THE ART OF WORKING TOGETHER EFFECTIVELY
SIX GROUP RITUALS FOR COLLABORATIVE WORKING
David Corbet and Ian Roberts, Greengage Consulting Ltd
GREENGAGE
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ABOUT GREENGAGE
At Greengage we are committed to helping individuals and organisations work together
more effectively. Over the last seven years we have identified, developed and tested a set of
practical skills for collaborative working that anyone can learn and apply. Understanding and
using these skills will transform the way you work with colleagues, partners and customers.
Whether you need to …..
transform personal, team or organisational performance
change the culture of your organisation
develop effective partnerships
clarify strategies and plans
build relationships with customers or communities
improve significantly your meetings, seminars or conferences
….. the skills of collaborative working can help you
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INTRODUCTION
How much time do you spend in meetings or in conversations with colleagues, customers or
partners? The chances are that you spend over 80% of your time on these activities. What
training or coaching have you ever had in how to make the best use of this time? Probably
very little. Yet your ability to work collaboratively with others is one of the key drivers of
success whether you work in the public sector or in business. Successful organisations are
those that can build a culture of trust, openness and creativity amongst the people they
work with and can get people and organisations to work
together effectively. However, many organisations suffer
from real problems in working collaboratively; ineffective
For more information
communication between individuals and departments, on personal behaviours see the
meetings that drag on and fail to achieve much, poor Greengage booklet
relationships between key individuals, lack of clarity and
Change begins with you and
vision.
me
Five personal behaviours for collaborative working
The good news is that the skills of collaborative working
are not just accidental. There are tried and tested
personal behaviours and group rituals that will improve your skill at working effectively
with colleagues, partners and customers. These behaviours and rituals are seldom taught
but can easily be learnt and applied. This booklet gives a brief introduction to six group
rituals that will transform your ability to work effectively with and through others.
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THE ART OF WORKING TOGETHER EFFECTIVELY
Six Group Rituals for Collaborative Working
All groups of people have certain patterns of behaviour or “rituals” that they follow. For
example, any group will have a ritual for how the agenda for a meeting is put together. Many
of these group rituals will be unwritten and unexamined. They may have come about by
accident without any consideration of whether they are suitable. Others will simply be out of
date, inappropriate and ineffective. The ways we run meetings stem from a time when
society was more hierarchical with less of an expectation that the views of others would be
taken into account. Not surprisingly, many of the common group rituals we observe do not
help collaborative working.
For example, how many times have you
attended a meeting to find an agenda that has
been put together by only one or two people
and which didn’t cover the real issues that are
of concern to you? The important business is
then dealt with in conversations in the
corridor beforehand or under “any other
business” when everyone is too tired to give
proper attention to the conversation.
Similarly, we have observed meetings in which
there is healthy and wide-ranging discussion
but there is no effective ritual for collective
actions to be agreed.
Heaven or Hell?
There is an old Chinese story about a man who was granted
permission to visit both heaven and hell. He visited hell first of all and
found hundreds of people sat at a banquet table with a sumptuous
array of dishes set before them. On their faces he saw emotions that
ranged from dejection to frustration and even anger. In their hands
they held arm length chopsticks. He observed one man as he strained
to bring the end of the chopsticks with the food to his mouth. As
hard as he tried he could not get one morsel of food past his lips. The
chopsticks were just too long.
Next he visited heaven. What did he find but exactly the same scene.
Same table, same banquet, same chopsticks, even the people looked
the same. There was however one small difference. This time all of
the people were feeding each other and the emotions he saw were of
joy, happiness and fulfilment.
It is remarkable he noted how similar people with the same resources
in the same situation can get such an entirely different result just from
one small change in behaviour.
We can benefit from new group rituals which
reflect the greater need to work together effectively. We need rituals that allow all
participants to contribute. In other words, to work collaboratively, we need collaborative
group rituals.
Fortunately, there are some simple rituals that can be adopted by any group that will
transform the ability of the group to work together effectively. Although these rituals may
seem like common sense they are not often common practice. The six rituals described
below are applicable to groups of all sizes, from one-to-one conversations to large
conferences involving hundreds of people. When used consistently they will improve the
quality of both discussion and decision making, create more open, action orientated and
collaborative meetings and dramatically improve the performance of a group.
