Bring together the conditions that will make collaboration emerge

Whether it be between sectors of your organization or within your team, collaboration is an issue. You can talk about it, emphasize its importance, it is still difficult. The personalities in place are too strong. The gaps between some people or sectors are too big. What to do? The secret lies in the ability to bring together the conditions that will make collaboration emerge. Instead of hoping that the collaboration takes place thanks to the good will of everyone, the collaboration becomes a result.

Four conditions for a successful collaboration

Before even trying to meet the conditions, the first step is to have good reasons to increase collaboration. Without a real motivation to change, nothing will change. It can be a crisis, a strategic objective, a critical project, an opportunity to be seized, an urgent problem to solve or other.

Once this motivation is recognized, collaboration will become a result when the following four conditions are successfully met:

• Common objectives. Why spend time collaborating with other people or sectors if you do not share common goals? And if we have common goals, do we execute them collaboratively?
• State of mind. As long as everyone remains in a state of mind that favors individual and sectorial interests at the expense of the common good, collaboration will be hard to take.
• Structures. Without mechanisms to remember to collaborate and do it effectively, collaboration will happen if you think about it, if you have the time and if you feel like it.
• Behaviours. Behaviors of closure, defense, blame, disrespect and lack of listening quickly kill attempts at collaboration. On the contrary, sharing behaviors, openness to find the causes of problems, exploration of solutions and respect create fertile ground for collaboration.

Our challenge as a leader is to bring these conditions together and support them despite the obstacles. Demanding ? Certainly ! Paid? Absolutely !

To learn more about our collaboration workshops, visit our workshops and conferences page.