“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”   Helen Keller

 It is widely agreed that collaboration consistently provides greater accomplishments. The combined brainpower of the intelligent, capable people in your team can solve complex problems and achieve astonishing results.

Identifying Strengths

Collaboration is the act of deliberately working together, and the acknowledgement that different team members bring different strengths, and ways of looking at a problem, to the table.

It is therefore vital to clarify these strengths beforehand, and the roles of each team member within the collaborative process.

Participants in a collaborative project must be chosen. They must be carefully considered for their skills, experience and motivations, and chosen based on whether like-minded people, or a diverse mix of perspectives, are preferred.

It is about sharing expertise, and being open to different approaches and opinions that might ultimately improve the outcome of the project.

Managing Collaboration

“Collaboration is the keystone of leadership success.” – Forbes

Leaders must make collaboration about the sum of combined skills, not an exercise in group work and learning to get on with your colleagues. You don’t necessarily need to get on with your colleagues, as long as you remain professional and respect each other’s job titles and strengths.

Some people feel threatened by collaboration, worried that they might not get credit for their contribution, or that others might not pull their weight.  For this reason it is important to structure collaboration with simple guidelines and expectations so that everyone knows their roles and what is expected of them.

If you want to see the potentially groundbreaking results of effective collaboration within your team, but need advice on how to do it, please contact us.