POTENTIALITY EXPLORED No 11: Collaboration is easy right? Maybe
“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” Darwin
I have been collaborating on a community project recently. In the end it was a great experience but I’m not going to lie, I didn’t find it easy. The experience made me think. Often promoted as a great way to do things it can sometimes feel more cumbersome than doing it yourself.
What is collaboration as distinct from other ways of doing things; why do it; how is it best achieved; and when? Here are some thoughts, tips and tools. Please comment and add your own thoughts below so we all prevail (thanks Darwin)!
WHAT IS IT?
I think collaboration is a cooperative effort between people working on equal terms with shared leadership to get things done. Collaboration seems to enable us to achieve what we cannot do alone and in ways that are distinct from one leader telling us all what to do.
WHY DO IT?
There are a number of reasons, among them:
Shared skills and perspectives. When the tasks requires skills and resources we dont have working with others brings a diversity of perspectives and skills in solution-building and defining impact.
Reduced error. When the question is complex and the solution and its outcome is not obvious thinking through and working together can result in fewer major mistakes. Equality means that assumptions and plans can be challenged along the way and course-corrected.
Motivation for Completion (fun even?). The work might be hard and sometimes dull requiring stamina or staying power. For many, working with others is simply more interesting and fun enabling us to continue to completion holding ourselves accountable for the shared success and even failure.
Mutual ownership. This has the dual effect of supporting courage when its needed and deeper lasting impact through the multiplier effect.
HOW?
Thats all very well but collaboration is not for the faint hearted! It has been called Fierce Cooperation and at its core is the challenge of working as equals and with mutual benefits. Much easier said than done, among the challenges, to do it well are:
self declared leaders and experts may need to come to the painful realisation that they are getting in the way;
everyone needs to admit the likelihood of bias and mutually owned error;
no one can hide from their accountability to others; and,
shared interests need to be openly discussed.
The following top tips can be useful
Get clear on the purpose of the collaboration and return to regularly
Know what a good outcome will be and for whom
Agree: Who leads and when? How do we communicate so that we actually listen to and hear each other? How do we celebrate success, pause to learn and notice? How do we resolve the conflict when (not if) it arises?
Use a mirror and take a selfie! Am I a good collaborator? What am I doing that is helping and hindering collaboration for success? What are my motives (noting they may change over time!)? What do I need to let go of to enable success?
WHEN? How do you decide?
This simple matrix illustration shows the balance between importance of GOAL (what needs to be done) and RELATIONSHIP (the need for others in doing it). If the need to deliver the goal outweighs the need for the input of others a competitive approach is needed, potentially at the expense of relationships. If the achievement of the GOAL is dependent on the RELATIONSHIPS and vice versa then collaboration agreement must drive the behaviour.
The two lower quadrants show a place where neither goal or relationships matter. You may just avoid that effort! And an area where the goal is unimportant but relationships matter you may just be friendly!
THE TWIST IN THE TALE
The dark side of collaboration is treacherous acts of collusion with the enemy in contexts of conflict or political tension. Collaborators face communal hatred and often severe punishment as they are seen to “side” with the enemy. Same word, different thing surely?
Studies of war time collaboration show that collaboration is as old as war itself and hasn’t always been seen as treacherous. Like virtuous collaboration, it is driven by a clear purpose. Sometimes this is survival; or a longer term strategies to reduce casualties. At others collaborators have broken accepted boundaries along lines of belief and political aspirations.
The similarities seem to be that it always requires risk taking, trust and courage, clarity on purpose and adding value through collective action.
What else? Please like share, shout, shoot the breeze and generally help our thinking continue.
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