Simply Collaborating

I found this sign on the internet, along with the accusation that it's patronising. At first glance that thought is understandable, but is there another way of looking at it?

When things go wrong it's often not caused by something massively complicated. That is why mistakes are often really frustrating - you can see what happened and how it could have been avoided. We don't know the background to this sign, and that is actually very important if it is to be understood. If managers created it and enforced it on workers without their feedback then there is a chance that it will cause more harm than good. However, if a team gathered together and came up with it as their own message then it will be really powerful. It will be meaningful and they will buy into it.

Teams need time to work these things out. They need time away from work to decide what is important to them if they are to be a great team. Very often the 'rules' that they come up with may seem simple to outsiders who have not been in the team to see what happens on a daily basis. When a team comes up with a principle and expresses it directly then there is no need for excessive words and this can seem overly directive to people who were not part of the process. That is not a problem.

This sign uses simple language to address simple ideas. There is no management speak and there are no buzzwords. It may well be an extremely effective sign. We can help your team to come up with their own set of rules with our Outstanding Teams programme - call us for further details.