Think One Team, 2nd Edition

embedding the five shares into team-to-team collaboration

Are you looking for a way to engage your team and colleagues in a conversation about strengthening teamwork and collaboration within and between teams?

The proven way to do this is through a three-step approach:

• Step 1: introduce the five shares model. The ‘five shares’ is the simplest way to introduce a ‘one-team conversation’ because it creates a practical and tangible framework instead of a general discussion about what ‘one team’ does or doesn’t mean.

  My advice is always to do this using an ‘above-the-line/below-the-line’ tool format that we call ‘Five Shares Quick Wins’. This tool, which is available to download at www.thinkoneteam.com, describes four behaviours or practices for each of the five shares (in other words, what teams do when they successfully collaborate across boundaries) and their opposites (when silo practices prevail). Later in this section we explore these behaviours and there are tips and extra tools to stimulate your conversations and actions.

• Step 2: identify and prioritise some quick wins. The specific behaviours and practices for each of the five shares sets up the opportunity to ask the team or group to identify ‘quick wins’ that can generate business improvement.

  Again, there is a simple way to do this and it was descri bed in the O’Donnell’s story when people did the ‘Stop, Start, Continue’ exercise. In other words, give people the list of behaviours and practices and ask them to define ...