This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil - 024 / Creating A Collaborative Work Environment With Malika Begin

Episode Date: July 29, 2020

In this episode, I welcome guest Malika Begin - Owner of Begin Development, where she helps organizations and leaders build strong and healthy cultures. We dive deep into the importance of creating a collaborative environment, identifying culture carriers, building trust, fostering relationships and more. Collaboration attracts talent, builds teams, creates growth, impacts retention and develops people. Leaders, it’s time to collaborate! This is Woman’s Work. But P.S., this episode is not just for women...any leader would benefit! To learn more about what we are up to outside of this podcast, visit us at NicoleKalil.com

Welcome to today's episode of This is Woman's Work, where together we're redefining what it actually means to be doing woman's work. I'm your host, Nicole Kalil, and you can follow me on Instagram at Nicole M. Kalil for updates, notes of encouragement, a few laughs, and oh, so many motivational quotes. Or you can visit us on our website at NicoleKalil.com. Let's jump in because I'm excited about our topic of creating a collaborative work environment and even more excited about our guest, Malika Began, owner of Began Development, where she helps organizations and leaders build

strong and healthy cultures. And who doesn't want that? We're going to talk all about collaboration. Collaboration as a leader, how to create a collaborative environment if you're not the leader or the CEO, or even if you feel limited by your leader, as well as a little bit around how to be collaborative in a virtual environment because that's obviously pretty relevant in today's day and age. Malika, thank you so much for joining us to talk about this invaluable leadership skill, one that if I'm being totally transparent, I've struggled with a lot over my own leadership journey. Thanks for having me.

I'm excited to be here with you today, Nicole. Yay. Good. All right. So just sort of a general question to start. What are some tips for creating collaborative environments? That's a tongue twister. Creating collaborative environments. Just general tips or thoughts based on your experience and observations. we have a lot of agency as leaders at any level. And I'm so glad that you pointed that out because I think whether you are a coordinator or PA or at the executive level at the top, your interactions all day long are creating collaboration, creating that trust and vulnerability with the people

around you, the way you comport yourself in the organization. I really like to work with the executives because I also believe that things trickle down. But when I go into an organization and ask them, you know, what's your culture like here and hearing the different And in response to that, noting those culture carriers are oftentimes the person at the front desk who wield a lot of power and influence over the organization without maybe the biggest, you know, paycheck or title or experience in the company. And so I really love the idea of identifying culture carriers and who the people there, like how much influence can you have in whatever position you're in? I love that. It brought to mind an organization that I worked with that instead of calling their

front desk person a receptionist, they called them the director of first impressions. And I loved that so much because that's exactly what that person is. And you could tell that they had that in mind when they selected the person. I remember walking into that organization. My first impression couldn't have been any better. So talk to us then about collaborative teams and healthy teams and tips to develop those. Yeah. A lot of what I reference will probably be from an eight-month leadership

development program I have called CoLab, which is actually all about teaching people at any level. Sometimes it runs with individual contributors or departmental heads or executives, skills and tips and tricks and culture building all about collaboration. And so the way I define a healthy team is about a couple of factors, things like fear of conflict. Are they able to say to each other, are they able to have really open discourse? Are they able to push back on each other to get the best idea to rise? Do they trust each other? Are they committed to the vision of the company and not just their own commitments for their department? Are they sharing resources? Are they open to all supporting a goal as a team? Do they have accountability or do they avoid that? And

then also how much attention is there to the results of what they need to put out? And honestly, I think through so much of this in a sports metaphor, I played college soccer and I also played individual sports like tennis. And I think about what I needed to be successful as an individual and sort of that killer drive and then how that killer drive transferred to a team and how what was best for me on the team wasn't always the main priority to shine in my position versus what the team needed to do to for soccer, put the ball in the goal. So, and then running with that, I talked to clients in trying to shift them to a more open feedback, like building that trust so they could actually collaborate to have a really

