As 2023 starts, let me wish you all a great year and assure you all of my support! 

The CERN community is very keen – and rightly so – to underline that collaboration is in our DNA. This is something that I am particularly proud of, having worked all these years in a Laboratory that places collaboration first, in the pursuit of such a noble fundamental research mission. 

Collaboration is indeed a requirement to solve today’s global challenges, whether scientific, technical, economic, environmental or societal. It is only by working together that we can design solutions. 

Working together in a group, team or unit is not always easy. The visitors to my office share with me, from their perspective, situations that sometimes make me think I’m watching a “CERNFLIX”^*  series… Huge egos, uncompromising divas, fierce competition, false promises, abuse of power, lack of respect, theft of ideas, plots against each other, etc., all seem to take place in our Laboratory and may severely undermine collaboration.

In his great book, The Skilled Facilitator, Roger Schwarz opposes two mindsets: one, which undermines effective collaboration, is referred to as unilateral control. The other mindset, which enhances effective collaboration, is mutual learning. Although the author proposes this model in the context of facilitating group discussions, I think it works remarkably well to improve collaboration.

I’d like to share with you how, by choosing to operate in our team, group, section, etc., from a mutual learning mindset, each of us can enhance collaboration and, just as importantly, boost our well-being.

Let’s start with the unilateral control mindset. If, within your team, you operate from a unilateral control mindset, you would generally act on the following principles:

• Win, don’t lose, whatever the cost.
• Be right, always.
• Minimise any expression of negative feelings.
• Always act rationally. 

You would also, consciously or not, make the following assumptions:

• I understand the situation, those who disagree with me don’t.
• I’m right and those who disagree with me are wrong.
• I have pure motives; those who disagree with me have questionable motives.
• My feelings and behaviour are justified.
• I’m not contributing to the problem.

As a combination of those principles and assumptions, the chances are that you would also demonstrate the following behaviours within your team:

• State your views without asking for other’s views. 
• Withhold relevant information.
• In meetings, speak in general terms and don’t agree on what important words mean. 
• Keep your reasoning private and not ask others about their reasoning.
• Focus on positions, not on interests.
• Act on untested assumptions and inferences as if they were true.
• Control the conversation.
• Avoid, ease into or save face on difficult issues. 

The bad news is that this unilateral control mindset will have a negative impact on your and your team’s work, whether in terms of performance (low-quality decisions, less innovation), working relationships (decreased trust, reduced learning and unproductive conflicts) or even your personal satisfaction (reduced motivation, increased stress).

We all operate from this ineffective mindset from time to time, as no one is perfect and we have created habits in our way of working together. Also, admittedly, this mindset may have served our objectives in the past, at least in the short term. 

Still, a unilateral control mindset undermines the collaboration spirit that we are so proud of. So, why not take a hard look at this and try to shift our mindset to a mutual learning one? 

If, within a team, you operate from a mutual learning mindset, then you would put into practice the following values:

• transparency and curiosity,
• informed choice and accountability, 
• and, very importantly, empathy and compassion.

In line with these values, you would make the following much more useful and productive assumptions:

• I have information, so do other people.
• Each of us see things that others don’t. 
• People may disagree with me and still have pure motives. 
• Differences are opportunities for learning.
• I may somehow be contributing to the problem. 

Naturally, if you combine these values and assumptions, you would demonstrate these collaborative behaviours:

• State views and ask genuine questions.
• Share all relevant information.
• Use specific examples and agree on what important words mean.
• Explain your reasoning and intent.
• Focus on interests and not on positions.
• Test assumptions and inferences to make sure they’re correct.
• Jointly design the next steps with your colleagues. 
• Discuss undiscussable issues. 

The benefits of consciously choosing the mutual learning mindset are huge, in terms of both performance (high-quality decisions and greater innovation, shorter implementation time) and working relationships with others (greater commitment and trust, reduced defensiveness, productive conflicts, healthy dependence on others). 
Moreover, you’ll see the effects of this mindset on your individual well-being – with renewed motivation, increased satisfaction and reduced stress. 

Let’s give it a chance it in 2023 and, if you’re in doubt about how to apply it to a specific situation, don’t hesitate to contact the Ombud. It will be a pleasure to discuss it with you – in the spirit of mutual learning! 

Laure Esteveny

*) Any analogy with a popular streaming service is purely coincidental. 

I want to hear from you – feel free to email ombud@cern.ch with any feedback or suggestions for topics you’d like me to address. 

NB: If you would like to be notified about posts, news and other communications from the CERN Ombud, please subscribe to receive the CERN Ombud news.