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A fifteen-year initiative teaching collaborative skills in highly adversarial Red Zone organizations reveals five essential skills for building successful collaborative environments:

• Think win-win
  Foster a non-defensive attitude among employees, and reward people who care about others’ interests and needs as much as their own. Mutual success is the hallmark of positive, long-term relationships - and living and working in the Green Zone.

• Speak the truth
  Dishonesty poisons the workplace. If you’re serious about changing your corporate culture, you must speak - and vow to listen to - the truth. Green Zoners are open, honest, and “out there” with their intentions, observations, and feelings - and they receive the same candor in return. They’re also excellent listeners - behaviour you must model if you want others to follow suit.

• Be accountable
  There’s no room for shame or blame in the Green Zone. Promote a culture in which people take responsibility for their performance and their relationships. Encourage everyone to choose to change what’s not working. And recognise employees who focus on solutions.

• Be self-aware - and aware of others
  Work hard to understand your thoughts, feelings, emotions, intentions, and behaviours - and work just as hard to understand those around you. Create an environment where people feel free to ask what’s up when they don’t “get” someone else’s attitude or behaviour.

• Learn from conflict
  All relationships bump up against conflict once in a while - especially when deadlines and other pressures loom. The key is to use the conflict to learn and grow. Focus on understanding everyone’s underlying interests, then seek mutually beneficial solutions. When you hit a wall, take a time-out, consider what’s going on with you and those around you, and then start over.