This is an article about how to be a trustworthy, messy and diplomatic collaborator.
The Potentiality’s Cartoonist in Residence, Phil Skipper, has an interesting take on collaboration. Here is how Phil captured our team’s personal and collective definitions of collaboration: “Collaborating means that the potential of a project is realized by a team and not individuals. Classrooms, workplaces and dense urban neighbourhoods require effective teams to drive change and inspire fun. You will use this competency to collaborate like a symphony.”
By giving trust up front, embracing the mess of many peoples’ ideas and styles, and always exercising diplomacy, we can collaborate like a symphony of talent to build awesome communities and enhance well-being.
Here is the best advice of Mike, Kurt and I – as told by Phil – when it comes to awesome collaboration.
Build Trust!
JOHN SAYS:
You have to give trust up front for awesome collaboration. Assume people are doing things – even the stuff that you don’t like or don’t understand – with positive intention and believe that they will achieve great results with their work. When teams trust each other then people will be more honest, more real, more creative, and, you guessed it, more collaborative. This is good advice. Trust me.
Be Diplomatic!
KURT SAYS:
Collaboration requires diplomacy to reconcile different, but equally valuable, perspectives. Being diplomatic and fostering good relations with your counterparts is the ultimate foundation for collaborative partnerships that yield great results.
Get Messy!
MIKE SAYS:
Collaboration is messy work. It is as much built on trust as it is the means to build trust. It necessitates the setting, testing, and resetting of boundaries. It is also the only way to address the messy complex challenges we face every day.
