I've been encountering this a few times with a teammate who I collaborate with often--we are setting out to solve a problem but have differing approaches. Usually my approach is rooted in what I have seen working for our larger teams/leaders and in the philosophies our department leaders have laid out. Often when I acquiesce to this teammate's approach, we get feedback directing us to take the approach I had originally suggested. I'd love to learn how others stand their ground but in a collaborative way where everyone walks away feeling like their input was valued, matters, and that it was incorporated into the solution.

Hey fam, good to meet you all! The main issue that my team and I have is one of limited action due to a lack of time/funding. For context, we are an early stage tech startup without funding and all members have day jobs and families. We have strong vision, mission, and values and decent communication. What are some ideas for inspiring additional action so that we can get to the next stage?

A topic much highlighted in the Mastermind tonight was how do you tackle communicating with team members / stakeholders in different time zones and I 100% face this as 30% of my team is in a time zone 11.5 hours ahead. How do y’all work with this to ensure effective collaboration?

Collaborative problem solving has its benefits: - Aligned understanding and consensus - Inclusivity and sense or responsibility - Newly gained perspective and insights - and more However, in this fast moving world, my team is often pressured to "just get something thing out." So we do. For example, we make our best assumptions and outline a new process that is supposed to align cross-functional teams on how to deliver faster and more efficiently. We present the process to the group for feedback. Half are not paying attention and the other half are starting to show signs of irritation that they were left out of the initial process. With deadlines and pressure from above along with busy schedules, I often struggle with find the time on the calendars or the strength to facilitate a collaborative problem solving workshop myself. I know I am equipped with the skillset, workshop activities, and digital tools I need to run a successful problem solving workshop, but yet I struggle to put them to use now that I am a leader. Is it fatigue and burnout? Or laziness and lack of motivation? Does/has anyone else experience this? How have you balanced doing the right thing with checking the boxes?

How do you balance finding the right number of people to include in the collaborative problem-solving process? For teams or projects with a large number of people, it can seem inefficient to include everyone, but at the same time, I don't want anyone to feel left out or like their input isn't valued.