Another topic my business partner (BA) and I (MM) agreed to blog about -- so we can better understand it -- is our collaborative process and how well it works. We are well on our way towards accomplishing what we set out to do (develop and implement a business plan) and have done it with intelligence, humor, playfulness, focus, creativity, discipline and with vision. How the hell did that happen!?
It's such a complex topic, it's hard to know where to begin. Does our collaboration work because we both have the lifestyles that make it possible for us to pursue only the kind of work that we would do for free? Is it because neither of us have young children around that compete for our time? Is it because we both have a passion for the corporate world, for work and for learning? Is it because we both have significant others who lovingly believe in us and support us and pine for our success? Is it simply an accident?
As immersed in this collaboration as we are, we still can't pinpoint what about this collaboration makes it work so well. Maybe it's all of the above. Maybe it's that and a whole lot more.
One thing we do know for sure is that collaboration itself makes it work. Collaboration requires two or more people to work together on "something" and the two don't just "double" output. The collaborative process is not that linear. It's actually quite remarkable in that it is creative and flexible. It's a lot like adding a few ingredients to a soup....a dash of this or a dash of that won't double the quantity of soup, but the right combination of ingredients could make the soup infinitely more tasty. It's not about increasing the quantity of the soup that makes it better, it's about working with the quality of the soup that creates a memorable soup! That's what collaboration should do: not necessarily double or triple output/activity, but rather it should create something that otherwise would not have emerged from one single person.
The following, then, is a list I will be adding to over time, as to what are the characteristics that make collaboration work. Maybe we'll be able to duplicate it, or even create an "assessment" that helps match collaborators together. And in the collaborative spirit, please leave me your comments as to what you think is required for collaboration to really work.
1. Humility: Both BA and MM believe that the other could do it all on his/her own. But we also know the results would simply not be as tasty.
2. Fearlessness: Not that we fear nothing...it's just that we are not fearful about the process. We are not fearful that we wil "fail" -- or even that will succeed.
3. Faith: I suppose another way of saying fearlessness is to say that we have faith that a collaborative process will only ultimately lead to something great.
4. Patience: We have hit low points in our collaborative process where we doubt we know what we are doing. But we stay on task and work through that, without letting it delay us too severely, and, always, learning from the delay and doubt.
5. Respect: I completely respect BA's thinking style and corporate experience. I don't have any feelings of having to judge, edit, critique, evaluate, etc. any of BA's -- or even my -- contributions. They are what they are, and they are usually brilliant, incisive, mind-expanding, interesting, thought-provoking contributions.
6. Intelligence: Hey, we're smart! That helps!
7. Creativity: This is a BIG one. It might have to be a completely separate blog. Stay tuned.
Leave a comment