Genuine Collaboration: Every Voice Matters in People-First Culture
- Shenandoah Chefalo
- 3 days ago
- 9 min read
Table of Contents
More Than Just Working Together
Genuine collaboration: you know it when you feel it.
It’s mutual respect, shared goals, and a commitment to honesty and inclusion. It's what happens when all group members are recognized for their unique wisdom and work meaningfully toward shared goals with no pretense or hidden agenda. And it’s exhilarating.
This distinction matters because many workplaces confuse coordination with collaboration, or mistake “working together on a project” as genuine partnership. You can have people from different backgrounds in the room, but if the culture doesn't genuinely value their perspectives, it’s only performative. Genuine collaboration requires a fundamental shift in how we view power, wisdom, and decision-making within organizations.
What Genuine Collaboration Requires
Trust and the Belief That We Are Stronger Together
Genuine collaboration requires trust and agency, where team members feel they can make choices that are right for them. At the same time, everyone accepts responsibility for recognizing and remedying their mistakes.
This balance between agency and accountability is crucial. When people feel trusted to make decisions, they're more invested in the outcomes. They bring their full creativity and problem-solving skills to their work because they know their contributions will be valued and their decisions will be supported.
But agency without accountability can lead to chaos. Genuine collaboration requires that people take responsibility not just for their own work, but for the success of the team and organization as a whole. This means being willing to admit mistakes, learn from failures, and adjust course when necessary.
What agency sounds like
"I trust you to handle this however you think is best, and I'll support whatever you decide" followed by actually being supportive, even when you might have chosen differently.
What accountability looks like
When someone says, "I made a mistake on the project timeline estimate. Here's what I learned and how I'll adjust going forward," without making excuses or deflecting blame.
Practice this
Next time someone on your team makes a decision you wouldn't have made, resist the urge to critique or "fix" it immediately. Ask instead: "Help me understand your thinking on this approach."
Read more about personal accountability to a person-first workplace culture.
Defining “Expert”
It requires recognizing that valuable insights can come from anywhere in the organization. The person closest to the problem often has the clearest insight into potential solutions. The newest team member might offer a fresh perspective that challenges long-held assumptions, and the quietest voice in the room might carry the most wisdom.
Try asking
"Who else deals with this day-to-day?" or "What am I not seeing because I'm too close to this?"
Notice in yourself
When you feel defensive about a suggestion, pause and ask: "What if they're right? What could I learn here?"
Create space for quiet voices
End meetings by specifically asking, "Before we wrap up, let's hear from anyone who hasn't shared their thoughts yet."
What Genuine Collaboration Looks Like
Community Members Are Invited to Participate
Rather than being informed after decisions are made, people are brought into the process from the beginning. This means being intentional about whose voices are heard in decision-making processes and creating multiple ways for people to contribute, because not everyone expresses their best ideas in large group settings.
Input in pre-planning
Before your next big decision, ask: "Who will be affected by this?" Then reach out to those people with: "We're thinking about X. What questions should we be asking? What are we not considering?"
Multiple input methods
Decide what and how many methods you might use to solicit insights, depending on the scope and stake of the project. Send a brief survey before the meeting, offer one-on-one conversations for those who prefer them, create shared documents where people can add thoughts asynchronously, or use small group discussions that report back to the larger group.
Follow-up matters
Follow up on suggestions you receive and give feedback about why ideas were or weren't implemented. "Thanks for the suggestion about changing our client onboarding process. We tried it with three clients, and here's what we learned..." This shows people their input actually influences decisions.
Silos Shrink
Many organizations struggle with silos. Departments or teams often work in isolation from each other, sometimes even working at cross purposes. Breaking down silos requires more than just organizational restructuring; it requires changing how people think about their work and their relationships with colleagues.
Instead of protecting their territory or competing for resources, people see themselves as part of a larger mission that they can only accomplish together. This shift often starts with leadership modeling collaborative behavior, but it needs to be reinforced throughout the organization through policies, practices, and everyday interactions.
Silo-bridging behaviors
Regularly reaching out to other departments with "How does this decision affect your work?" or "What would be most helpful for your team?"
Language that connects
Instead of "That's not my department," try "Let me connect you with the right person and make sure they have context."
Cross-pollination practice
Monthly coffee chats with someone from a different department, or informal "lunch and learns" where teams share what they're working on.
Feedback Flows in All Directions
Mutual accountability becomes possible when people trust each other's intentions and commitment to shared goals. This means providing honest feedback, following through on commitments, and addressing issues directly rather than letting them fester.
Information flows up, down, horizontally to other departments, and both outside the organization and back in. Peer support programs thrive in these cultures because when everyone's wisdom is recognized, mutual support from peers becomes as valuable as professionalized or expert services.
Upward feedback that works
"I've noticed that when deadlines are changed at the last minute, it creates challenges for the whole team. Could we talk about ways to build in more buffer time?"
Peer feedback that builds
"I really appreciated how you handled that difficult client call. The way you acknowledged their frustration before presenting solutions made all the difference."
Honest but kind
"I want to share something that might be hard to hear, but I care about our working relationship..." followed by specific, actionable feedback.
Information sharing practice
End team meetings with "What from today's discussion should other teams know about?" and then actually share it.
Read more about leadership accountability to a person-first workplace culture
Collaborative Rituals Become Normal
Some organizations build collaboration into the everyday rhythms of organizational life. At Chefalo Consulting, we begin every meeting with a Community Meeting, a key ritual that consistently roots our team in emotional awareness, safety, and support. By starting meetings with a check-in about how people are feeling and what they need, teams can create space for the full humanity of each person to be present in their work together.
