Understanding Collaboration and How to Leverage It for Project Implementation

Abstract

When problems are tackled collaboratively, usually the organization wins. This is where effective collaboration requires more than technology. It demands the right mind-set and strategic framework. In a world increasingly ruled by technology and communication, it’s no bulletin that email, instant messaging, file- and document-sharing applications, video meetings, social networking, and shared workspaces are the glue that holds business interactions together.

Beyond the capabilities of modern technology, there’s a subtle, but important, fact that the most powerful solutions are only as good as the people using them. How effectively product designers and consultants, salespeople, technicians, and other support staff collaborate determines whether an organization soars or stumbles.

“Globalization and the shift to an information-based economy is making collaboration more important than ever,” says Evan Rosen, author of The Culture of Collaboration(2009), and keynote speaker and executive director of The Culture of Collaboration Institute in San Francisco, CA. “There is a growing realization that people must work together within a company, but also with business partners and customers. They must create value whether they’re in the same room or located on different continents.”

What Is Collaboration?

Collaboration is a skill all project managers and project teams need to master in order to help their projects to succeed and pursue a working practice whereby individuals work together for a common purpose and to achieve a desired business benefit. Collaboration enables individuals to work together to achieve a defined and common business purpose. It exists in two forms:

• Synchronous, where everyone interacts in real time, as in online meetings, through instant messaging, or via Skype
• Asynchronous, where the interaction can be time-shifted, as when uploading documents or annotations to shared workspaces

Collaboration at the Conceptual Level          

• Awareness – You become part of a working entity with a shared purpose
• Motivation – You drive to gain consensus in problem solving or development
• Self-synchronization – You decide, as individuals, when things need to happen
• Participation – You participate in collaboration and expect others to participate
• Mediation – You negotiate and collaborate together, and find a middle point together
• Reciprocity – You share—and expect sharing in return—through reciprocity
• Reflection – You think and consider alternatives
• Engagement – You proactively engage rather than wait and see

Collaboration is often described as soft skills in the workplace, and is just as vital as a strong educational background and technical knowledge. The productive collaboration skills are easily learned and practiced to perfection. Enhancing collaboration skills and learning how to help project implementation are discussed here through the following:

1. How can collaboration benefit project implementation?
2. Elements of successful collaboration
3. Critical skills for collaboration
4. Steps for managing team collaboration
5. Sustaining collaboration
6. Collaborative leadership
7. Collaborative leverage

Further elaboration of each point is noted below:

1. How can collaboration benefit project implementation?

Project implementation is a challenging endeavor where advancement demands a well-calculated action to achieve success at the first go at every stage. Figure 1 highlights these benefits. 

• Focused and aligned advancements: Every action is taken in line with the requirements of an advancement
• Better understanding: Togetherness helps achieve a better understanding of the work and any issues when they arise
• Effective decision making: Effective decision making is forceful through a process of consensus, consultation, and command
• Coordinated endeavors: Involving the concerned, and collecting necessary inputs for an endeavor to achieve success

2. Elements of successful collaboration

Advancement for collaboration in the workplace becomes forceful when the following are practiced:

The elements:

• Clarity of roles of partners: Clarity is the mother of the successful working relationship, and each partner must know what is expected and when, where, and how to make advancements
• Open communication: The easy flow of information through defined channels is made easy for all partners, and all are conscious of effective and efficient communication methods
• Consensus on methodology: Adapting any methodology is agreed upon by all concerned, and their inputs are respected
• Respect and recognition of contribution: All partners are respected for their inputs and are appreciated
• Cooperatively identify problems and solutions: All partners are taken into confidence for identification of a problem and finding a solution together
• Selflessness for collective goal: Each partner is working above self-interest, and works for the common goal
• Willingness to apologize and forgive: An open and friendly atmosphere for partners to accept their shortcomings, and for others to readily accept them for the common interest

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