open mindset. And in sports, I think about how, when I was starting out playing soccer, you know, the girls that were okay, the coach would say to them, you're doing good, you know, keep trying. We're so glad that you're participating. But to the best girls on the team, he was saying, you need to work harder. I see more in you. You did not get there fast enough. You need to work on your touch, like lots of coaching and input. And so I've pursued that for myself. I want feedback loop. I want praise polish. I want to get better every single day. And I think when leaders at any level in an organization can ask for that kind of feedback, require, want their team, you know, put them in a mindset where they are also asking for

that feedback, then that is sort of step one on the path to creating that collaboration to have that really open dialogue with each other. I love that you said that. And I have, I have talked a lot about giving and getting feedback in my journey. And two things, well, there's probably more than two things, but two things that come to mind that are really important to create that environment, that feedback-rich environment and that collaborative environment are care and trust. I put that in the same, you know, you've got to feel like the person, like your soccer coach.

He wasn't telling you those things to be mean or to pick on you. It was because there was potential and the soccer coach was committed to your growth, right? Yes. So there's got to be a measure of care and trust and knowing where it's coming from and what's the point. And then secondly, I have noticed a bit of gender nuances as it relates to getting and giving feedback. And a lot of the men that I talk to in leadership position often say things like, oh, I don't want to say that. I want to, and I'm putting this in air quotes, hurt their feelings, right? So share with us your thoughts on how to create that feedback rich environment and whether or not what I'm saying makes any

sense about care and trust and gender nuances. Yeah, I think that's interesting. I do think there's a difference in the type of trust. So when I'm talking with people about how that cultural awareness or emotional intelligence can lead toward more effective collaboration or innovation or creativity in a company. I am identifying two different types of trust. So the cognitive trust that says intellectually, I appreciate your, Nicole, I appreciate your skills and your abilities and your experience. And that's really different from the effective trust of I appreciate that you've been vulnerable with me. I have a connection with you and I believe that you have my best interests at heart. I want to collaborate with you because I believe that we can create great things together, not just because you're really good at what you do, but because you're really good at what you do. And because I believe that we have a relational connection and I respect you. Yeah, there's more, it's a totally different way of maybe identifying

that trust and what it takes to build a more, I don't want to say, I guess, intimate relationship as far as you're at work and I mean a connection. And so, so much of the work, even in this collaboration program that I'm doing is about relationship. And we definitely move from personal development to professional development that's very individualized to team development to collaboration, and then move into things like driving change and big initiative, brainstorming, things like that. But I would never start that without building the relationships of the group really strong. And it's really interesting to pre and post survey those groups to see not only how much changes in the group really strong. And it's really interesting to pre and post survey those groups to see not only how much changes in the group relationship, but, and then also the relationship

of their teams, like the people who report directly to them, they also grow in that trust and vulnerability and relationship with other teams. It's, we call it silo breaking because when I come in, oftentimes an executive saying to me, they just don't work well together. And sometimes it's very specifically about women. Like, you know, women, they just don't work very well together. Or sometimes it's very dramatic around here. And we pride ourselves on having lots of females and leadership. And, you know, you know how that can be.

It's a little challenging with the, you know, somebody who said dramatic lately. And I was like, good, you need drama. Like meetings are super you need drama. Like meetings are super boring without drama. Let's have some conflict and let's have it be healthy and let's move through things. And I think what you're missing is a culturally rich environment where people are trusting each other

and even have an opportunity or an expectation to see why that would be such a value add for your organization. So for our leaders who are listening, what are some good ways to build a professional intimacy? I was giggling when you said that. I used to have on my calendar a slot that said touch time, and it was a reminder to me to get out of my office and like go walk through the office and talk to people and how was your weekend and you know, how did your kids game go? It was just my reminder because I'm so agendized naturally that I can do, do, do, do,

do and forget about connecting with people. So that was my reminder. But then one of my team members was like, you might want to call it something different. Professional touching. So I digress. Sorry. Any tips for creating professional intimacy? Yeah. I think leaders who I admire, who are good at this, who I emulate, what I've noticed about them is that they're very strategic about it. Some people are naturally good at it. So it happens a lot where they are putting a lot of time and energy. We're all busy, right? I don't have time for that. I'm maxed out. I'm just trying to get my stuff done. And I think I see a real, I see a real limitation with the leaders who are always focused on the to-do list and in the weeds and just trying to pump out the work that they are doing, which is great.

