Why Successful People Collaborate (And How They do It)
By: Joshua Harbor
Submitted: 2012-02-21 12:30:24 | Word Count: 502
Today at Piaxo, Cameron and I are working on a project for one of our clients.
We are collaborating together to speed the along the time line of the project. Individually we could probably complete the project on our own, however the project speed would decrease dramatically. As a successful business, we understand that deadlines for our clients are more important than our pride and ego's.
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Successful collaboration involves more than just late night work schedules and delivery pizza.
If you plan on doing anything effectively as a team or group you must understand synergy. I have given speeches on synergy, people have written thousands upon thousands of books on "synergy".
A simple concept that eludes even the most talented designers and developers.
Synergy is essentially the combined action of two people, to create and achieve a result that individually would be impossible for each person alone. Group success thrives and dies on the creation of or lack of synergy.
The people that understand it, those are the people we see on the magazines, who own the fortune 500 companies.
Here are 3 ways to create synergy for your team and play with the big boys:
1) Have a game plan.
Here at Piaxo we believe in creating things that work better by design. We believe that our clients deserve the highest level of quality on a consistent basis. In order to do this, we plan. We plan our meetings, we plan our discussion points, we even plan for breaks.
You don't become the best by just winging it. The big boys have a game plan and so should you.
2) Let people do their job.
Trust might sound like a funny quality to include in the process, but it is actually crucial to the collaborative success. As Cameron and I work on projects, we have to individually trust that each others skill and ability to be professional enough to represent our firm with the quality and excellence we are known for.
How many supervisors have you had that just couldn't "let go" of a project, slowing project progress to a crawl and blowing deadlines apart?
Do you think Steve Jobs knows what each and every one of his employees is doing on a project? Do you think he has proofed every single piece of the millions of articles and software they put out?
Smart people let other smart people make smart decisions.
As hard as it might be, trust your team. If you can't let go you'll never rise above your personal limits.
3) Know your own limits. And embrace them.
This is crucial to success on any project. Don't over-extend your company. If you can't deliver what a client is asking for with your skillset, find someone who can. Hire them.
Don't turn off clients by giving them inferior results. Accept your short-comings and work with other professionals who have the skills you don't.
Remember, referrals are your friend. Make some professional friends.You refer work to them, and they will definitely return the favor.
