Listen to our free introductory teleclass on collaborative leadership!
(link to the recording)
During the demo section of the teleclass, follow along on the notes page to deepen your understanding of the Problem Solving Template.
Nearly every organization we know operates according to some version of the hierarchical system, which uses power and authority to accomplish things.
Although many have attempted to democratize their workplace by getting “flatter” and working in teams, power and authority remain the primary “currency” being traded. If you can accumulate enough power and authority in a hierarchical system, you can “win.” But as we know, a hierarchy concentrates power and authority in a few people at the very top. This prevents the rest of the organization from having the currency required to solve problems and accomplish goals. It makes working across the silos nearly impossible. And it makes the “leader” with the most power and authority essential.
Moreover, the degree of complexity in today’s fast-moving, global marketplace is simply beyond the capacity of the hierarchical approach. The interdependent, multi-faceted problems and opportunities facing leaders and organizations require a new system: one that engages workers by connecting the people with the information to those who make the decisions, and the people who make the decisions to those who implement them. The consultant who can help leaders and their organizations make the journey to the new paradigm will predominate.
The Solution: The Collaborative Operating System™
The Collaborative Operating System™ provides a compelling, scalable alternative to the hierarchical norm. It is a comprehensive, revolutionary approach to leading and managing organizations in the 21st century. It is designed for individuals, teams and organizations that want a sustainable, results-driven approach to work.
"COS is the greatest leadership training that exists.Through this course I learned to "see" the actual problem vs. just feeling it twisting in my gut. And I was given tools to unpack the problem, depersonalize it and free it up to a point where it could not only be solved, but solved by enthusiastic and engaged people. COS is the ultimate tool of hope for a world that works."
- Anne Marie Clear, Consultant
Clear Directions, Inc.
Ukiah, CA
Course Overview
This Collaborative Operating System™ Teleseminar is taught in 12 90-minute segments over a period of 12 weeks. Our real-work-in-real-time approach will provide participants the opportunity to engage actual, ongoing work projects and meetings within the context of this system so that their learning also generates relevant work results.
In this program, we teach participants to lead, manage, and structure all work according to the Five Elements of Collaboration:
- Identify the Problem
- Involve Relevant Stakeholders
- Meet Collaboratively
- Form the Team
- Make a Collaborative Plan
In teaching the Five Elements of Collaboration, we include step-by-step methods that enable groups and teams to make high-quality decisions, function together effectively, execute plans quickly, and create higher individual and collective commitment to shared goals.
Element One is the first step in every problem-solving effort. It ensures that there is, in fact, a problem, that the problem is worth solving, and that the group believes the problem can be solved. It also forges alignment around the problem which sets up alignment in every phase that follows. In Element Two of Collaboration, Involve Relevant Stakeholders, participants learn the basics of who to involve and how to involve them.
In Element Three, Meet Collaboratively, we teach participants how to design, facilitate, and participate in truly collaborative meetings - a fundamental component of collaborative work. Many leaders complain that they spend too much time in painful, unproductive meetings. These meetings lack focus, churn repeatedly around the same issues, and fail to generate productive action. Those leaders also report that work relationships tend to break down in their meetings, so they actually emerge from a meeting with less trust and respect than when they started.
Our collaborative approach to meetings is a strategic and systematic one that creates a high accountability workplace where trust, ownership, and alignment drive results. This is true for every meeting – whether two participants or 2000, formal or informal, live or via teleconference. This highly structured approach (which is paradoxically more flexible) enables even very large groups to work effectively by focusing everyone on the same topic, in the same way, at the same time.
Additionally, a collaborative meeting engages participants in a way that leverages their experience, knowledge, wisdom and creative capacity. This creates an environment in which work relationships truly thrive.
In Element Four, Form the Team, we focus on creating ownership and alignment for the goals, as well as the way people will work together to accomplish these goals. Form the Team is a critical step for any collaborative partnership, workgroup, or team because it ensures a successful working relationship. The absence of critical operational agreements is a consistent source of friction, missed commitments, poor communication, all of which are often diagnosed as “incompatible working styles”. Failure to properly make the necessary agreements prevents work groups from achieving their full potential.
The resulting breakdowns are difficult to recover from and can greatly undermine the work. Unlike the flimsy rules-making ritual that many groups use, the agreements made using The Collaborative Operating System™ are thorough and well-defined. And because they are made in a way that builds ownership and alignment, they last.
In Element Five, Make a Collaborative Plan, participants learn the basics of how to collaboratively structure and organize any project, regardless of size and complexity.
"The Collaborative Operating System™ teleseminar alone was well worth the time and money. But I've found even greater benefit in the follow up and support I continue to receive since the formal training ended. The COS team knows that the 'real world' doesn't often abide by a set of rules, so they keep the collaboration and training going for as long as you need it. I could not be happier with the results and being a COS graduate."
- Glenn Mauney, Carolinas Energy Policy Manager
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Atlanta, GA
Read our brochure and our whitepaper now.
Program Details & Logistics
- Prior to the training, participants are provided with 2-3 hours of reading material.
- There is a weekly rhythm to the training. On Tuesday, there is a 90-minute teleseminar conference call (which is recorded and can be listened to at any time) followed by:
- Approximately 60-90 minutes of homework
- A weekly partner call to review and complete homework
- A 60-minute practice call for homework support
- Approximately 15 minutes of reading preparation for the next 90-minute teleseminar call
- There will be approximately six Q&A calls where participants are invited to bring any issue or case material for which they’d like support. These calls will begin in September and continue as needed after the weekly teleseminar has concluded.
Tuesdays 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. PDT, August 28th, 2012 – November 13th, 2012
Program Investment:
$2,350 per participant (register by August 17th for only $1,850). We offer a 100% money-back guarantee if you attend the entire training and are not pleased.
Registration fees include:
- Twelve 90-minute educational teleseminars
- Participant training materials
- Weekly small-group learning support
- Six large-group Q&A support calls