Radical Collaboration : Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships

CHAPTER 18

GET REAL… 15 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO DAY TO IMPROVE YOUR ABILITY TO BE IN A RELATIONSHIP

All this Self-esteem mumbo jumbo and collaborative self-awareness stuff might be good at home, but I think it’s a bunch of BS here at work. I just expect people to get along and do their job.”

Abe, the plant manager, threw down the gauntlet right at the start of the meeting. He wasn’t a touchy-feely guy and he wasn’t impressed with what he called “California psychobabble.” It wasn’t the worst start we’ve had for a big team meeting, but it was pretty clear it was put-up-or-shut-up time for us.

So with Abe’s permission we did a little experiment with some of his employees. We asked for six volunteers and separated them into two teams. We gave each team ...