How to collaborate more effectively

Collaboration is synonymous with creativity and high performance. When done well, it works fantastically but knowing how and when to collaborate can be tricky; especially if you work in an environment where individual performance is rated and rewarded more highly than team performance.

For this, and other reasons you will read about, collaboration may not come as naturally to you as you might hope. The key to great collaboration is to actively and relentlessly work at developing your collaboration skills and notice when collaboration works well and when it doesn’t.

Why doesn’t collaboration come naturally?

Mainstream education and workplaces do not habitually reward collaboration, though they increasingly encourage it. The issues are both structural and fundamental:
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- Most organisations are hierarchical and true collaboration is often restricted by this structure.

- Children and adults alike are rewarded for their individual achievements. It’s hardwired into us and breaking from this convention can feel challenging.

When we collaborate well and experience the benefits of working together, we can see and feel the value it brings. You may need to actively create collaborative opportunities for yourself so that you can benefit from the positivity it generates in your working relationships, the balance it can bring to your workload and the opportunities it generates.

To make collaboration work, here’s a simple model to understand and navigate the complexities of effective collaboration.

A model for collaboration

To help us frame a model for collaboration, we're going to consider the four Ps: Psychology, Purpose, Process and Possession.
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Psychology

‍In order to effectively collaborate, you need to feel psychologically safe to do so. Collaboration requires you to share your ideas and your work with others. It will challenge the belief that your value lies in what you individually contribute.

It also relies on you being open to different perspectives. In his seminal work on creativity, Ken Robinson found that as we grow up and learn to conform to societal norms, we start to limit ourselves and censor our own thought processes.

We become less open to ideas and concepts that challenge our views, values and experiences.  We create what psychologists call, ‘rigid rules’ to live our lives by. These rules can inhibit our ability to be open, honest and creative; skills that are vital in any collaborative exchange.

A rigid rule might be, “I must always be clever” or “I must always have the right answer”.

Reflect on a rigid rule you have that might get in the way of good collaboration. How could you reframe that so you can create some flexibility in your thinking? For example, “I prefer to be right but it’s important to hear other people’s ideas too”.

Purpose

‍One of the systemic reasons that collaboration often fails or fails to begin is because we don’t always identify what we’re collaborating for and critically, when to do it.

Here are some examples of when collaboration might be a beneficial:
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- To get fresh perspectives, ideas and input on a project or piece of work
- When brainstorming new and vetting current ideas
- In development situations e.g. your Voco partnership
- When sharing information with another person or team  

For a collaboration to be rewarding and successful, it is important to set boundaries. Creating an informal ‘contract’ can be a good way to get clarity on what you are each bringing to the collaborative effort. This builds trust and helps set out responsibilities and expectations.

Process

‍Though collaboration is a creative effort, it is extremely important that a clear process is followed when people are being expected to share their ideas. This, along with the setting the purpose of the collaboration, helps to create the psychological safety that is so crucial to successful collaboration.

When inviting someone to take part in a collaborative meeting or conversation make sure that:
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- Everyone knows why they have been invited to participate.
- If the meeting requires brainstorming or problem solving, people should be sent a question / creative problem to answer prior to the meeting.
- A ‘contract’ for collaboration should be set out upfront.
- Clear timekeeping should be kept so that everyone has a chance to participate.
- Someone should lead the process in the room to ensure everyone has a chance to share their ideas.
- Find an environment that is conducive to creative thinking - this may not be in your office.
- Merge, leave, come back together. You don’t need to solve everything in one go.


‍Possession

‍One of the common pitfalls in collaboration is that people are afraid to take ownership or drive actions forward for fear of seeming un-collaborative. BUT someone needs to own the outcome. It’s no good collaborating if there’s no one to pull things together. You need to create win:win outcomes at the end of a collaborative process.

But how can you actually pull ideas together without offending anyone or feeling that you have ‘given in’ to others? There are a few tips and tricks you can employ to help here:
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- Set out in the contract what the outcome will be, where ideas will be going and how they will be used.
- Note down as many ideas as possible and who said what.
- Check ideas you want to use and those you don’t before releasing any official documentation. People want to feel heard.
- Master the art of the ‘elegant summary’ when providing feedback from the collaboration.

Wait, what's an elegant summary...? Well, luckily there are a few handy rules:

- feedback should be timely
- thank people for their input
- acknowledge as many ideas as possible for what they were (useful, creative etc) and give people personal credit
- remind people of the question posed
- share the idea / approach you will take and WHY you're taking it
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In summary...

Successful collaboration doesn’t just ‘happen’ because you are hardwired to value individual achievement over team effort. But, when you collaborate, you are more creative, more trusting and generate better ideas. Consciously create opportunities to collaborate with others.

When doing so, be aware of the psychological factors that may obstruct the process. Be clear about the purpose and required outcomes of the collaboration, follow a process and make sure someone takes responsibility for pulling everything together and sharing feedback with the person or people involved.

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