Deciphering the Fear of Collaboration

Collaboration is a net positive. Employees gain insight into the firm's operations and a new appreciation for other teams working in different disciplines. It's a win-win, declare the experts.

Building collaboration between different teams or departments is an important goal. It can help build inter-departmental bridges, boost creativity, and inspire your employees. But there are pitfalls.

Let's say the “F-word” out loud: fear. It's a powerful motivator in many situations and ever-present in collaborative situations.

Popular terms “let's open our kimono” and “we eat our own dog food” are used in corporate presentations by speakers who want to demonstrate a lack of fear to their audiences. Fearlessness is seen as desirable, but the reality is that collaboration exercises between different departments — for example, development teams and security teams — can suffuse the participants with fear.

Fear of challenges

Collaboration with others typically introduces ambiguity into the problem-solving mix: you need to ask “what if?” to spark discussions. While some are comfortable with this type of brainstorming exercise, others see it as a potential challenge to their authority.

Developers, in particular, have skills that aren't always obvious to people outside their immediate circle. They often look at problems and solutions differently and don't always communicate as effectively as they should.

Developers often have specific skills not obvious to people outside their immediate circle

Team members with evolved skill sets typically feel their work speaks for itself and their authority should never be challenged. They're used to being regarded as “the expert” regarding challenges at work and never want to be seen as ignorant of solutions. Not having a ready answer can be seen as a weakness.

Fear of unfamiliar roles

Many collaboration exercises involve role shifts: participants will assume an unfamiliar role to better experience uncertain communication between teams. Challenging the hierarchy helps build empathy for different tasks and responsibilities within the company.

This can be difficult for many, especially senior employees accustomed to deference. They often have difficulty shifting their perspective from “department chief” to “new and curious participant.”

Fear of oversharing

A critical part of any collaboration scenario is breaking down silos. But whenever security is concerned, people have to think carefully before venturing out of any given silo.

Depending on the situation, information typically kept intra-department can be shared outside its traditional bounds. And that can make participants very nervous.

Organizers need to think carefully about the ground rules and inform everyone involved about sharing information within the specific exercises. But expect trepidation because, for many, their intra-department data is viewed as a treasure not to be shared with others. These feelings run deep.

Fear of information overload

If all goes well, exercises overflow with shared information—much of it new to the learners. People have limits regarding their absorption of new material, and the parameters vary from person to person.

Organizers must observe carefully to ensure that participants aren't overwhelmed with new information. Time management of meetings (see below) is important here. If people feel overwhelmed, take time during a scheduled break to connect with them outside of the group context and confirm their understanding of new information.

Fear of conflict

Collaboration automatically brings team priorities into conflict. That's part of the process: list areas that clash and resolve how to address the contest together.

It's essential to understand (and state clearly) that conflict need not be a battle. Instead, participants join together to find common solutions, not to compete. But for some, this is a difficult concept.

Time management

Many are surprised to learn that the optimum timeframe for a meeting is about 30 minutes. Of course, more time is needed for many collaboration and team-building exercises, so how to work around a 30-minute limit?

Construct a time-management strategy that provides a quick break every 30 minutes. It sounds simple, but if people know they're working in stages, it's easier to keep energy levels from flagging.

Resist the temptation to let procedural discussions swamp the real business of making progress as partners. Participants may try to hide their nervousness with an in-depth discussion of coffee preferences and an analysis of local donut shops. Some chatter is necessary, but don't let your collaboration time become an extended meeting.

Too many fears?

This seems a daunting list, but it's important to accept that fear comes with the territory. Any time you sequester professionals in a discrete environment to share information, some of these individuals will instinctively fear the situation. Expect this.

And they feel fear because they are professionals. They want to excel in a collaboration setting despite its unfamiliarity.

Your people are willing to overcome their fears. Do what you need to do to ease the process.

This article is the eighth in a series on effective collaboration techniques for cybersecurity.

Stefan Hammond is a contributing editor to CDOTrends. Best practices, the IoT, payment gateways, robotics, and the ongoing battle against cyberpirates pique his interest. You can reach him at [email protected].

Image credit: iStockphoto/drante