Category: leadership

5 Collaboration Hacks Every Team Leader Must Try!

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Photo by Dio Hasbi Saniskoro on Pexels.com

Are you a leader looking for fresh ways to boost teamwork and collaboration in your team? Gone are the days of sticking to the basics. These simple yet creative strategies can bring your team closer, high-performing and make collaboration effortless.


1. Role-Swap Days: Build Empathy

Want your team to understand each other better? Let them switch roles for a day. It’s a powerful way to build empathy and uncover fresh ideas.

Example: A UX designer worked with customer support for a day. They gained real insight into customer pain points, which inspired better product design.


2. Silent Meetings: Inclusive and Efficient

Tired of loud meetings where only a few people talk? Try “silent meetings.” Team members share their thoughts by typing them into a shared document or chat. It’s perfect for capturing input from everyone, especially introverts.

Example: A tech team used silent brainstorming for new feature ideas. The result? Creative ideas and a more inclusive discussion.


3. Random Collaboration Days: Break Silos

Teams often get stuck in their bubbles. A “random collaboration day” pairs employees from different departments to solve challenges together. It encourages creativity and cross-functional learning.

Example: A software developer teamed up with marketing to simplify technical jargon in user guides, improving customer satisfaction.


4. Walking One-on-Ones: Natural Conversations

Swap office chairs for walking shoes during one-on-one meetings. Walking reduces stress, sparks creativity, and leads to more open discussions.

Example: A tech lead noticed walking meetings helped their team open up about challenges, leading to better solutions and trust.


5. Gamify Problem-Solving: Add Fun to Work

Turn problem-solving into a fun competition. Gamification can energize the team and make work exciting.

Example: A team organized a “Bug Bash” challenge where developers competed to fix the most bugs. The outcome? A better codebase and energized developers.


Conclusion

Collaboration doesn’t have to be complicated. Small changes, like role swaps or silent meetings, can create a huge impact on teamwork.

What is your favorite collaboration hack ? Have you tried any ?

Ready to empower your team? Let’s chat! I specialize in helping leaders like you create high-performing, connected teams.

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Tribal maintaineance or Sprint Retrospectives : just another tribal ceremony?

Do you think that your sprint retrospective transitions the team to their cause ? or is it just another tribal ceremony?

The authors of Tribal Leadership talk about people forming tribes, which range from stages 1 to stage 5 (most evolved at stage 5). The tribal leaders in Stage 4/5 perform regular “tribal maintaineance”. But do you know that this tribal maintaineance ritual matches the sprint retrospectives feedback loop (which agile teams perform after every sprint)?

Stage 4/5 tribal leaders, who regularly perform these “tribal maintaineance” or “oil changes” (as the authors speak), ask these BIG questions –
1. what’s working well ?
2. what’s not working ?
3. what can we do to make the things that aren’t working, work ?

This indeed sounds familiar to the Agile Sprint Retrospective questions –
1. What worked well last Sprint that we should continue doing?
2. What didn’t work well last Sprint that we should stop doing?
3. What should we start doing?

But what’s the difference in these stage 4/5 tribes and agile sprint retrospectives ? Do agile sprint retrospectives miss anything?

I think that the major difference in these tribes vs the sprint team answering these similar questions, is that the tribe is indirectly answering more key questions – ” what’s our cause ?” and “what are we proud of ?”.

This tribal maintaineance activity provides the tribe a deeper understanding of their shared values. Once a tribe understands these shared values, the tribe members are united and therefore transition to a “we are great” tribe !! (stage 4), from a “I am great” (stage 3) !!

Thus this stage 4 melts all individual boundaries and the tribe members work collectively towards their noble cause. Surely Avatar’s on Pandora were a united tribe with a noble and heroic cause !!

But what about your sprint teams ? do they see their cause from a sprint retrospective or is it just another tribal ceremony?

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