Is it easy to assume that communication and collaboration are one in the same? Communication involves the sharing of information, points of view, feelings and emotions.
Collaboration is playing well with others. It is a powerful force in breaking down silos and enabling a shared purpose between functions, departments, teams and customers.
The watchword in today’s business is “speed.” We all deal with bringing our products to market quicker, while maintaining quality, value add and cost. The way to address the demands of the marketplace is collaboration. It is, of course, working in tandem with co-workers and colleagues; tackling procedures, policies and how people work together.
Collaboration is a game-changer and a competitive advantage. Education, technology and career paths tend to steer us to being specialists. Thus, we are more than ever reliant on the knowledge and skill sets of others in order to fill the gap in our informational void. Plus, the fact is, it is difficult to understand all the complexities of doing business globally for any one individual.
We live in a world of connectivity, however, being connected does not by itself, guarantee — collaboration. Collaboration starts with each of us, it encourages us to articulate our talents and competencies and to distill what we are good at. This greatly crystalizes communications.
Collaboration in the purest sense propels individual and organizational learning. It causes people to stretch and to view the big picture.
Collaboration can create positive friction. It can create a fire of energy among employees and departments. Collaboration can be a great source of inspiration in the journey toward excellence. To quote Yogi Berra: “You can observe a lot just by watching.”
Collaboration will indeed surface differences between people and departments which can be a positive, when addressed in the pursuit of a common objective; it allows us all to value and leverage differences. Collaboration is different than e-mailing the person who works in the office next to you.
Without question we should, and do, listen to the voice of the customer. It is time to listen to the voice of the employee! Collaboration makes the leap to ensure that employees are a key part of the decision-making process. It entails making their suggestions, feedback and needs part of the overall company strategy.
Collaboration is not an additional task or assignment, it is a powerful tool to improve overall communications, focus and work flow.
Collaboration is connecting employees at all levels with pertinent information and resources to succeed. It makes employees more productive, allows for freedom of ideas and reduces stress.
Collaboration embraces the human side of the enterprise and allows a rich mixture of line and staff employees, to solve complex issues. Dreamers, traditionalists, hard-headed idealists and pragmatists working together—calls for Collaboration. With a huge capital “C.”
Collaboration needs to be nurtured. Clearly our education system focuses on individual achievement and effort. It is paramount, to give employees the opportunity to know each other. Build trust and relationships. This will result in a sense of community.
Collaboration is a purpose and a journey, not a one-time experiment. Co-mingle the disciplines. Great things happen when you put employees from human resources, finance, engineering, operations, information technology and marketing in the same room. Creativity results from putting backgrounds and perspectives on the table; collaboration makes good things happen.
“Strength does not come from physical capacity; It comes from an indomitable will.”—Mahatma Gandhi
Collaboration gives people the will to drive change. Collaboration, like life and business is a team sport. We win or lose together. It is time to celebrate differences, cherish diversity and to acknowledge publicly when a business team wins.
