Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: 4 Keys That Change Everything

Organizations are only as productive as the interactions that take place between individuals, teams, and divisions. This audiobook is a short, engaging guide for dramatically improving the quality of these interactions. The four “keys” that Judith Katz and Frederick Miller provide offer a framework and a common language for creating an open, honest, and supportive workplace, one where people aren't afraid to speak up and where everyone feels respected.

The four keys are: Lean into Discomfort-Be willing to move beyond your comfort zone and help create an environment in which others feel the same way. Listen as an Ally-Try to find ways you can support fellow employees' ideas. Share Your Intent and Intensity-Make it crystal clear how committed you feel to any idea you raise. Share Street Corners-Your perspective (your corner) is only one point of view. Actively encourage people from other “corners” to offer their perspectives.

1113076368
Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: 4 Keys That Change Everything

Organizations are only as productive as the interactions that take place between individuals, teams, and divisions. This audiobook is a short, engaging guide for dramatically improving the quality of these interactions. The four “keys” that Judith Katz and Frederick Miller provide offer a framework and a common language for creating an open, honest, and supportive workplace, one where people aren't afraid to speak up and where everyone feels respected.

The four keys are: Lean into Discomfort-Be willing to move beyond your comfort zone and help create an environment in which others feel the same way. Listen as an Ally-Try to find ways you can support fellow employees' ideas. Share Your Intent and Intensity-Make it crystal clear how committed you feel to any idea you raise. Share Street Corners-Your perspective (your corner) is only one point of view. Actively encourage people from other “corners” to offer their perspectives.

14.95 In Stock
Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: 4 Keys That Change Everything

Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: 4 Keys That Change Everything

by Judith H. Katz, Frederick A. Miller

Narrated by Deanna Hurst

Unabridged — 1 hours, 59 minutes

Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: 4 Keys That Change Everything

Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: 4 Keys That Change Everything

by Judith H. Katz, Frederick A. Miller

Narrated by Deanna Hurst

Unabridged — 1 hours, 59 minutes

Audiobook (Digital)

$14.95
(Not eligible for purchase using B&N Audiobooks Subscription credits)

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Overview

Organizations are only as productive as the interactions that take place between individuals, teams, and divisions. This audiobook is a short, engaging guide for dramatically improving the quality of these interactions. The four “keys” that Judith Katz and Frederick Miller provide offer a framework and a common language for creating an open, honest, and supportive workplace, one where people aren't afraid to speak up and where everyone feels respected.

The four keys are: Lean into Discomfort-Be willing to move beyond your comfort zone and help create an environment in which others feel the same way. Listen as an Ally-Try to find ways you can support fellow employees' ideas. Share Your Intent and Intensity-Make it crystal clear how committed you feel to any idea you raise. Share Street Corners-Your perspective (your corner) is only one point of view. Actively encourage people from other “corners” to offer their perspectives.


Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is filled with wonderful common sense; alas, uncommonly practiced. Anyone who wants to improve their own communication and their team's collaboration skills cannot come away untouched.”
—Beverly Kaye, Founder and Co-CEO, Career Systems International and coauthor of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go and Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em

“Judith and Fred share four simple but powerful keys that will help you and your colleagues knock down barriers and create a winning team. Regardless of organizational level, your team will form a lasting bond that upholds an idiom my associates and I learned long ago: No one of us is as smart as all of us.”
—Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Great Leaders Grow

“The beauty of Opening Doors is its ability to translate complex human interactions into simple but meaningful language that help leaders unlock the potential of their organization and initiate transformational culture change that will result in more engaged employees, higher productivity, increased performance and stronger, more sustainable business results.”
—Rohini Anand, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Diversity Officer, Sodexo

“This book is a laser beam on what makes work and all other relationships work. It declares that face-to-face relationships, not technology, not clear objectives, vision and metrics are what make organizations adaptive and sustainable.”
—Peter Block, author of Flawless Consulting, Stewardship, and Community

“This book is the best training I've received on how to achieve breakthroughs for greater performance. Devoid of jargon, it demonstrates brilliantly, how countless opportunities can arise when we choose to have more collaborative moments in life.
—Michelle Martin, radio personality and host of "The Wow Club" 938LIVE, Mediacorp Radio, Singapore

OCTOBER 2013 - AudioFile

Deanna Hurst has her hands full interpreting the awkward flow of this workplace guide. With her consistently articulate speaking voice, she handles the many complex sentences well but is less effective when inflection changes or pauses are needed to signify thematic changes from one paragraph to the next. The book explains how simple shifts in the way we approach communication can make work teams more trusting and productive. The authors recommend that people (1) “lean into” the discomfort of being open, (2) listen while affirming connections with others, (3) be clear about our intentions and intensity, and (4) express our opinions honestly while being willing to see the viewpoints of others. Writing improvements, more than a better reading, would make these worthwhile ideas easier to hear and absorb. T.W. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID: 2940169902976
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date: 05/06/2013
Edition description: Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

4 KEYS THAT CHANGE EVERYTHING

We know this is a BIG statement. These 4 Keys do change every interaction. We have seen it. We have lived it. And yes, we understand why you might be skeptical.

