[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
you
[Music]
we can achieve amazing things if we work
together but if only it was that easy
the truth is that getting things done
with other people is often difficult and
sometimes it’s a complete nightmare my
name is Richard Watkins and I’m a
lifelong collaborator as a scientist a
creative problem solver and an artist
and what I’ve learned is the same thing
that you already know it’s that we don’t
really have a lack of important projects
to work on we don’t really have a lack
of goodwill to work with each other but
what constantly gets in the way as we
try and get things done is group
dynamics now this is kind of funny
because we are group animals we’re born
in groups we live in groups and pretty
much everything we ever achieve is done
in groups and yet groups caused us grief
group dynamics suck up a huge amount of
our energy now just imagine if you could
use that energy to get things done the
truth is it’s quite hard to look someone
in the eye that you’re working with and
say our relationship isn’t really
working or I’ve lost motivation for this
project that’s hard it’s out it’s like
messy conversations and so instead we
just talked about tasks and most of the
time that kind of works ok but sometimes
we get stuck as a young innovation
consultant I had had my fair share of
projects that didn’t go perfectly this
photo was taken in New York in 2009 it
was easily the most significant project
of my career for one of the world’s
biggest brands and I just got a big
promotion to do the project
it didn’t go a little bit wrong it was a
that the actual content of the project
was simple stuff not hard but I spent
nine months drowning in group dynamics I
was completely out of my depth and
nothing I did worked and I’m sure you
have your own stories but what it did do
and I think what personal failure can do
is offer us some new direction and for
me I became obsessed with how groups
work and how we can get groups to work
better and I was looking everywhere for
wisdom psychology anthropology
philosophy sports personal development
everywhere and it wasn’t a theoretical
exercise I went on to work on over 75
collaborative projects in over 20
countries working alongside some
brilliant people who I learned from how
were they navigate in groups my art
practice also took a collaborative turn
and the mix-up was a project with 41
artists from six different cities these
are the guys from Istanbul along this
journey I kind of picked up a few things
or I realized a few things and one when
I was younger I spent a lot of time
around engines and what I realized is
that a lot of our language for getting
things done is very mechanical so we
talked about optimizing outputs driving
efficiency fixing what’s broken but
human group is absolutely nothing like a
machine and a much more helpful metaphor
for us is to think of a group like a
garden so we want good things to grow
right that’s the goal of a group that’s
why we’re working together but the
process is never straightforward it’s
never perfect and there’s always whether
you’re talking about a group or a garden
there’s always something that needs
attention right the attention that we
put on the problems that we face in
groups is finding the right conversation
and an important mentor of mine pointed
me towards this quote and it’s
come really really important for me a
problem is only a problem in the absence
of the right conversation because we are
actually much less stuck than we
imagined and we’ve all had an experience
where we’ve been in a group or a team
and we think that everything’s falling
apart and everything’s going wrong and
then suddenly someone brings a
conversation but somehow releases the
pressure that opens that possibility and
offers us a path forwards and that is
the power of finding the right
conversation all this talk of Gardens
this is actually my garden in South
London and it’s the scene of a really
important realization and that is after
reading and and and kind of working in
lots of groups what I realized is we do
not need more tips and guidance and
proscription of how we should work in
groups what we need is a new way of
looking at groups new ways of seeing and
what I started to see was a pattern in
amongst all the complexity if you like
there was a rhythm behind the noise of
what it takes to get groups working well
and what I created was a compass for
collaboration a kind of way of thinking
about how groups work this is a really
important moment to say that this
discovery completely changed the
direction of my life and is why I’m
standing here but you can’t be a
collaboration expert on your own so it’s
everything I’m sharing is very much a
shared journey working with others but
this model has got five sides and that’s
because there are five simple human
dynamics that flow through every group
that’s trying to get something done and
these five dynamics point us to five
conversations that we need to be having
the first dynamic is belief and this is
about purpose about vision about where
are we headed why why is it the right
time to do this why is it worth
committing to and you know what it feels
like don’t you when there’s belief in a
group there’s togetherness there’s
commitment and there’s optimism but
we’ve also experienced it when belief is
drained there is apathy and negativity
and apathy and negativity are the
signals that we need a conversation
about belief the second dynamic is much
more practical
it’s about structure so this is about
what is the plan what is the timeline
what is the scope what resources do we
have who’s got responsibility for what
and structure can go wrong in two ways
obviously we can have complete chaos no
structure but we can also have
structures that are so rigid that we
can’t move and in our groups what we’re
looking for is a structure that is
balanced that leaves us clear calm ready
to adapt to whatever comes our way
the third dynamic is involvement and
involvement is about saying in every
group the whole point of working in a
group is that we want diverse
perspectives we need to illuminate this
problem that we’re facing so that means
we need the right mix of people involved
we need to get an outside perspective we