The Six Group Rituals
Clarify Purpose and outcomes
Get the right People involved
Create an inclusive Agenda
Design the meeting
Manage the conversation to create Dialogue
Agree Actions and Accountability
aide memoir …. PPADDA…. (pronounced Papa – Dada)
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Ritual 1. Clarify purpose and outcomes
Lewis Carroll wrote – “If you don’t know where you are going any road will get you there.”
Many meetings are like this. Nobody is quite clear what the purpose of the meeting is and as
a consequence the agenda is rambling and the wrong people are involved. Often all that is
needed is to simply ask the question, “what are we trying to achieve?” It is not uncommon
to ask a group why they are meeting and to get a reply along the lines of “because it’s
Tuesday!” A clear statement of purpose is what enables you to identify who you need to
work with and where the meeting should focus its attention. This is not the same as planning
the agenda. The agenda is the “what” of the meeting but the purpose is the “why.”
An example will help to illustrate the point. We helped a Try this – clarify purpose
client plan a large partnership meeting. The apparent If you are responsible for organising a
conference or workshop, ask
purpose of the meeting was to approve the terms of meeting,
these questions: “What is the purpose of
reference for the partners. A draft document had been this meeting?” “What are we collectively
to achieving?” and “What are
circulated but few comments had been made by the committed
the outcomes we require from the
partners. Our client anticipated no real problems getting meeting?”
you are part of a group that meets
the document approved at the meeting. However, he knew Ifregularly
it is useful to ask this question
that privately the partners had some real concerns about of the group when it forms and then at
intervals once the group is
the document. After careful consideration it became clear regular
running
that the one outcome of the meeting was simply to
approve the document but a second outcome was to
Try this - Whose behaviour are you trying
to change?
generate real commitment to the terms of reference.
One useful question when clarifying purpose is
As a consequence the meeting was designed to create
“whose behaviour are you trying to change? The
answer to this question often reveals the hidden
an open dialogue between partners, had an agenda
commitment that will drive the purpose and
designed to flush out partners concerns, was harder
outcomes of a meeting.
work but ultimately had a more fruitful result.
Time spent coming up with a clear statement of purpose might seem tedious but can save
many frustrating hours in meetings which seem to go nowhere. In essence a clear statement
of purpose and outcomes is what gives the meeting focus and a group without this clarity is
like a ship with five captains and no clear destination.
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Ritual 2. Get the right people involved
In any collaborative situation it is necessary to make sure the right people are involved. By
the “right people” we do not mean the “usual suspects.” We mean the people who must be
involved if the purpose and outcomes are to have any chance of being met. Consideration
needs to be given to who can bring commitment, resources, information or influence to the
table. This is an obvious question but one that is often overlooked. Meetings can fail because
necessary and influential individuals are missing,
Try this – structure follows purpose
undermining the confidence of a group that it will Ask these two questions when forming any large group
bring about any change. On the other hand, we to work on a common task:
have seen meetings that have ended in chaos 1) Who needs to be involved to ensure this group can
because some of those involved did not share a achieve its purpose at this time?
2) How can we structure the group in a way that
common commitment to the purpose of the everyone can usefully contribute without undermining
the ability of a group to operate?
meeting.
This exercise presumes that the purpose of the group is
The larger a meeting the more difficult it will be clear. If this is not the case (and it often isn’t in our
experience) the group will need to work on clarifying
to manage. However, the participants must what it is committed to before this exercise can
represent the full range of interests across the successfully be completed. Even then it will be
necessary to revisit the same questions as a group
subject, or the legitimacy of the group could be develops and it tackles new challenges.
undermined.
For larger groups it may be
necessary to consider how the group is
structured so that everyone can contribute without undermining the ability of the group to
operate. For example, whilst it is perfectly feasible to run a meeting of fifty people to share
information or generate ideas a much smaller group may be needed to analyse options and
make decisions. The tendency is to confuse the two tasks and artificially limit the size of the
group rather than recognise that the two differing roles need two differing styles of meeting.
