Collaboration is a needed capacity for working together, and here are six tips for collaborating more effectively wherever you are, whatever you do.
The first three tips are about inquiry. Please don't take my word for the value of asking, listening, and being influenced. Practice, experiment, and see what happens. Here are the inquiry tips:
1) Ask questions to understand and clarify.
2) Listen deeply.
3) Be willing to be influenced by others.
Three steps. You can do this online, face-to-face, over the phone, wherever.
The next set of tips are about advocacy. Sometimes you need to advocate. Collaboration depends on your good judgment, your willingness to stand for what you value and believe in. Here are a few tips for stating your point of view in a way that builds collaboration. Once again, try it, don't just believe me.
1) Say what you believe and why you believe it. Explain how you got to your belief, and why you adhere to your point of view.
2) Describe your belief and ask, "What did I miss?" or "How do you see things?" "Where do we see things differently? Where the same?"
3) Be clear that you have a point of view, explain that you are advocating and why it's important to you.
Good luck! Let me know how your practice goes.
This blog aims to be a resource for leaders at all levels and locations that want to improve dispersed team effectiveness. Our focus is learning to work together in ways that turn distance and difference into strengths.
