Collaboration: Learning to Invite Others to the Discussion

Mastering Collaboration: The Art of Inviting Others In

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”

Theodore M. Hesburgh

Striving to be more collaborative is hard work. What makes it so difficult is the requirement to involve others in order for an environment of collaboration to exist. When you work alone, you only have yourself to blame if things don’t go as planned. You also get to shine in all the glory when things go well.

A leader who desires to be collaborative understands you must be open to letting others speak their mind about your vision, your ideas, your thoughts. A collaborative leader must be willing to lay their vision down on the chopping block and allow others to thoroughly inspect it , rearrange it, and sometimes completely redo it. Collaborative leaders must be open to the reality that you don”t have all the answers.

By being open to allowing others in for the purpose of collaboration, you now have an even greater opportunity to bring forth the best idea, concept, or product. As a result, you now have a greater opportunity to make a big impact within the desired environment. So how good are you at inviting others to the table of collaboration with you?

There are many facets and skills of behaving in a collaborative manner.

You must be learn to be comfortable with being vulnerable.
You must allow creativity to come full circle no matter how different the ideas may be.
You must be open to operating in the unknown.
You must give up having total control of the end result.
You must establish an environment of trust.
You must enhance your listening skills.
You must celebrate success. Even the small wins.
You must demonstrate the knowledge of what creating a collaborative environment means.
You must learn to nurture people and ideas.
You must be open to allowing mistakes as everyone finds their way in this new way of thinking.
You must be dedicated to breaking down silos.
You must be skillful in getting others to cooperate.
You must be open to change occurring. At a rapid pace.
You must be confident in assuring others that you know where you are headed even when you just have a baby idea, vision, or process.

There are more behaviors we need to discuss but I don’t want to overwhelm you with what it will take to be a collaborative leader during these turbulent times, so I will save them for later.

In this blog, we will take each of the above items and explore what they mean. We will explore the pros and cons of each behavior for the purpose of educating you on the steps you must take in order to be an authentic, collaborative leader. It is our dream that the end result will be more leaders who understand that collaboration is the new rule for success.

Are you ready to go on this journey of learning to be more collaborative with me? Get your seat belt on, put your helmet and safety pads on, and let’s explore this concept together. I promise you will grow from the experience.