For leaders, collaboration is the top most priority, but figuring out what it takes to make an organization successful can be a problem. Every organization is different, their strategies, work pattern, technology, and morals are different. The initiative of collaboration comes from various departments with various financial budgets. They have varying cultures, cases, goals, targets, approaches and success measures. Collaboration is all about complementing each other’s job and maintaining a cooperation and goodwill. It is about creating a task greater as a teamwork than would be possible for anyone in particular. In certain large organizations building a collaboration can be a tough job because one might try to enforce strict protocols into naturally flowing creative process of design. It’s a common scenario; as they say that everyone is a critic of design, but not everyone can turn up into a designer.
- You don’t need prisoners or hostages: Don’t let someone participate in a meeting forcefully. It’s their decision. Let them choose. Simply give them a chance if they would like. Assure the people that their opinions are considered and valued. This will lead people in an organization feel less like a hostages or prisoners.
- Never leave anyone trailing behind: Include everyone in a decision-making process or in a meeting for discussing plans, ideas, growth, developments and future success. It shouldn’t matter how less important and insignificant the role of a person is or if they are new, the best and the greatest idea can come up from even the most unexpected person. And there is no risk. So why not increase the chances of getting great ideas using a little brain power?
- Focus on building Understanding, not Self Pride: Ego and Self Pride prevents one from creating and designing a great product because it emotionally detaches the person from the team. So, for a better collaboration one needs to keep aside their ego, self-pride and instead should focus on establishing good understanding, empathy and trust.
- Collaboration should be done as an Innovative Platform: To attain success in the world of collaboration you cannot think of yourself as the only content details provider. Instead, you must see yourself as a person who creates and plans a platform that lets other people create stuff that might be valuable to them, your organization and even the rest of the world.
- Find and Strengthen the leaders: You need to find out the kind of leaders who develop a strong vision, values for the community, great leadership qualities and can attract more people to join the collaboration. This will benefit the collaboration of an organization immensely. Providing the leaders with incentives and encouragement, will motivate them to be more successful. Allow them to grow gradually and handle collaboration as a real task, not a diversion.
In this age of networking, organizations can create and handle their own accomplishment. They can develop and enhance a podium for new changes that will ultimately lead to the power of vast, large, diverse and more efficient chain of contributors. It certainly helps in building a strong and collaborative organization.