we need to make space for diverse
opinions where we can genuinely listen
to each other without worrying that we
disagree and when involvement is out of
balance what do you see
people disengage they get defensive and
they feel disrespected but if you can
get involvement working well then people
are curious and their own plan to others
and this is when creative ideas start to
flow because everyone has their place in
the group the fourth dynamic is progress
making decisions moving forward trying
things out in the real world navigating
a bit of conflict for the sake of
getting stuff done who’s been in a group
where there isn’t enough progress how
does that feel we feel stuck if ice is
boring and it’s infuriating to be in a
group that’s stuck but if you have the
conversation that unlocks progress
there’s a rush of excitement and we feel
determined and willing to sacrifice the
final dynamic is care and care is about
the human relationships that we’re
building as we work together this is
about team spirit staying positive
through ups and downs giving honest
feedback even when that’s difficult
learning together having each other’s
back and if you don’t have care in a
group or you don’t have enough care
falls apart if you take a group and you
invest in care what do you build
resilience and a deep commitment to
deliver for the sake of these people
that you’re working with belief
structure involvement progress and care
these are five dynamics there five
lenses that we can look through at the
groups that we’re part of they’re five
frequencies that we can tune into and
the heart of working in a group is
presence presence is really showing up
now we need to be present to what it is
that we’re trying to get done that’s the
point but we also need to be present to
the dynamics of the group and present to
what needs our attention present to the
conversation that we need to find to
move things forward presence is also
about moving beyond their own tendencies
because we all have tendencies for me
I’m I’m really at home in involvement
and progress so I love like complex
ideas multiple perspectives creativity
and I also love action and making things
happen but talk to my team and they’ll
tell you that sometimes I don’t put
enough attention on structure and that
causes its own kind of that shows up in
the teams that I’m part of and you know
the New York project I was telling you
about two things were really missing
from that project belief understanding
how the project fitted with all the
other things that were happening and
care strong alliances and especially
honest feedback about how things were
going so what about you I’m interested a
couple of these dynamics will really
resonate with you more you’ll think yeah
I pay attention to that a lot and some
less so so I’m interested in which
dynamics you naturally pay most
attention to we’re gonna put our hands
up who naturally pays attention to
belief yet very purposeful what about
structure yeah
involvement Oh a lot there’s a lot of
involvement okay
progress oh those hands were so firmly
up it was like very strong decisive
yes yes okay so some people who
recognize that relationships are the key
to getting things done
the truth is all these dynamics matter
and we need to pay attention to all of
them but what if we were collaborating
together there was a little bit more
involvement and a little bit less belief
right so we would need to remember if we
were working together absolutely let’s
listen to all the perspectives and where
its head right that’s what we’re doing
but but let’s connect with the purpose
that we’re there for this is how it
works
let’s get practical there’s no such
thing as a perfect group you can’t get
all these dynamics perfectly in balance
there’s no such thing as a perfect
garden but what we can do is have enough
of each of the things for the sake of
what we’re trying to do and we can pay
attention to the right thing at the
right time let’s say you’re in a group
that is crying out for structure we need
a plan we need clarity and everyone
keeps talking about belief or you you
really need to hit hit a deadline and
you need progress but instead there’s
more and more involvement more
perspectives more ideas it doesn’t work
you need to pay attention to the right
dynamic at the right time it’s a simple
framework that allows things to grow and
what’s good about it is it allows us to
have conversations about group dynamics
we’ve been working with this model and
seeing how it works and so I’m kind of
confident that this works in whether
we’re talking about teenagers in a
Liverpool school getting better at
project work the leadership program for
a global bank or an NGO in the
Philippines the theme for TEDx Roma is
Esperanto and it’s a language project
that has three goals to be easy to learn
to connect people internationally and to
be a living language now this approach
shares those goals because whilst
individuals and organizations and
cultures have our own biases and
tendencies towards these dynamics our
groups go wrong in the same five ways
it’s the same five dynamics that are
flowing through any human group that’s
trying to get things done and if we have
those conversations the conversations
that we need to have even the most
stubborn problems we face can start to
soften this stuff’s always most fun not
in the abstract but when it gets
tangible and so think of a project that
you’re part of or a team that you’re
part of something that you really care
about
how are the dynamics how’s belief have
you got a clear purpose and is that
shared across the group are your
structures working for you are they
giving you calm and clarity House
involvement have you got the right
making progress moving from discussions
for actions and proposals trying things
out are you investing in the
relationships because that’s what’s
our work is getting things done in
groups and to do that we need to be
present we need to look and see if we
can find the conversations that can move
our groups forward because we can
achieve amazing things if we work
together and however stubborn they feel
however fixed our problems are with the
right conversation they can loosen up
thank you
[Applause]
you [Applause]
[Applause]
