The more top lessons of collaboration I learn, the more I realize some of the pieces fall naturally into place for my introvert style others I have to reach for.
Since my first business, Professional Strategies Inc, a name I still use but my services and products have changed, I’ve found collaboration to be fun, profitable and evolving. One theme that remains consistent with anyone I collaborate with is the issue of trust. If it isn’t there, I can sense it, I don’t stuff it or ignore, instead, good-byes are imminent.
What are natural pieces for an introvert? What pieces do you want to pay attention to regardless of your preference to introversion or extroversion? Marc Lawn of The Business GP, a consultant to some key blue chip businesses across the globe, has a few lessons for all:
Never forget that collaboration by its dictionary definition is all about people coming together to deliver an overall goal or project. This must be a ‘win-win’ for all concerned. It is extremely easy for each party to come in to a project with a very selfish view of what they want to get. It is exactly this behaviour that affects the overall result for all concerned. You must always be clear on the desired outputs for all parties up front. Write these down early and share with everyone. The collaborators must also regularly review the project against these objectives and be committed to driving and supports the objectives of others as well as their own. It is only with a true partnership that all parties get the fullest value and superior performance based on mutual respect and trust.
For me clarity is imperative. The words we use are so important yet sometimes taken for granted. My goodness, think of the work collaborate and what do you think of? If just glossed over you might be thinking cross-promotion and I might be thinking affiliate. That’s where the win-win for all can begin to unravel. These are two very different forms of collaboration.
At the heart of whatever direction a collaborative effort takes is to be clear in words, goals and intentions. As Marc so assuredly says, when you are in collaboration, “be committed to driving and supports the objectives of others as well as their own.” That’s the mutually beneficial piece and that’s the piece an introvert in particular may need to learn a lesson about speaking confidently. We’re generally quite clear in our head aren’t we? That’s a plus. However we want to be just as clear in our words. It’s really being selfish about being mutually beneficial. Clarity equals better chance of success.
How do you think collaborating for mutual beneficial can go off course?
How do you think you can use your strengths to keep it on course?
Pat, collaborating has sometimes gone off course in my world in spite of trust. Even when trust has been present, lack of clarity about the 5Ws (Who, What, Where, When, Why, and, of course, How) can quickly lead to divergance of effort and therefore outcome.
That’s where clarity and focus come in. CIt isn’t enough to clearly expressing desires for how we’ll work together and for what end. The dialog about clarity and focus must continue throughout the collaborative initiative.
How many times have you thought you were on the same page as someone else, let alone a team of someones, only to discover down the road that someone zigged when someone else zagged.
Checking in with each other when this happens, or even when it looks like it might, can go a long way to keep a project and all involved on course as they continue to build trust, rapport, and momentum toward achieving the desired outcomes.
The Energizer Bonnie
Pat,
Great post. I like “The words we use are so important yet sometimes taken for granted.” I will take this sentence with me.
I will trade a pun for it: Some people’s noses and feet are built backwards: their feet smell and their noses run.#pun
And puns, highlight the fun side of slipping in a word meaning you don’t expect.