Leveraging Empathy and Alignment to Build Successful Collaborative Projects with Emily Mahoney and Sarah Laurence

How can teams take the concept of collaboration beyond lip service and virtue signalling to create stronger, more successful projects? 

We know that collaboration is the cornerstone of alliance contracting models, but countless research shows us that when it comes to behavioural cohesion, teamwork, and empathy, the type of contract is immaterial—collaborative teams across industries and contract type perform better, see greater successes, and save more money than teams built on competition and infighting.

Emily Mahoney and Sarah Laurence, the founders of Mahoney & Matthews Consulting, work with high-performance teams, not only preparing them for the behavioural assessment that will win the project but also instilling the tenets of collaboration to carry all the way through to a successful culmination. Creating a true team takes more than a couple of nights out at the pub. It calls for hard, intentional conversations, deep honesty, and being human.

“So ​if ​you ​think ​about ​it, ​all ​leadership ​really ​is, ​is ​a ​set ​of ​behaviours ​that ​are ​used ​in ​a ​certain ​way. ​And ​it's ​not ​exactly ​the ​same ​behaviours ​as ​collaboration. ​They ​can ​obviously, ​they ​obviously ​overlap ​a ​lot. ​But ​collaboration ​as ​well ​is ​a ​set ​of ​behaviours ​that ​are ​used ​in ​certain ​ways. ​So ​in ​terms ​of organizational ​development ​​org ​psych ​behaviours, ​there ​is ​a ​canon ​of ​research ​and ​of ​literature ​and ​there ​are ​people ​who ​spend ​a ​lot ​of ​time ​and ​money ​not ​only ​researching ​these ​things, ​but ​also ​making ​them ​accessible ​to ​people ​through ​books, ​podcasts, ​TED ​talks, ​etc.” - Emily Mahoney

Key Takeaways:

• Why owners and contractors must leave behind competitive preconceptions of the “other side” and find the common ground
• The benefit of introducing and continuing real teamwork regardless of the contract model
• How social learning can facilitate high-performing teams, taking them beyond buzzwords to true and lasting collaboration
• How the collaborative approach changes what we should expect from leadership
• What sports teams have to teach us about the importance of continuous and supportive coaching to success.

Links Mentioned:

• Project Oxygen – The 10 Qualities You Need to Be a Great Leader: https://institutesuccess.com/2019/07/project-oxygen-the-10-qualities-you-need-to-be-a-great-leader/
• University of Warwick research: https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/60724/1/WRAP_liu_joy_griffiths_ciawes_08.pdf

The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community via LinkedIn:

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• Follow Emily Mahoney
• Follow Sarah Laurence
• Learn about Mahoney & Matthews

Music: "A New Tomorrow" by Chordial Music. Licensed through PremiumBeat.