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Ritual 3. Create an inclusive agenda
How many meetings have you attended where you looked at the agenda and sighed with
dissatisfaction? The agenda is littered with items that are of no interest to you and the issues
you really want to discuss aren’t on the agenda at all! You plough through the agenda and
find that by the time you reach “any other business” everyone is too tired to discuss the
pressing matter you want to raise. This kind of agenda is old technology and it is not suitable
if we want to work collaboratively. We need a ritual for inclusive agenda planning that
reflects the real priorities of all those involved rather than the priorities of a minority.
One very effective ritual is to create a common agenda in the run up to each meeting
through a round of conversations seeking clarity on which are the important issues and how
these issues are best dealt with. Alternatively, for some meetings, the agenda can be created
live at the beginning of the meeting. This can be completed through a simple “concerns and
expectations” exercise (see box.) This
Try This - Concerns and Expectations
exercise takes around five minutes to
Given the purpose of the meeting, ask each participant to state:
learn and has the capacity to improve

What he or she would like to get out of the meeting
dramatically the focus of any meeting.

What concerns he or she has relevant to the meeting
There is Try this – inclusive agenda planning
These “concerns and expectations” are listed, usually on a flipchart
often a
so everyone can see them. In our experience a few common
great
This technique is particularly useful for
themes will be shared by many of the participants. Most
importantly, a common agenda for the meeting can be drawn out
sense of groups that meet regularly.
.
relief
Ask each person to write down the three
they most want to see on the agenda
when the common expectations of the group are shared or things
over the next few months. Feed these back
when a concern that has been buried away in the back of and use the material to plan the forward
If the agenda items are fed back on
people’s minds finally makes it onto the agenda. This in agenda.
post-its they can be grouped together so
itself starts to build a capacity for dialogue in the group as that priority areas for discussion can be
they realise that their agendas aren’t so different after all. identified easily.
We have seen this exercise transform an otherwise unruly, argumentative “mob” into an
ordered and committed meeting just through the realisation that they all want to talk about
the same things - often not what is on the prepared agenda.
The concerns and expectations exercise can also be used to appraise an existing agenda,
thereby ensuring ‘buy in’ to the business of the meeting. This is a particularly important
ritual when trying to include people who are unused to contributing. This is one of the most
powerful group rituals we have come across. Using this ritual can dramatically improve the
outcome of any meeting. If you only try one idea from this booklet make it this one.
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Ritual 4 – Design the meeting
Collaborative meetings need to be designed so that everyone can participate effectively. For
example, large meetings may need specific techniques so that everyone’s views are captured.
Some subjects may benefit from “non-verbal” ways of contributing information. The venue,
style and timing of meetings, the use of jargon, real or perceived power imbalances between
participants all impact on the ability of people to contribute. Two key issues are important in
designing any meeting.
The size of the meeting.
In our experience a meeting of more than about eight people needs a more sophisticated
approach than the old technology of discussion around a table. Consider a group of twelve
people meeting for two hours. That gives around ten minutes of “airtime” to each person.
Alternatively, if the meeting splits into four groups for discussion of some agenda items there
are four conversations happening in the room instead of one. Each person will have more
time to contribute. Similarly, even if we have a meeting of forty people in five groups of
eight, each person will still have time to contribute their Try this – small groups
thoughts and ideas. We have used group discussion and
feedback techniques with groups as large as a hundred and For larger meetings split into smaller
groups for discussion then feed back.
fifty people with each person still able to make their The questions posed to the small
groups need to be very clearly stated
contribution.
for this technique to work well.
The communication style of the participants.
Not everyone absorbs information in the same way. Some people communicate best
through listening, others through diagrams, some through the written word. It is important
to consider this when preparing information to be presented at a meeting.
One of our clients, a senior civil servant, wanted to bring a particular project to the
attention of his minister. He presented a review of the project complete with photos,
financial projections, objectives and outcomes
but failed to rouse any particular interest
from the minister. A few weeks later he met
For more information on the design of
the minister in the lift. He told her an participatory meetings see
anecdote about one of the people involved in
The Power in Our Hands
Tony Gibson
the project. She immediately showed interest Participatory Workshops
Robert Chambers
and asked for details of the project to be sent
to
her
Try this – presentations and reports
office. By chance he had discovered that the
Ask anyone who is to make a presentation
minister communicated best through stories and
or give a report to a meeting to reflect on
what the purpose of their presentation is
anecdotes, something he put to good use in later
and what precisely they want from the
presentations.
group. Do they want ideas, debate or
simply need a decision?
