That was the CEO’s closing remark in a leadership offsite we facilitated last quarter. Her team had talent in spades - domain expertise, political nous, strategic credentials - but their meetings often ended with more intellectual posturing than shared ownership. A key product pivot was at stake, and despite countless whiteboard sessions, no one walked out with a clear next move. Everyone agreed, but nothing changed.

We asked her a simple question: “What if collaboration isn’t about consensus, but constructive friction?”

That was the unlock.

‍

‍

Why This Isn’t Just a Soft Skill

In high-stakes environments, the ability to solve complex problems collaboratively is no longer a ‘nice to have’ - it’s a leadership mandate. According to PwC’s Global CEO Survey, 77% of executives say that cross-functional collaboration is critical to their organisation’s ability to grow. But the execution gap remains wide.

Why? Because collaboration is often confused with harmony. Real problem solving requires tension - intellectually honest debate, divergent thinking, and yes, occasional discomfort.

When done right, collaborative problem solving doesn’t dilute clarity. It sharpens it.

‍

‍

The Five Gear Shifts of Effective Collaborative Problem Solving

We call this the “CoSolve Engine” - five gear shifts leaders can make to turn meetings from performative alignment into actionable progress.

1 – Frame the Problem Like a Puzzle, Not a Turf War

Many teams stall because the problem is framed in ways that trigger defensiveness.
Instead, anchor the conversation on shared curiosity:

• What isn’t obvious here?
  
  
• What do we not yet understand?
  
  

Take the example of a healthcare client unsure whether to digitise a legacy diagnostic tool. The CTO saw risk; the CMO saw opportunity. We reframed the question from “Should we or shouldn’t we?” to “What would need to be true for this to work?” That shifted the room from positions to possibilities.

Reflection prompt: Where might your current framing be creating unproductive tension?

Micro-action: Rewrite your next meeting agenda to start with a “How might we…” question.

‍

2 – Invite Heat, But Regulate It

Psychological safety doesn’t mean polite silence. It means people can challenge ideas without fear of being punished.

Google’s Project Aristotle found that psychological safety was the most important factor in high-performing teams. But safety without heat is stagnation. In fact, many executive teams are too polite to be productive.

As facilitators, we often use a ‘Red Card’ tactic: if someone feels a conversation is going in circles or becoming unproductive, they can raise the card to reset the dynamic. It creates permission for candour without escalation.

Micro-action: Nominate a rotating “devil’s advocate” in strategy discussions to legitimise dissent.

‍

3 – Design for Cognitive Diversity, Not Just Role Representation

Too often, cross-functional teams are populated by title, not by thinking style. You get marketing, ops, finance, product - yet everyone speaks the same strategic dialect.

Instead, curate teams with different problem-solving orientations:

• First-principles thinkers
  
  
• Systems thinkers
  
  
• Pattern recognisers
  
  
• Data challengers
  
  
• Integrators
  
  

In one media client workshop, we rebalanced the room by adding a field ops lead and a junior data analyst. The result? A reframing of the problem from "subscriber drop-off" to "moments of micro-disengagement" - a more solvable lens.

Reflection prompt: Whose thinking style is missing from your next major decision?

Micro-action: Use a “mental model lens” exercise to map how different people approach the same issue.

‍

4 – Build the Solution Live, Not After the Meeting

Ever walked out of a meeting with “good discussion” but no output? That’s a symptom of separation between ideation and action.

We encourage teams to co-create artefacts - decision trees, risk maps, draft memos - in the room. The act of building together creates mutual clarity and accountability.

One client even introduced “No PowerPoint Thursdays,” where every cross-functional meeting had to end with a co-written one-pager or prototype.

Micro-action: Switch from slides about the problem to collaborative canvases on the problem - like FigJam, Miro, or just paper.

‍

5 – Close with a Commitment Cascade

The most underutilised part of collaborative problem solving is the exit ramp. Agreements get made, but accountability dissolves.

We use a tool called the “Commitment Cascade”:

• What will I do by Friday?
  
  
• What will I tell my team by Monday?
  
  
• What will we review next Thursday?
  
  

This creates a cascade of micro-commitments across the system - and more importantly, the shared language to follow through.

Micro-action: End your next team session with this 3-part question, and write it down in the room.

‍

Turning Strategy Into Shared Action

Here’s how leaders can start embedding this approach into their operating rhythm:

1. Audit your meetings: Which ones are decision-driving vs information-sharing? Collapse or redesign the rest.
   
   
2. Train for collaborative range: Bring in facilitators or internal coaches to teach structured problem solving, not just ‘teaming’.
   
   
3. Use pre-mortems: Before launching a shared initiative, ask “What could cause this to fail spectacularly?” and reverse-plan from those points.
   
   

Pro Tip: Use a rotating “Decision Owner” role in large programmes. It prevents too many cooks while maintaining collective input.

‍

Common Traps We See Smart Teams Fall Into

• Overvaluing consensus: Agreement is easy when nothing’s at stake.
  Fix: Reframe alignment as shared commitment to action, not shared opinion.
  
  
• Assuming participation equals contribution: Vocal ≠ useful.
  Fix: Assign roles like sense-maker, summariser, or challenger.
  
  
• Underestimating prep: Unstructured collaboration often reflects unprepared minds.
  Fix: Send clear problem briefs ahead of sessions, not vague calendar invites.
  
  
• Letting hierarchy hijack the process: Seniority can silence valuable dissent.
  Fix: Use structured rounds of input, so junior voices enter early.
  
  

‍

Executive Reflection Corner

What’s one recent meeting where collaboration led to unclear next steps?
What structure or role could have changed that outcome?

Bonus: Try mapping your last strategic misfire - what thinking styles or perspectives were missing from the decision room?

‍

What Happens When You Get This Right

We’ve seen teams that adopt these principles solve gnarlier problems, faster.

• Product launches get sharper because cross-functional voices are integrated upstream.
  
  
• Talent stays longer because people feel heard and seen as contributors.
  
  
• Culture gets healthier because debates are about ideas, not egos.
  
  

Most importantly, collaborative problem solving becomes a practice, not a performance.

‍

Your Next Strategic Move

Block 90 minutes next week. Pick a live issue. Use the “CoSolve Engine” as your run-of-show.
Let the team know upfront: this isn’t just another sync. It’s how we learn to solve together - without groupthink, without waste, and without deferring clarity.

We’d love to hear what surfaces. Send us your notes, questions, or war stories.

Team SHIFT