We would doubt such a BIG claim. But we have observed these keys at work in organizations all over the world.

The Keys provide a common language that everyone can use. They are simple and powerful.

KEY #1 LEAN INTO DISCOMFORT
Opening the Door to Trust

KEY #2 LISTEN AS AN ALLY
Opening the Door to Collaboration

KEY #3 STATE YOUR INTENT AND INTENSITY
Opening the Door to Understanding

KEY #4 SHARE YOUR STREET CORNER
Opening the Door to Breakthroughs

KEY #1 OPENS THE DOOR TO TRUST

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Opening this door feels like I am taking a risk, but if I want greater teamwork and collaboration, I need to Lean into the Discomfort I feel in order to get to know you better. How else can we work together? How else can we solve problems and eliminate confusion and wasted effort?

When I Lean into Discomfort I help make it safer to be honest and open with you. As I feel safer and you feel safer, we can open the Door to Trust. Unless I am willing to Lean into Discomfort, the door to those possibilities and potential will remain closed.

KEY #2 OPENS THE DOOR TO COLLABORATION

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When I Listen as an Ally, it enables me to hear what you, my team members and colleagues, are saying, and all of us to build on each other’s ideas.

Slowing down to hear you is the key that unlocks the door to collaboration, which results in faster achievement of our goals.

KEY #3 OPENS THE DOOR TO UNDERSTANDING

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When you State Your Intent and Intensity, it helps me, my team members, and my colleagues take the guesswork out of suggestions or directions and opens the door to greater understanding of each other. Stating my Intent and Intensity does the same for you.

As the door to understanding is opened, I see how to contribute more quickly, confidently, and decisively. When I know how best to contribute, I know how to add value; and if you do the same, we can each add greater value. And this combined greater value results in our saving time as we achieve Right First Time interactions.

KEY #4 OPENS THE DOOR TO BREAKTHROUGHS

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When you Share Your Street Corner and I share mine, we learn to hear differences as contributions, rather than as sources of conflict. As we share our different perspectives, we can see the fuller 360-degree view, use our combined resources, and achieve breakthroughs none of us could have envisioned or accomplished alone.

By using all 4 Keys, the doors to trust, collaboration, and understanding are opened, and the door to breakthroughs unlocks.

Using the 4 Keys Starts with Joining

Judging or Joining? Every interaction begins with this critical decision, and it impacts everything that follows. We do it so quickly and automatically that we are usually not even aware of it.

When I meet you, do I join you—see you as a friend, an ally, someone on the same side of the table? Or do I judge you—size you up, wonder if you are someone not to be trusted, engage cautiously with you, and deny you the benefit of the doubt?

If I decide to join you, I treat you as someone worthy of respect. I listen, am open, extend trust, share information. I am willing to have honest and perhaps difficult conversations. I seek to learn from you. I give you the benefit of the doubt.

If I truly want to open doors to teamwork and collaboration, I need to start by seeing what I could gain from joining you.

Rather than believing I am better off going it alone, I begin to believe that the best way to succeed is through partnership and collaboration. And by joining you, I am investing in our partnership with the expectation that we will connect and together do great things.

If we begin by truly joining, we have the ability to open many doors and unlock the potential and power each of us can bring to the team and to the larger organization. But we have heard others say …

“Joining is difficult.”

“It is hard to trust others and to earn their trust.”

“It is hard to listen to others, especially when they are not saying things I want or expect to hear.”

“It is hard to define my intentions clearly when others aren’t defining theirs.”

“And it is very, very hard to actively seek out and support perspectives that are different from my own to make sure all Street Corners are heard from.”

We used to think these things too.

But when we began to observe the 4 Keys in action, we noticed that people quickly made them a way of life in their organizations—and in their personal lives as well. People actually like to practice these simple Keys; and when used, these 4 Keys change Everything. We invite you to join us as we open new doors.

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