Laterally

Quantity before quality. It sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? But that’s where good ideas come from. It’s not your first idea. Or the tenth. It’s the diamond formed from the pressure of squeezing beyond the fiftieth. How you get there is a little about how you approach the task. And a little about how you live your life outside the landscape of your current challenge. Find out more in our free download – Link in comments. There’s more we can do to make sure you apply your skills and experience in a way that generates new and useful ideas. DM me the word IDEAS and let’s talk more.

Next time someone gives you a reason why something won't work, thank them, and ask them now to give you a reason (or an action) that will help it succeed. Change the dynamic, raise the stakes. There is a time and a place for critical input, and there is a time and a place for idea generation. And they are not simultaneous. To learn more about this and how you can help your organisation or team get better at collaborating towards positive change, DM me the word IDEAS and let's make it happen.

“Take those headphones off. You seem unapproachable.” As if back-to-back meetings weren’t enough of a barrier to time for deep work, individuals’ attempts to focus are also under fire. Headphones aren’t just about music—they're about carving out a bubble of focus in an environment that’s otherwise full of distractions. Focusing on your ‘real work’ is one of the biggest challenges in the modern workplace. As soon as we sit at our desks, it’s open season for all sorts of distractions and interruptions.  Every ping, email, or casual tap on the shoulder pulls us further from flow—the state where we do our best work. Yes, with headphones on, we’re unapproachable for a moment, but it's temporary—and intentional. The work that happens during these periods is for the team, the company, and the bigger goals we’re all trying to reach. Being a great collaborator isn’t limited to the meeting room. True collaboration is about knowing when to connect and when to give space, so each person can bring their best ideas and solutions to the table. Rather than being endlessly interruptible, we need to realise that the best teamwork action is sometimes supporting our colleague to focus. Recognising and respecting that focus time is the mark of a true team player. Leadership isn’t about command and control. It’s about creating conditions and supporting individuals and teams to do their best work. Understanding how you and your colleagues work best and enabling it – that is a power move. I’m sure ‘distraction-free’ working will soon be a big selling point in recruitment. Once we have our individual work in check, we can do even better when we work with others. And when we work more effectively with others, problem-solving, innovation, and progress—all that good stuff—become more achievable. So the next time you see someone with their headphones on, don’t be so quick to assume they’re disengaged. Maybe they’re deep in the work that will benefit all of us. Instead of interrupting, ask yourself how you can support them in reaching that flow state—and how you can better protect your own focus. What’s your biggest challenge in getting work done at the moment? ——— 🎧 Follow Olly Whitman for more musings on leadership, collaboration, and creativity at work

I love the wayfinding app What3Words. I thought it was an incredible idea when I first saw it, and love introducing new people to it. If you’ve never encountered it before, it assigns 3 random words to each 3m x 3m square in a global grid to give a precise location where there might not be an address or even a street. I knew I wanted to express Laterally’s values, well, laterally. So, here are our 3 Words. Unlike the location app, these aren’t only found in a single place. These are our guiding principles wherever we are. Our North Star. 𝗪𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥//𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧//𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 //𝗪𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 Wonder about things and have a sense of wonder, awe. Ask questions, explore ideas, people, places.  Life is an adventure every day. //𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 Relationships are everything. Enjoy unexpected connections. Be the colleague you’d want to have. //𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 Be brave, go first, say it. Find the way, or make one. What's the best that could happen? 3 simple words that expand out in many directions connecting us to what we set out to do –making organisations smarter, happier, and more effective by tapping into your team’s collective genius. What are your values in 3 words? And where could you or your team use some unexpected connections to solve 'that' problem or become more innovative?

Collaboration. It's simple but not easy. All week we've been looking into what it takes to get people working together without wanting to harm each other. And an interesting perspective has emerged – there is an 'I' in Team. In fact, there are a few of them. To be better collaborators we need to be better individuals – or at least understand ourselves as individuals. Let's call this 'The Paradox of Collaboration'. Sounds dramatic, doesn't it?

Collaboration works when people come together and work on a shared goal. By playing with the roles each individual plays – whether it's leaving job titles at the door, or focusing on specific types of thinking – we can supercharge the power of the group far beyond the sum of its parts.

Have you got all your minds on one problem, or have you all got your minds on your version of the problem? It's all to easy for things to get lost in collaboration. Discover ways to foster shared understanding and make decisions more clearly and decisively.

Collaboration feels like it should be easy, but there are many pitfalls that can derail even the most well-intentioned efforts, leading to confusion, frustration, and ultimately, a lack of real progress.

It’s no secret that collaboration is an essential part of working. But how come it often descends into chaos (and not the good kind)? This week let's explore the different ways we can look at collaboration and use it to make better use of our time, to get better ideas and to make progress from it. 

We don't often associate quality time with work, but we could. Making time work effectively for us is going to be essential to thrive in a knowledge economy, where deep thinking and creativity are core skills.