Pillar #6 –Honoring the benefits and struggles of good collaboration.
This blog post series titled, ‘Steps to Success’, discusses various steps that you can take to transform your life. We must start by taking personal responsibility (Step 1), then you need to outline your vision (Step 2), decide how you will live a purpose driven life (Step 3) , commit to dreaming about infinite possibilities (Step 4), and then you are ready to put your hard work into action and you can become a catalyst (Step 5). At that point, you will begin to see changes in your life. Collaboration with others can continue to increase your ability to make positive change in your life. This week we will discuss the 6th Pillar – Collaboration.
There are many benefits to collaboration. It cultivates relationships, enhances teamwork, reduces employee turnover, improves outcomes and connects people to meet shared goals. Overall, it creates synergy (meaning that the sum is greater than its parts put together). Stephen R. Covey, in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People , very succinctly states that to collaborate is to:
1. Listen and Acknowledge
2. Respect
3. Speak the Truth
4. Think Win-Win
5. A process
And that it is NOT:
1. Always Easy
2. Disregarding other’s ideas
3. Accepting others ideas as the FULL TRUTH
4. Thinking Win-Lose
5. Giving in to Peer Pressure
There are two models or theories that I believe are very relevant when developing strong collaborations. One is the Platinum Rule which states you should ‘Treat others as they would like to be treated’. This is different from the Golden Rule which states that you should ‘Treat others as you would like to be treated’. Such a theory will help you ‘put yourself in someone else’s shoes’ while trying to collaborate with them.
The second model or theory is Tuckman’s stages of group formation. These stages are ‘forming, storming, norming and performing’ (in that order). Tuckman stated that groups naturally go through these stages as they are getting to know each other and learning how to best work with each other. There will be struggle prior to successful performance.
Many humans and animals understand the benefit of working in groups. There is truth behind the saying “Two heads are better than one”. As you move through your development towards a successful life, assessing how you can collaborate if it will be a mutually beneficial option will serve you well. When you do, you will be amazed at the outcomes. Harry Ford said “Coming together is a beginning: keeping together is progress: working together is success”. Wishing you much success as you develop collaborations!