When developing collaborative people, mindset matters

The collaborative skills, know-how and behaviours of our people has never been more important, but we must not forget the significance of the collaborative mindset that needs to underpin it all.

Collaboration lies at the heart of progress, innovation and success. Whether it’s within organisations, across industries in teams or as individuals, the ability to work together effectively is paramount. But beyond skills, knowledge and behaviours there exists a deeper layer that drives authentic and sustainable collaboration: the collaborative mindset.

In this article, we explore why this mindset is critical and how it can transform the way we approach developing collaborative people.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Competition vs collaboration: rethinking how businesses innovate and grow report published in January 2023, the need to collaborate is compelling for both society and for business. WEF stated that “pressure on businesses to keep delivering is immense – and only collaborating and building ecosystems will ensure that growth and innovation persist”. Ensuring we approach tasks with a collaborative mindset means we are equipped to see this bigger picture and better able to solve complex challenges WEF identified effectively together.

So how do we ensure that our people and teams are set up to deliver collaboration well at the outset and increase the likelihood of success?

The ISO 44001 for Collaborative Working defines the need to consider numerous aspects of collaboration, including behaviours, from day one and this is increasingly recognised and actioned across project delivery. But we suggest that investing in the right mindset – an agile, collaborative mindset – compliments and strengthens this important aspect of collaboration. However, to do so requires a transformation of thought.

Collaboration is first and foremost a mindset

According to management innovator Steve Denning, the right mindset is where we need to start. Denning said that it hardly matters what tools and processes you are using; the agile mindset makes things come out right. He suggests that without that mindset, even with the right tools, no benefits will flow from the process.

Mindset is a foundation for who we choose to be, influencing how we see the world, situations we find ourselves in, impacting the decisions we make and the behaviours we display. It is therefore fundamental to the way we build relationships and behave and collaborate with others. Embracing a collaborative mindset enables us to make collaboration our natural default, allowing us to first be somebody collaborative so we can effectively collaborate in everything we do.

Discussions with Mott MacDonald’s partners and clients indicates that mindset is often included to some degree in leadership development programmes, induction and graduate programmes, even chartership requirements. However, the guidance provided tends to be more through the lens of personal growth and development, as opposed to collaboration within a project delivery context.

The development of collaborative mindset has underpinned the mobilisation strategy for a major energy alliance project we are supporting. The collaborative mindset culture was established using a values-based assessment for the team coupled with an alignment exercise of thought, purpose and behaviours to enhance outcomes. Through regular monitoring and feedback, we continue to support embedding the collaborative mindset within the project culture.

Developing a collaborative mindset as our default

To help develop people that have a more collaborative mindset as a default, Mott MacDonald has created an approach to explore and expand this foundational thinking for our own staff, as well as our teams and clients. The suite of services that support development of a collaborative mindset uses a variety of different business collaboration scenarios, to apply learning and improved self-awareness of our own mindsets and how this may impact our capacity to collaborate with others.

In developing these services, we have taken an experiential approach and used learning sprints applying a growth mindset in the evolution of a practical programme for individuals and teams. The aim is to equip people with the mindset management tools to continue learning about how best to apply collaboration and the collaborative mindset outside of the programme.

The opportunities associated with improved collaboration are significant and performance is likely to be higher when your mindset has been aligned to it. There are many facets to achieving successful collaboration and none of them should be considered in isolation, but we believe that the collaborative mindset is the simple, necessary foundation for success.

This article was first published in the Institute of Collaborative Working’s The Partner magazine in May 2024.