They're getting a ton done for the organization, but they are, they can't be a cultural carrier or even a leader in that area to promote collaboration, even in their own relationships, because they don't have time. And my case is that you don't have time not to do that because the influence of having those relationships and making time for that, for the idea sharing, for knowing what's going on in people's lives, for having that level of relationship so that when you are idea sharing or trying to grind through all that work that you need to do together, you kind of need that cultural understanding. You need to be connected as people so you can do great work to each other with each

other and not just grind it out. And so the one, I guess, tip I would say, I see people who do that really well, whether they're naturally talented at it or not, they make it a priority. They build time into their schedule. Sometimes I call it stakeholder mapping, where they are thinking about above peer level and below. How am I connecting well with people in this organization? Who am I connecting regularly with? What is the quality of those interactions? When do we have our focus time about talking about the to-do list and the checklist of what needs to be done? And then also, what are you reading? What are you thinking about? Like, where's the thought leadership? And so the leaders I really have that have made a big impact on me have asked me about

their projects, about my projects, how they can remove barriers so I can do better work. And that's a question I ask a lot in coaching. What barrier should we remove to help you do the best work of your career? And somebody asked that to me and I love that question. And then getting really specific about what I of a culture you need to do that. And then even maybe you're going to have a conversation with the CEO about that too, because he or she is thinking about that. It puts you in a different space of being intentional about something that we know we need to be intentional about because we see the positive results of that in our organizations, but it's not necessarily on our to-do list. And I think being strategic and intentional about that part of your work, about building that effective trust, effective within A, is really important.

I love all of that. I would add a couple tactical things. I'd love to get your opinion on, Malika, that I did that were helpful for me because you described me to a T I'm a doer, you know, like I was like, I I'll get the results. I'll do the things. And, and, and I had to through coaching and feedback and it was important to me. I wanted the people who I worked with to love their work and to feel like their strengths and everything was being utilized. I just wasn't naturally as, as good at that. And so I had to prioritize it. A couple of things that were helpful for me is number one, asking what was important to the person, like you said, on your mapping above peers and below, and not assuming that the way to do it was to always get to know somebody's personal life. Because there are some people who

that wasn't how you built intimacy or relationship. Right. So beginning to understand what was important to them and where me checking in or me getting to know them at a deeper level was helpful and where it wasn't. So let me just pause. Any thoughts or reactions on that? Yes. I am so glad you pointed that out because sometimes people will say, well, I asked them, you know, I know how many kids they have. I know where they vacationed. Like we have a lot of relationship capital built up. We're, we're good. Like that is great. But what you're describing, Nicole is next level. Like that's great to know relationally about them. You should know the people's names that you work with and maybe something about their life. But what you're describing is a lot more specific about thought leadership, like above your title and position, what do you see that this

company needs? Or if you were CEO, what would you be focusing on right now? And engaging people in those big ideas not only helps their individual growth, but crowdsources ideas for the company. A lot of people do a survey where they get information from everybody. Right. And that is helpful, but I love the idea that you're suggesting about the one, one-on-one connection over what are you thinking about that is not on your job description? Like, how are you thinking about the things that I'm thinking about right now too? And then you really see that person,

like, have they been thinking about it? And if not, that's great too, because that opens up a conversation. I want you to be thinking about this. I'm sure your people, Nicole, when you did that for them, felt so invested in, not only in the growth of their position, but who they were as people,

that you saw them as somebody that you needed to know, wanted to know how they were thinking about not just the work they were doing on a daily basis, but who they were going to be in the world as a leader. I hope so. You know, I know I made mistakes for sure. I hope I got better along the way. One other thing that was really helpful for me, again, I'd love your feedback, is I was also really upfront with the people on my team. I would say to them, you know, this is naturally how more how I'm wired and I struggle a little bit with collaboration or whatever. So you have permission to give me feedback if you see me, you know, getting too into the doing or whatever, I was pretty vulnerable with people about my strengths and where, what I was working on and asking them to

give me feedback. I wanted them to make sure that they felt like their opinions mattered and were valued. But I knew I wasn't naturally that great at it. I also had somebody on my team that I always had somebody on my team that was gifted in this space. So maybe you're listening and you're not relating to me at all because you're very gifted in this. But this can be a way you can help a peer or a leader or be a leader is I always had somebody on my team who was really good at that. And we would meet on a weekly basis and she would tell me who might need a little extra attention or who might be struggling with something or who might have had a life event that, you know, good or bad.