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Ritual 5. Manage the conversation to create dialogue
Many groups need significant help to create a productive conversation. This role often falls
to the chair of the meeting, although it should be recognised that many chairs are poorly
prepared for the role. The most basic task is to keep the group focused on the purpose and
agenda of the meeting. In addition there are three other aspects to this task.



Making sure everyone can and does participate
Ensuring a balance between clarifying commitment, assessing information, discussing
solutions, taking decisions and agreeing actions
Dealing with concerns, frustrations and breakdowns
Making sure everyone can and does participate
Imagine each participant in a meeting holding one piece of a jigsaw puzzle, part of a bigger
picture held by the group as a whole. If a few
people dominate the conversation it is equivalent Try this – go around the table
a few members of the group tend to dominate or
to paying attention to one part of the picture Ifsome
members are not fully contributing this
without any awareness of the bigger picture. Only technique can be of great value. The group is
with a specific question and all present
when all participants contribute can we be clear presented
are encouraged to express their view each in turn.
which parts of the picture really deserve our It is also useful to introduce a few ‘guidelines for
such as the ones presented below;
attention. It is important to have some simple dialogue’, For
those speaking
techniques to make sure that everyone contributes
Speak from experience
Be succinct
before a judgement is made about where the
For those listening
conversation should gravitate.
Don’t judge
Don’t interrupt
One simple technique we have found to be of great value is simply going around the table to
get each person’s view in turn. Experience suggests that this collaborative process of
understanding each other can lead the conversation in an entirely different and more fruitful
direction than that expected by the dominant members of the group.
Ensuring a balance between clarifying commitment, assessing information,
exploring solutions, taking decisions and agreeing actions
The conversation in many of the meetings we observe Try this – balance the conversation
resembles a mental pin-ball machine rather than Present to the group the following problem
solving process:
constructive dialogue. The conversation veers from

Clarify commitment
information to ideas to actions and back again without

Assess information
any particular order. As much as 75% of the time might

Explore solutions
be given to assessing information and as little as 10% of

Take decisions

Agree actions
the time to clarifying commitment and exploring
solutions. By managing the time that is spent on each of Discuss how much time the group would like to
these conversations, meetings can be made more give to each of these conversations
balanced and more productive. The key to this is to be
clear which conversation is being held at any one time.
Dealing with concerns, frustrations and confrontations
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Breakthroughs do not come without a few breakdowns along the way. Sometimes it is
uncomfortable to deal with the most important and delicate issues. We have all experienced
meetings where there are feelings of frustration,
anger and even fear. You may have felt these Try this – The poison is the medicine
If you experience frustration, concern or even anger in a
yourself or observed them in others. You spot a meeting or you see these in others, it is natural to want
concern but do not feel that you can express it to ignore these feelings or smooth over any difficulties.
However, a more productive approach involves
openly. These buried concerns erode trust and expressing or voicing the concern as it arises. This takes
undermine the capacity for collaborative working. courage but can transform a meeting. We have observed
groups that have used a bell to call a break in the
Individuals may withdraw their commitment or proceedings. Each person is then invited to express how
become cynical about the effectiveness of the they feel about the point being discussed. We have seen
this technique unearth long hidden issues that were
group. Confrontations can emerge fuelled by blocking progress for the group. This approach can lead
tensions that were created by earlier unresolved to significant breakthroughs. It is essential that concerns
are expressed honestly but without blame or personal
concerns.
Without dealing with the most attacks.
uncomfortable issues it is often impossible to
make a real breakthrough in the group’s thinking.
Consequently, bringing concerns out into the open is
fundamental to building an environment of trust. By
voicing a concern as it arises and getting to the bottom of
it, the group can introduce a new perspective in its
thinking. Trust is generated and the capacity for the group
to work together openly is enhanced. When the concern
is seen as a source of creative friction it becomes an
opportunity to change, rather than a barrier to progress.