Simple check-in questions
"How are you arriving to this meeting today?" or "What do you need from us to do your best work in the next hour?"
Other collaborative rituals
Start project reviews with "What did we do well together?" before discussing what needs improvement
End meetings with "What's one thing someone else contributed today that helped you think differently?"
Begin brainstorming with "There are no bad ideas in the next 10 minutes"
These kinds of rituals help normalize collaboration as a way of being rather than just something you do for special projects.
What to Expect: The Reality of Genuine Collaboration
Expect to Go Slow
Collaboration takes longer than individual decision-making. When you're including multiple perspectives, having deeper conversations, and ensuring everyone understands the reasoning behind choices, the process inevitably takes more time upfront.
What this feels like
Decisions might take a few more days, and you might have several conversations before moving forward. You may catch yourself thinking, "It would be faster if I just decided this myself.” And you'll be right, in the short term.
Reframe the timeline
Instead of asking "How can we decide this faster?" ask "How can we make sure this decision sticks and gets implemented well?"
Prepare for Resistance
Not everyone immediately embraces collaborative approaches, especially in organizations with strong hierarchy or competitive cultures. Some people worry that collaboration will slow down decision-making or diminish their individual contributions.
Common pushback you'll hear
"We don't have time for all these meetings" or "Someone needs to just make a decision."
Address concerns directly
"I understand that concern. Let's try this approach on one project and see if it actually saves us time in the long run" or "What if we set clear boundaries around which decisions need input and which don't?"
Recognize valid points
Some decisions don't need extensive collaboration. Part of collaborative leadership is knowing when to collaborate and when to decide quickly.
These concerns are understandable but often stem from misunderstandings about what genuine collaboration actually involves. Good collaboration doesn't mean everyone has to agree on everything, or that every decision needs to be made by committee. Decide which decisions require more input and which don’t.
Read more about the neuroscience of what keeps us stuck.
Taking Responsibility for Your Contributions
Genuine collaboration requires that people take responsibility not just for their own work, but for the success of the team and organization as a whole. This means being willing to admit mistakes, learn from failures, and adjust course when necessary. It means being proud of and taking due credit for your contribution to team success, but also owning up to shortcomings.
Practice saying this
"I was wrong about that" or "I should have said something earlier when I saw that problem developing" or "I didn't consider how my decision would affect your work."
Go beyond apologies
"Here's what I learned" and "Here's how I'll handle it differently next time" and "What do you need from me to rebuild trust?"
Accountability sounds like
"You asked me to have that report ready by Friday, and I don't think I'll make that deadline. Can we talk about options?" rather than hoping no one will notice or making excuses on Friday.
Expect Innovation
Innovation rarely happens in isolation. It emerges from the intersection of different ideas, experiences, and ways of thinking. Genuine collaboration cross-pollinates perspectives, creating unconventional, unexpected, and highly successful solutions to common problems.
The most breakthrough solutions often come from combining insights from multiple people or disciplines in ways that wouldn't have occurred to any individual working alone.
Cross-pollination questions
"How do other departments handle this challenge?" or "What would someone completely new to this field suggest?"
Maintain openness
"That's an interesting idea I hadn't considered" instead of "That's not how we usually do things."
Encourage wild ideas
"What if we completely reimagined this process?" or "What would this look like if we had unlimited resources?"
Next Steps: Building Your Collaborative Practice
Skills Development
Genuine collaboration is both a mindset and a set of skills that can be developed. People need to learn how to listen deeply, ask good questions, give and receive feedback, manage conflict constructively, and make decisions together.
Deep listening practice
Put away your phone, make eye contact, and resist the urge to formulate your response while someone else is talking. Ask follow-up questions that show you heard them: "So you're saying that the main challenge is..." or "It sounds like you're most concerned about..."
Start small and build
Start with low-stakes collaborative processes that allow people to experience the benefits without feeling threatened. Address specific concerns directly and be clear about what collaboration does and doesn't mean.
Simple collaboration techniques
Ask for input on meeting agendas
Create shared documents for brainstorming
Do project retrospectives with the whole team
Let different people facilitate meetings
Ask "What's working well that we should keep doing?"
Draw clear boundaries
At some point, action must be made. Be clear about when that is. You might say, "We're collaborating on the approach, but I'll make the final decision" or "This is a decision we're making together" or "I need input by Friday, then I'll decide over the weekend."
Read 7 Ways to Practice Active Listening to become a better listener at work
Create Rituals for Success
Build collaborative rituals into your regular work rhythms. Create time and space for experimentation, and support people when their experiments don't work out as planned. Model collaborative behavior consistently, especially if you're in a leadership position.
Regular rhythms
Weekly team check-ins that go beyond status updates
Monthly "What did we learn?" discussions
Quarterly planning sessions that include multiple perspectives
Annual team reflection on "How we work together"
Support experimentation
"Let's try this new approach for the next month and then evaluate" rather than committing to permanent changes immediately.
Model the behavior
Ask for help publicly, admit when you don't know something, change your mind when presented with new information, and thank people for challenging your thinking.
Focus on the Long-Term Vision
Genuine collaboration isn't just about making individual projects more successful. It's about creating organizations that can adapt, learn, and thrive over time.
When collaboration is embedded in the culture, organizations become more resilient, more innovative, and more able to attract and retain talented people who want to be part of something meaningful.
We can help boost your team's skills and strengthen your culture of genuine collaboration. Schedule a 30-minute discovery call and find out how!
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