And that was so helpful for me. So again, thoughts on, on those sort of tactical ideas. I think that's so smart. I think the idea that you are identifying the strengths and weaknesses on your team and sharing them openly probably created a very, very healthy environment where people felt like they, you modeled that. And then they probably did that with each other. And I'm curious to know from you, what results you saw on, how is, how is your team? How did they respond to that? Because if I'm hearing that and I'm on your team, I'm thinking, I love that's collaboration. You are not doing all the stuff and then leading and handing it down to me. You're involving me.

You're saying this is a valuable thing that you possess. I've identified the strength. Our team needs more of this. And now, you know, I find this valuable. Share more of yourself, share more of this area. And I can imagine that added a ton of value to your team and helped groom that. I don't know what they're doing now, but that person was probably very groomed in knowing that is my skill and it's really valuable to an organization. And this is how I can employ that in the future. Yeah. I mean, I think some people, I can think of very specific people where I think I did

a good job, you know, and I hope that they would feel that way and relate to the things that you said. And then there are some people I can look back and be like, oh gosh, sorry for being my learning lessons, right? Okay. So Malika, why is collaboration such a hot topic right now? Any insight as to why at least the organizations and corporations that I interact with, this seems to be a skill that people are trying to develop at a pretty high rate. Yes. And there's a lot of research coming out about it right now, as far as it being a advantage, something that people are looking at very much because of the high cost of retention and

recruitment. And it's a hot job market right now. There's lots of great people to hire. So that's definitely a plus for corporations, but the amount that people are spending, especially I work in the media tech space here in Los Angeles, and there's a lot of talent, but when you get that talent in the door and you work hard to get them in and get them trained and bring them into your organization, you want to keep them. And you know that if they are superstars and they are, that they are being hit up all the time with great opportunities. They're networking with everybody. It's a very, like most industries, it's a very, um, social and people just, everybody knows each other, right? They want to work with all

the old teams and they bring each other along where they've been. So if you want that advantage, how do you create that in your company where people want to stay, where people are happy? One of my old bosses joke, like there's a high cost on, like we'll put a high price on people being happy here. Like whether you want to call it collaboration or innovation or whatever that is, we just want our people to be happy. And that's not just out of the goodwill of our hearts. Like maybe it is, we want our people to be happy, but we need our people to be happy because we have a lot of work to do. The industry is changing constantly. These people are evolving every day. They're getting better and knowing more about this industry every day, every day, they become harder to replace and more costly to replace. So when I do the opportunity cost of keeping my people and having them work really well together versus spending a ton of money to get them working well together and then know that people often leave if they don't like their manager. That's a stat that we see over and over again in research

that you can look at all the different things happening in a company. And the number one identifier question is, do I feel valued in this organization? That's an indicator of whether you'll stay long-term or go. And do I like working with my manager? Do I feel valued by my manager? And that you can identify with those two questions,

whether you have happy employees. And there's a lot of other questions, but those are two that I would put a big star on and say, if you, and so money aside, there's also the cultural, it's a weapon, right? A competitive weapon. If your people are working well together, the best ideas come to light. You push back on things. You have great discourse with each other. I love Creativity, Inc. for the Pixar model of how they not just have happy hours and lunches together and hope that everybody likes working together. But from an organization development standpoint, they have a system where they say, every idea

is vetted by every level of people and every level of people gets to sit in the room and say, here's what I see that works with this. And here's what doesn't. And I think people become, I mean, you have to be pretty tough for that, right? Cause you're asking for criticism, but you know, that's part of the process. It's built into the environment and it makes everybody so creative and open and the best ideas not only come up, but get refined by the team, not by just one person or background or perspective. So we see the value of creating a collaborative environment. Where are leaders or organizations typically falling short? You mentioned a few already having employees or contributors feel