[Music]
you
[Music]
we can achieve amazing things if we work
together but if only it was that easy
the truth is that getting things done
with other people is often difficult and
sometimes it’s a complete nightmare my
name is Richard Watkins and I’m a
lifelong collaborator as a scientist a
creative problem solver and an artist
and what I’ve learned is the same thing
that you already know it’s that we don’t
really have a lack of important projects
to work on we don’t really have a lack
of goodwill to work with each other but
what constantly gets in the way as we
try and get things done is group
dynamics now this is kind of funny
because we are group animals we’re born
in groups we live in groups and pretty
much everything we ever achieve is done
in groups and yet groups caused us grief
group dynamics suck up a huge amount of
our energy now just imagine if you could
use that energy to get things done the
truth is it’s quite hard to look someone
in the eye that you’re working with and
say our relationship isn’t really
working or I’ve lost motivation for this
project that’s hard it’s out it’s like
messy conversations and so instead we
just talked about tasks and most of the
time that kind of works ok but sometimes
we get stuck as a young innovation
consultant I had had my fair share of
projects that didn’t go perfectly this
photo was taken in New York in 2009 it
was easily the most significant project
of my career for one of the world’s
biggest brands and I just got a big
promotion to do the project
it didn’t go a little bit wrong it was a
that the actual content of the project
was simple stuff not hard but I spent
nine months drowning in group dynamics I
was completely out of my depth and
nothing I did worked and I’m sure you
have your own stories but what it did do
and I think what personal failure can do
is offer us some new direction and for
me I became obsessed with how groups
work and how we can get groups to work
better and I was looking everywhere for
wisdom psychology anthropology
philosophy sports personal development
everywhere and it wasn’t a theoretical
exercise I went on to work on over 75
collaborative projects in over 20
countries working alongside some
brilliant people who I learned from how
were they navigate in groups my art
practice also took a collaborative turn
and the mix-up was a project with 41
artists from six different cities these
are the guys from Istanbul along this
journey I kind of picked up a few things
or I realized a few things and one when
I was younger I spent a lot of time
around engines and what I realized is
that a lot of our language for getting
things done is very mechanical so we
talked about optimizing outputs driving
efficiency fixing what’s broken but
human group is absolutely nothing like a
machine and a much more helpful metaphor
for us is to think of a group like a
garden so we want good things to grow
right that’s the goal of a group that’s
why we’re working together but the
process is never straightforward it’s
never perfect and there’s always whether
you’re talking about a group or a garden
there’s always something that needs
attention right the attention that we
put on the problems that we face in
groups is finding the right conversation
and an important mentor of mine pointed
me towards this quote and it’s
come really really important for me a
problem is only a problem in the absence
of the right conversation because we are
actually much less stuck than we
imagined and we’ve all had an experience
where we’ve been in a group or a team
and we think that everything’s falling
apart and everything’s going wrong and
then suddenly someone brings a
conversation but somehow releases the
pressure that opens that possibility and
offers us a path forwards and that is
the power of finding the right
conversation all this talk of Gardens
this is actually my garden in South
London and it’s the scene of a really
important realization and that is after
reading and and and kind of working in
lots of groups what I realized is we do
not need more tips and guidance and
proscription of how we should work in
groups what we need is a new way of
looking at groups new ways of seeing and
what I started to see was a pattern in
amongst all the complexity if you like
there was a rhythm behind the noise of
what it takes to get groups working well
and what I created was a compass for
collaboration a kind of way of thinking
about how groups work this is a really
important moment to say that this
discovery completely changed the
direction of my life and is why I’m
standing here but you can’t be a
collaboration expert on your own so it’s
everything I’m sharing is very much a
shared journey working with others but
this model has got five sides and that’s
because there are five simple human
dynamics that flow through every group
that’s trying to get something done and
these five dynamics point us to five
conversations that we need to be having
the first dynamic is belief and this is
about purpose about vision about where
are we headed why why is it the right
time to do this why is it worth
committing to and you know what it feels
like don’t you when there’s belief in a
group there’s togetherness there’s
commitment and there’s optimism but
we’ve also experienced it when belief is
drained there is apathy and negativity
and apathy and negativity are the
signals that we need a conversation
about belief the second dynamic is much
more practical
it’s about structure so this is about
what is the plan what is the timeline
what is the scope what resources do we
have who’s got responsibility for what
and structure can go wrong in two ways
obviously we can have complete chaos no
structure but we can also have
structures that are so rigid that we
can’t move and in our groups what we’re
looking for is a structure that is
balanced that leaves us clear calm ready
to adapt to whatever comes our way
the third dynamic is involvement and
involvement is about saying in every
group the whole point of working in a
group is that we want diverse
perspectives we need to illuminate this
problem that we’re facing so that means
we need the right mix of people involved
we need to get an outside perspective we
we need to make space for diverse
