Disclaimer: These communications are intended for the employees of HB Global. We recognize that the general public will have access. The views expressed in these communications represent Bob Whalen in the context of HB Global and may not apply to broader audiences.
At HB Global, we are all employee owners, and we believe in true partnership. But this partnership can’t happen without genuine collaboration. This may seem obvious, but collaboration that helps us all become a little bit better each day goes further than just working with each other. It’s more than that. Here’s what collaboration means at HB Global.
Our Collaboration Principle
“In order to optimize our partnership model, we embrace collaboration within and across our teams. We check our egos at the door, and the best idea wins. We believe in role and decision clarity. This clarity encourages collaboration by clearly identifying the decision-maker and eliminating the need to politic. This bolsters employee engagement, helping us to fulfill our mission and vision.”
What Collaboration Means
At HB Global, collaboration goes further than just working with each other. It means truly engaging with each other to do what’s best for the organization. Real collaboration comes from checking our egos at the door. When we do this, we’re not looking to be “right” or to get ourselves or our ideas ahead. Instead, we’re looking to do what’s best for the organization. And when we do this, we also help create more opportunities for growth for ourselves.
A key part of collaboration is recognizing when others may have more expertise in a particular area than we do and reaching out for help when needed. On the other hand, it also means knowing when we may be able to pitch in to help a teammate. When we work together to use our strengths in the most effective way, we are able to create the most success for both ourselves and our organization.
Collaborating effectively requires that we create clarity around who’s responsible for decisions that need to be made. Being able to execute as a team requires that decisions be made timely and effectively on a consistent basis throughout any of the work that we do.
Making Decisions with Collaboration
When possible, it is great for the team to be able to agree and move forward with the decision. But, not everyone will always agree on a decision. When this happens, we can collaborate to try to compromise on a solution that works best for the team. However, sometimes decisions will remain split because of the nature of the decision doesn’t allow for a compromise.
This is where needing clarity of who the decision maker is becomes critical. In that particular setting, having a clear decision maker allows that person to make a call, explain why they made that call, and then move forward. In this case, collaboration also means committing to the decision, even if it wasn’t your preference, and understanding that the decision wasn’t personal but was for the good of the team. Because it’s the expectation of the team to commit to the decision that is made, it’s also the expectation of the decision maker to effectively communicate any changes to that decision and what the reasoning was.
We want to encourage input throughout our teams, but sometimes, a decision will need to be made when a consensus can’t be reached. It’s important to have clarity around those roles and responsibilities to be able to make a call and move forward.
Why Collaboration Is Important
At its core, collaboration allows us to accomplish more together than we could separately. When we put our different skills and strengths together, we’re able to bring more to the table. And when we really commit to and fully engage in a collaborative way, we’re able to maximize the value we can create while also making our organization a great place to work.
Consistent collaboration also requires clarity of roles and responsibilities. Specifically, it needs to be clear who the decision maker is because collaborating doesn’t do us any good if we’re stuck comparing and considering different ideas instead of executing on those ideas. It’s important to establish who the decision maker is in a given situation because it helps eliminate the need for politicking. If there is uncertainty as to who is making the call, a situation arises in which teammates are devoting their time and energy trying to sway each other rather than come to the best decision and get the work done. It’s important to understand that titles don’t always dictate who the decision maker is. It may depend on the context, so that clarity should be established early on.
When the decision maker has to make a call, it’s important that this person give a clear explanation of why the decision was made. This serves two primary purposes. It helps the team to better understand the meaning behind the decision so they can better support it and get behind it through their work. It also helps decisions from being taken personally because it eliminates the guessing game. When we don’t know information, we tend to fill in the gaps ourselves. Clear communication prevents this from happening and allows for better collaboration going forward.
Collaboration also supports Radical Autonomy. While these may seem opposite to each other, they really work together. Radical Autonomy came out of us recognizing that everyone has their own unique strengths and expertise, and we want to empower everyone to demonstrate these. Radical Autonomy allows us to lean more into collaboration. It allows us to recognize where we may need to ask for help and to volunteer to jump in where we may be able to lend a hand.
How We Live Collaboration
It’s one thing to understand what collaboration means at HB Global. It’s another thing to see it in action. Let’s highlight some recent examples throughout the organization that show our collaboration principle in action:
- HB McClure and IT Landes have been supporting each other by sharing manpower on certain jobs as needed, demonstrating collaboration to make sure our customers are taken care of.
- IT Landes has brought in HB McClure and BBEC for additional manpower and has actually passed leads over to HB McClure, having the best interests of the organization in mind and ensuring our customers receive the support they need.
- Mike Parasch at the Bell Company has been reaching out to other divisions to discuss opportunities to leverage other prefab departments to help the whole, which creates a win-win.
- John Gallico at Nash PM is leading an estimating peer group among HB Global divisions.
- Safety summits have been hosted with safety leaders across divisions to assist with progress and learning to ensure safety remains our top priority.
Collaboration and Our Core Values
When we truly collaborate with our teams, we’re also living our core values.
Trust
When we collaborate with each other, we recognize that others have strengths, experiences, and availabilities that we can lean on within the team. Recognizing this and asking for help shows that we trust each other.
Team
When we check our egos at the door and truly look to do what’s best for the organization, we are living our core value of team. Collaboration allows us to strengthen our teams.
Grit
Sometimes true collaboration requires us to go the extra mile. Furthermore, when we depend on each other to be successful, we can’t make excuses. That demonstrates grit.
Growth
True collaboration allows us to grow. We are able to learn from each other, gain new perspectives, and open up new opportunities.
Have your own thoughts or questions about the HB Global Collaboration principle? Send them to [email protected].