valued and whether or not they feel valued by the person they report to directly. Any other areas, or are there any things that leaders are doing that specifically have them fall short in this area? Yeah. I think one thing from the top down is that things are changing so quickly. We're seeing that right now with the world, the environment, the industry, the way people are doing business, the business itself changes so quickly. And so to be moving that fast, like there was a big, I felt like there was a big focus, maybe 10 years on mission, vision, values, need to have your mission, vision, and values. And now it's shifted to do those mission values. Like, is that really us? Or is that just something on our website that nobody in our company could actually say? And that's one of the things I do when I'm working

with a new client. I'll, well, I used to stop people in the hall. Now I guess I can ask them on zoom. What is the mission here? Like, what are you all here to do? And you get a lot of different answers. And that goes, okay, if they, if the leader has not said very clearly over and over and over, here's what you are all like trying to do together. And here's what we're coming together to do. Then you start to, you have a breakdown in collaboration and also in the success of what you're trying to do. And also the way people feel about what you're doing. People want to be the star of their narrative and, and rightly so they're, they're building something. They're putting themselves out there. They're growing their career. And they're saying, is this the right place to do this? Are these the right people

to do it with? And they want to know I'm building toward this bigger thing. Like we're not just clocking into work every day to just get the widgets and do all the like checklists. Like we have a purpose for being here. We're doing it together and we're excited, whatever challenges we face to move in that direction together. And so if that is not clear for a company about where they're going and why and how they do that together, then all the things trickling under that lead to dissatisfaction. As an individual, I felt that too. Like I might not like the decision made and I might have to think, can I get on board

with this direction of the company? But they were clear about it. So I have a choice to make and then I will buy in. Like I'm committed, I'm accountable then I will buy in like I'm committed. I'm accountable. I'm in this with you. But if you're ambiguous about what the bigger purpose is, then I can never dissent and say like, Nope, I'm not all about this. And this place isn't what I signed up for or yeah, that's different than I thought. And it's always changing, but you are clear and I like it and I'm 100% and I do not

have one foot out the door. I'm committed to what we are doing here together. And I think it'd be really hard to have a healthy team without that level of clarity for everybody. Yeah. I love that. What I was thinking as you were saying that is, and this is a generalization, it might not be true in all cases, but I find in working with so many women, we tend to be impact oriented. We tend to want to feel like we're making a difference and that, you know, the work that we're doing impacts a greater whole or people or whatever. And knowing what the mission is, is super important. But also, what is my role or what is my contribution to that overall mission? How does the work that I do matter to the grand scheme of things? You know, and not just women.

We hear that with the millennial generation as well. So I'm so glad you said that because that jives with my experience and that that's kind of a typical miss in organizations. I think you have to consider the narrative of the organization. And well, I worked, I was a producer in television and film. So maybe that's why I'm, I think through sports a lot. And I think through narrative a lot. And I think I love stories and we are living out our stories right now. We are living out this time that we're in. We're living out the choices we make. And maybe I think about legacy. I like to

think about legacy a lot, a legacy of a company, a legacy of what I'm leaving behind and contributing. And I talk about that with my clients. Like when you talk about this portion of your career, what are you building right now? What are you going to be really proud of and look back on? And I think stopping to pause and think about, is the narrative what I want it to be? Like, were these my grind years and I was willing to give this all I got? Did I really invest in this side project that I pitched to the CEO and then it became a thing or I failed it three times. And, and then I found something that really worked for the company. Like, what do you want your narrative to be

at this company? And does this company have a narrative that you're excited to join? Like, especially with millennials, there's such a big difference between what I saw with my parents at this company? And does this company have a narrative that you're excited to join? Especially with millennials, there's such a big difference between what I saw with my parents collecting a paycheck and is this job meaningful? Will it tell, will it give me stories? Is it cool? Can I, can I post about it? Can I talk about it? Am I interested in the work, not just that I'm doing every day, but the company's doing. And I think that focus on narrative is really important to think about what motivates people, why they're there and what they want to do together and individually. I know for a lot of leaders, time is the commodity. We just don't have enough of,

