Lack of collaboration is one of the root cause for conflicts. Learn some strategies for collaborating at ease and prevent conflicts. With collaboration at ease getting things done is no longer seem to be harder.
2. Why
collaboration
is hard?
Collaboration makes us very uncomfortable.
Because of individual personalities, everything
about collaboration feels unnatural to us – from
working with others to achieve a common goal, to
sharing all the glory of success.
Having to talk to people throughout the process
can be mildly anxiety-inducing, too.
I’m an independent worker and a control freak — I
prefer making things look exactly the way I
envision them.
3. Can we get
away without
collaboration?
That isn’t how the business world works. You
can never be able to get away with avoiding
collaboration. In fact, when you actively
avoid it then it would wind up
making more work for yourself.
As TPMs or PMs, collaboration is something
we have to rely on frequently in order to get
things done in the most efficient way
possible.
A most commonly buzzword at many
companies, being used mainly as a synonym
for “working together” or simply teamwork.
5. First understand the Why?
Why collaboration is key?
● As the difficulty of certain tasks increases, so
does the requirement to have greater
specialization.
● The collective brain is really the key to true
collaboration, and something extremely
valuable.
Hence collaboration becomes key to getting stuff
done.
6. • Face 2 Face: is how humans are built to interact.
• Respect different ways each individual prefers to have a solid and healthy dialogue.
• Give any person you’re trying to collaborate with the time to express their thoughts.
• Be flexible to interact electronically for follow-ups
Communication:
• The ability to compromise is a very important skills to have.
• Avoid approaching a collaborative session with attitude when you already know the answer or outcome.
Give a little to get a lot:
Where to start?
7. Perspective is everything
Being tolerant and accepting of others’ viewpoints is key to great collaboration.
Every person comes to the table equipped with varying work backgrounds and
life experiences. Use that to your advantage and explore what each perspective
brings to the collaborative process.
Diversity equals a myriad of opinions, so approaching discussions with the belief
that all viewpoints are valid in their own way makes for the best collaborative
solutions.
8. Stay on target
Have a common goal defined from the beginning and
work from there as a team to achieve it.
If you are not all working towards one end goal, there
is no use in collaborating in the first place.
Working as a team means sharing resources, working
alongside each other, and not just dictating what
needs to be done.
9. Define stakeholders (last thing you would do is
missing stakeholder)
One of the biggest causes of scope creep is not
involving the right people early enough
If you’re not sure who your chosen stakeholders need to be, ask someone.
On the flip side: if you happen to be a stakeholder, make an effort to be an active participant
instead of waiting on the sidelines until it’s too late.
The clarity & respect of role should be extended to everyone.
A decision maker or a decision council needs to be formed.
Steps to follow
Organized brainstorming is proven to be more productive and efficient than just jumping in a room
together to throw ideas at each other.
Create feedback loops. Keep in mind that you can’t please everyone. Others’ opinions are always hugely
valuable, but need to be filtered through stakeholders and the decision-maker, especially when incoming
feedback is either overabundant or mistimed.
Don't forget to have fun, socials and celebrate each others wins as one connected and mission based team.
10. These tips have worked for me
to overcome my fears and
collaborate at ease!
How about you?