Try this - Use a facilitator
The next time your group has a crisis or finds
an issue difficult to deal with, suggest that you
invite a professional facilitator to help the
group work through the problem. Use this as
an opportunity to raise the idea of using a
facilitator to help the group develop.
Try this – personal behaviours
Try reading the Greengage booklet
Change begins with you and me
Five personal behaviours for collaborative working
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Ritual 6. Agree Actions and Accountability
Meetings often end with little clarity on actions, responsibilities and deadlines. Even where
actions are identified they often come from one or two dominant individuals. Ensuring that
meetings end ‘in action’ and that these actions represent the diverse views of the group is an
essential ritual for collaborative working. Whilst this sounds like common sense, sadly it is
not common practice.
One very effective exercise that allows any group
to create a common action plan from a diverse
and complex discussion is described in the
inclusive action plans box.
Try this – inclusive action plans
Before the end of a meeting ask each individual present to list
three actions that they would like to see from the discussion that
has taken place.
It is important that each person works alone to prevent the more
senior or vocal characters in the group dominating the action
planning process.
As with the concerns and expectations exercise
Each action is presented on a separate ‘post-it’ note. The post-its
earlier there is tremendous value in allowing are then gathered and clustered so that similar or supporting
people to see that their ideas for action are actions are grouped together. It is often possible to arrange the
post-its in a sort of time line so that the actions form a coherent
similar or different from other people’s. What action plan. Responsibilities and deadlines are then agreed.
had seemed like an incoherent rambling
discussion often leads to a clear action plan through this technique as different individuals
recognise the various elements of what needs to be done. This technique also avoids overdominance by a few vocal individuals or an unhelpful deference to the more senior people at
the meeting.
Furthermore, it is clearly important to follow up on actions. Following up actions creates a
climate of authenticity in the group. If people aren’t held accountable for following through
actions to which they have agreed this can create an environment where it is easier to say
“yes” rather than deal with some uncomfortable concerns. This undermines the ability of the
group to face up to those difficult situations Try this – accountability
Sadly, this is another basic discipline that is common sense
when it is necessary to say no.
but not always common practice. When people know that
they will be asked the simple question “Did you do what
you said you would do?” the atmosphere changes. What
might have been a woolly talking shop will be transformed
into a focused, energised and effective group.
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The collaborative organisation
There are four arenas for change to take place in any organisation, as described below. In
creating the collaborative organisation it is necessary to reflect on the changes in all four
arenas. Failure to change in any of these can undermine the development of a collaborative
culture in the organisation.
Organisational Leadership
Declaring the “new game” of collaborative working. Demonstrating the commitment of the
people at the top through what they say and what they do.
Managerial systems and structures
Changes to the systems and structures of the organisation that support, promote or reward
collaborative working. This might include changes to staff appraisal and training, budget
processes, revision of protocols and procedures.
Group Rituals
Changes to the way meetings and other group tasks are run that support collaborative
working, such as inclusive agenda planning and inclusive action planning as described in this
booklet.
Personal Behaviour
Changes to personal behaviour that support collaborative working as described in the
Greengage booklet Change begins with you and me – five personal behaviours for
collaborative working.
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Some examples of our work
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Developing an internal culture change team and training programme for Leicester
City Council
Drafting a strategy for embedding sustainable development at the UK Government’s
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Building a cross functional team responsible for the development of Leicester city
centre
Identifying techniques to improve collaborative working in the developing world for
the UK Government’s Department for International Development
Working with 14 countries at the OECD to develop and agree policies for overseas
aid
Training in collaborative working for staff at London Borough of Lambeth
Designing and facilitating a regional conference on sustainable development for the
North West Regional Assembly
Developing a “making meetings work” training programme for Quanta Training Ltd
Developing a more inclusive partnership structure and working arrangements for
Leicester Partnership
Training in partnership working for staff at Nottinghamshire County Council
Facilitating stakeholder meetings in the development of a community strategy for
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Assisting in the development of strategic plans for Lincolnshire Enterprise
Facilitating a users forum for Blackburn and Darwen Primary Care Trust
For more details of our work and a full list of our clients visit our website
www.greengageconsulting.ltd.uk
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GROUP RITUALS FOR COLLABORATIVE WORKING
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