what are your thoughts? I can't remember who it was, but I heard this from a main stage of part of the opportunity to create a more collaborative environment would be to get, you know, people in a room to flush through all these ideas and then bring the next level, their top four ideas, right? And then they flush through and then bring the next level. So everybody feels like they have a voice and a contribution and decision-making, but then maybe, you know, the ultimate decision-maker doesn't need to be in all of the brainstorming sessions. Is that a good idea, a not good idea,

somewhere in the middle? What are your thoughts? Yeah. I mean, I guess the way that I look at collaboration and I'm not working at huge companies with a lot of protocol about how collaboration happens. So I think my natural pushback to that is like, if you're so specific that you have an exact protocol about like how all ideas funnel up, you're probably not able to move very quickly. You're probably not very agile. Like that seems like an outdated model to me of how like a process would work. And I think I would be much more of an,

I am much more of an advocate for creativity and innovation in all areas. Are you throwing out ideas to the company and then saying like, here's three different ways you can bring them forth, or we'd love to have this focus group and just hear what people are talking about in this area, come with a brainstorm or leading a session for 15 minutes about how to do a great brainstorm and then brainstorming. Because I think a lot of people think, well, if we just put brainstorm on the zoom meeting and then everybody brings ideas, that'll lead to a great brainstorm. And actually from my experience, I've found that all brainstorms are not created equally. Some of them are really amazing depending on the person who set them up with the, why you're here,

what preparation you need to do and how we're going to do this and then where it goes, which I guess you're suggesting, Nicole, but I think it's too linear to say it always follows this trajectory. And so my short answer is that it should be happening in so many different ways all the time in all areas of the company, because it's such a vibrant piece of how this company that's moving and changing all the time will operate versus being written into an HR handbook about here's how we collaborate in our company. And maybe there are some processes. I'm definitely an advocate of twice a year. We do a company survey. And as part of that, we check the health of the company and we solicit some new ideas

or every quarter there's an open brainstorm that we invite you to. I do love the systems that create that, but I think that has to be one of many things that ideas are being solicited and shared and thought leadership is happening. I love that. Great.

So my last question is in today's day and age, the land of virtual at this point for most of us, how do you create collaborative discussions or environments when we're not physically together in a lot of cases? Honestly, I have not felt limited by not being in an office with people. A year ago, I would have said, I cannot do this work. Well, I've worked for a remote agency, so I'd done a lot of remote work, but I'd said, training you can do online. Development you have to do in person. Well, that was challenged, you know, this spring when all of my programs that were in person switched to virtual.

And technology is amazing. Like, we had this rapport built. We were all working on something together about personal development and then team development. And that was exciting and compelling. And people were getting to know each other and what motivated each other and feeling truly invested in one another through this medium. And I watched it happen before my eyes on such a deep personal relational level. And what I saw is that people were not, there's still a lot of distraction, but for some reason, people, not for some reason, people were very engaged because of the content, because of their commitment to one another and because of what they believed that we were building together

and the impact it would have on the company. And so I saw people all right here on screen, asking questions, focused, excited, and vibrant about the ideas that we were sharing, emotion, some tears, laughter, like all the things that would happen in the boardroom with us were happening on video. And I think that part of that is just having a clear vision. Here's what we're doing together and this is emotional work. This is about vulnerability and trust and the heartbeat of your company and we were not limited at all. In my opinion, there were even some really positive factors about doing this virtually together. Yeah, so well said. Thank you.

All right, ladies, if you want to learn more, you can follow Malika on Instagram at Malika Begin. That's M-A-L-I-K-A B-E-G-I-N. If you want to learn more about her work or the eight month collaborative, what was that called again? Collab. Collab. Okay.

You can visit her website at begin, B-E-G-I-N dash development.com. Thank you, Malika, so much for joining us today. This is a great conversation. Collaboration is one of those leadership skills that's thought to be feminine and that so many corporations, organizations, and leaders have recognized that they need to be better at. We have so much to bring to the table with both our masculine and feminine traits and skills. And I believe it's time for more of our feminine traits to be valued, utilized, and leveraged at the same level masculine leadership has been. Collaboration attracts talent, builds teams, creates growth, impacts retention, and develops people. Leaders, it's time to collaborate.

And this is woman's work.