Today we will focus on collaboration, its importance and what it relies on.
Don Tapscott, a Canadian expert in business strategy renders the concept of collaboration very well: “collaboration is important not only because it is the best way to learn. The spirit of collaboration is the foundation of every institution and deeply rooted in our lives. Learning to collaborate is therefore preparing to be more efficient, to solve problems better, to innovate and to learn continuously in a challenging context like today’s “.
I believe that in this sentence there is a lot of the concept of “collaborating” as a team, where the results of the individual are valued, not covered, by the team and where collaboration becomes an effect of multiplying the energies of the individual.
Collaborating in a team is everything, but it is also the most difficult condition to achieve results: by its nature, the human being is led to seek the individual good, not the collective one. But if you manage to create in the team the change of mentality that leads from the concept of “I” to the concept of “We”, then everything becomes simpler and objectives are easily approached.
How an we foster a better collaboration within the group?
Create a clearer vision
First of all, it is important to have a common and clear vision of what you want to achieve and what the expected results are. Having a common goal and sharing it creates awareness of one’s efforts and, above all, helps to correctly interpret the actions of others.
It is necessary to focus on the task. Having shared the final goal, individual members can focus on the “tactical” tasks that arise from time to time and that others will read according to the ultimate goal.
Grow skills to grow the team
The growth of additional skills that facilitate the amalgamation of the group is functional to the collaboration. Working together is a recipe that requires many trials and many errors before can be put on the menu.
Always communicate
If you do not communicate, you do not collaborate: communication, is the heart of collaboration and of any other good practice that you want to pursue. It is essential to define key roles, which are representative of what is needed, are clearly communicated and “metabolized” by participants. All in order to avoid grey areas and overlaps that can easily alter the balance.
