Stop, Collaborate, and Listen…

Did you know beyond the song that is now playing in your head…the most successful companies do just this?  They proactively foster collaboration. Being collaborative doesn’t seem so hard, right?  We’re all adults.  We can work together toward common goalsin an orchestrated and cooperative way.  Right?  So, then, why isn’t everyone trying to build this kind of collaborative spirit?

For starters, collaboration seems hard to measure. “Touchy-feely” might be how some executives see it. To them, traditional, quantifiable measures of success are more reliable. Yet, study after study shows CEOs often worry most about people problems.

Building collaboration also takes a consistent, long-term approach. Contrast that with tactical actions—say a marketing campaign or a training program that can be short-term and flexible. Like any kind of fitness program, creating a Collaborative Workplace takes discipline. This is not a mugs and posters program; it’s a way of life.

Perhaps the biggest reason people don’t collaborate is it requires facing the realities of human behavior, behavior that even the most committed people find difficult to comprehend, let alone address. Instead, they wait for their boss, the CEO, or the board of directors to deal with the tough issues when, in reality,

every person has the power to influence others to build a better workplace—a Collaborative Workplace.

This is the collaboration breakthrough. It’s a shift in your thinking that drives a better approach to how you work with others