The new neuroscience that is studying the brain and how it works shows that novelty, challenge, connection and creative expressions create the charge that brings in greater productivity individually, and when collaboration is a focus, creates greater overall business results. I have been talking about the process of team alignment and harnessing the power of your organization in my last three blog posts suggesting you have four team meetings devoted to the team process, in addition to the regular staff meetings you have as a team leader. These meetings are focused on team communication, connection, accountability and partnership, and on creating the context for bringing forward the talent, creativity and innovation that is crucial to organizational success. As promised, today I am outlining the fourth meeting in the series of creating collaborative leadership for the team, which is solution-focused, and provides an opportunity to move forward in a more dynamic way. In the process devoted to Collaborative Leadership through Team Alignment, the Solution Focus takes half a day to define and to have an actual work session to design an initiative or a detailed action solution. Then, in the renewal meetings, these qualities are emphasized and built into regular solutions throughout the year. Elements of the Fourth Meeting and renewal meetings moving forward:

• Team members report what has gone well and where the challenges are, remaining solution- focused vs. blame-focused.
• From the challenges presented, one can be selected for moving forward into a solution. Often this will involve some inquiry from others to create clarity in the situation, not to look for causative factors.
• As the team moves forward, time should be given to the solution in the next staff meeting so that people have time to think about their offered suggestions. This creates the base for collaboration that is empowering, and accountability that taps into the strengths of each person on the team.
• Devote a part of each meeting moving forward to presenting wins and challenges, and to giving each team member a time to receive the input of other team members on their particular challenge.
• It has been found that the usual meeting model of each business leader giving a report of business does not engage everyone in the room; rather it becomes a report to the leader and to those who stay engaged. The important information for engaging the team in shared leadership is to look at what works (the wins) and what is not working (challenges), and what engages everyone in solution focus. The usual report can be handed out for reading once the important aspects have been said in the meeting.