Great at Work: The Hidden Habits of Top Performers

Trust is a key issue in collaboration. We can define trust as people’s confidence that colleagues will deliver the high-quality work expected of them, on time, every time.

Collaboration means working with people over whom you have no formal authority. To motivate and excite them, you can do what Mike did and articulate a compelling unifying goal.

The team goal—get the pig to the top—drove every decision and united the team. Individual goals such as summiting were secondary. Pig over person. In one instance, Breashears ordered Sumiyo, a Japanese climber on the team, to stay behind on summit day because she was climbing a bit slower than the rest. The team could not afford to slow down, even

“Sometimes I’ll talk to folks in advance of a meeting, saying ‘Hey we’re going to have this meeting, I know you have a particular viewpoint, I think it’s very important that it gets heard, I’d like to make sure you share it with the group.’ ”

The more you can improve the quality of the debate, the better the quality of the outcomes.”

A team can’t fight well unless it encompasses diverse viewpoints.

Show up to every meeting 100 percent prepared. • Craft an opinion and deliver it with conviction (and data). • Stay open to others’ ideas, not just your own. • Let the best argument win, even if it isn’t yours (and often it isn’t). • Feel free to stand up and shout, but never make the argument personal. • Always listen—really listen—to minority vie

President Lyndon B. Johnson is supposed to have quipped about an opponent: “it’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside pissing in.”30 Whenever you can, work smart and invite the opposition into your tent.

As our study found, inspiring others and applying smart grit is a highly effective way to advocate for one’s goals.