opinions where we can genuinely listen
to each other without worrying that we
disagree and when involvement is out of
balance what do you see
people disengage they get defensive and
they feel disrespected but if you can
get involvement working well then people
are curious and their own plan to others
and this is when creative ideas start to
flow because everyone has their place in
the group the fourth dynamic is progress
making decisions moving forward trying
things out in the real world navigating
a bit of conflict for the sake of
getting stuff done who’s been in a group
where there isn’t enough progress how
does that feel we feel stuck if ice is
boring and it’s infuriating to be in a
group that’s stuck but if you have the
conversation that unlocks progress
there’s a rush of excitement and we feel
determined and willing to sacrifice the
final dynamic is care and care is about
the human relationships that we’re
building as we work together this is
about team spirit staying positive
through ups and downs giving honest
feedback even when that’s difficult
learning together having each other’s
back and if you don’t have care in a
group or you don’t have enough care
falls apart if you take a group and you
invest in care what do you build
resilience and a deep commitment to
deliver for the sake of these people
that you’re working with belief
structure involvement progress and care
these are five dynamics there five
lenses that we can look through at the
groups that we’re part of they’re five
frequencies that we can tune into and
the heart of working in a group is
presence presence is really showing up
now we need to be present to what it is
that we’re trying to get done that’s the
point but we also need to be present to
the dynamics of the group and present to
what needs our attention present to the
conversation that we need to find to
move things forward presence is also
about moving beyond their own tendencies
because we all have tendencies for me
I’m I’m really at home in involvement
and progress so I love like complex
ideas multiple perspectives creativity
and I also love action and making things
happen but talk to my team and they’ll
tell you that sometimes I don’t put
enough attention on structure and that
causes its own kind of that shows up in
the teams that I’m part of and you know
the New York project I was telling you
about two things were really missing
from that project belief understanding
how the project fitted with all the
other things that were happening and
care strong alliances and especially
honest feedback about how things were
going so what about you I’m interested a
couple of these dynamics will really
resonate with you more you’ll think yeah
I pay attention to that a lot and some
less so so I’m interested in which
dynamics you naturally pay most
attention to we’re gonna put our hands
up who naturally pays attention to
belief yet very purposeful what about
structure yeah
involvement Oh a lot there’s a lot of
involvement okay
progress oh those hands were so firmly
up it was like very strong decisive
yes yes okay so some people who
recognize that relationships are the key
to getting things done
the truth is all these dynamics matter
and we need to pay attention to all of
them but what if we were collaborating
together there was a little bit more
involvement and a little bit less belief
right so we would need to remember if we
were working together absolutely let’s
listen to all the perspectives and where
its head right that’s what we’re doing
but but let’s connect with the purpose
that we’re there for this is how it
works
let’s get practical there’s no such
thing as a perfect group you can’t get
all these dynamics perfectly in balance
there’s no such thing as a perfect
garden but what we can do is have enough
of each of the things for the sake of
what we’re trying to do and we can pay
attention to the right thing at the
right time let’s say you’re in a group
that is crying out for structure we need
a plan we need clarity and everyone
keeps talking about belief or you you
really need to hit hit a deadline and
you need progress but instead there’s
more and more involvement more
perspectives more ideas it doesn’t work
you need to pay attention to the right
dynamic at the right time it’s a simple
framework that allows things to grow and
what’s good about it is it allows us to
have conversations about group dynamics
we’ve been working with this model and
seeing how it works and so I’m kind of
confident that this works in whether
we’re talking about teenagers in a
Liverpool school getting better at
project work the leadership program for
a global bank or an NGO in the
Philippines the theme for TEDx Roma is
Esperanto and it’s a language project
that has three goals to be easy to learn
to connect people internationally and to
be a living language now this approach
shares those goals because whilst
individuals and organizations and
cultures have our own biases and
tendencies towards these dynamics our
groups go wrong in the same five ways
it’s the same five dynamics that are
flowing through any human group that’s
trying to get things done and if we have
those conversations the conversations
that we need to have even the most
stubborn problems we face can start to
soften this stuff’s always most fun not
in the abstract but when it gets
tangible and so think of a project that
you’re part of or a team that you’re
part of something that you really care
about
how are the dynamics how’s belief have
you got a clear purpose and is that
shared across the group are your
structures working for you are they
giving you calm and clarity House
involvement have you got the right
making progress moving from discussions
for actions and proposals trying things
out are you investing in the
relationships because that’s what’s
our work is getting things done in
groups and to do that we need to be
present we need to look and see if we
can find the conversations that can move
our groups forward because we can
achieve amazing things if we work
together and however stubborn they feel
however fixed our problems are with the
right conversation they can loosen up
thank you
[Applause]
you [Applause]
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