5 Ways to Use the Power of Collaboration to Get More Done Now — and All Year Long   

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” 
– Aristotle, Greek philosopher 

Summer is in full swing, with a few more weeks to go before the back-to-school/work reality kicks in, and if you’re like me, you’re juggling summer holidays, family activities, and – at the office — key work projects with team members who are now more scattered around the globe than ever. And with everyone focused on trying to get the most out of summer, it can be challenging to keep all the balls in the air. Communication can break down and so can accountability, but there is one thing that can make a huge difference: collaboration.

Okay, so collaboration is people working together, right? Yes. Isn’t that what we always do? No. You have to put an intentional focus on collaboration for it to become a way of working – otherwise, individual team members will concentrate on their specific roles, and people will unconsciously stray from the united, team-oriented focus they need to achieve those goals.

Here then are some tips for making collaboration your secret to summer success (and all year long!):

1. Understand that collaboration is a mindset. It’s a way of being and relating to other people. It’s encompasses not just what you do, but the way you do it. Collaboration draws on the strengths of the team and fosters an inclusive, every-person-matters perspective.

Thus, to engage fully and successfully in collaboration, people need to feel they share a common goal and that their participation will benefit them in some way. So think through how you can define collaboration to your team by articulating those factors that will give rise to their best performance within the team context. In other words, don’t just say, “We all have to work together on this” – let them know why that’s important to the end goal, and then express how their individual strengths can contribute to that.  

“Everyone you will ever meet knows something that you do not.”
 – Bill Nye, Cornell graduate and CEO of the Planetary Society

2. Rally people around what needs to be done. Then, introduce them to collaboration and give them reasons to buy in. (Even your kids need to know there’s a benefit that will come from pulling together to achieve family goals.)

Likewise, your team at work needs to understand that they can get more done together and that when collaboration truly is the way you work, everyone wins. Be creative in addressing people’s true desires: while the surface goal is to get a key project completed, the underlying motivating goal, at this time of year, is to get it done in the most effective way so that everyone has as much summer time as possible. It’s okay to be open about this; we’re all human and we want to work to live, not live to work.

3. Deploy powerful collaboration technology. Collaboration will fall flat if we don’t have shared tools that allow us to communicate clearly, participate from wherever we are located, and share content, decision-making, and updates effectively. You need collaboration tools that are easy to use, accessible from anywhere, and give people the power to be heard, seen, and contribute without needless hassles of meeting logins, time wasted setting up technology, etc.

“Filmmaking is all about appreciating the talents of the people you surround yourself with, and knowing you could never have made any of these films by yourself.”
-Steven Spielberg, most-awarded director in Hollywood history

4. Rethink your summer meeting schedule. Obviously, work has to get done, but do you all need to meet every week in the office — or can you switch to virtual meetings? What kind of flexibility can you provide your team so that collaborating becomes as easy as possible? People are going to be on vacation; even so, many people still phone in to important meetings. So how can you most easily facilitate meetings so that people don’t waste their vacation hours on meetings that could, with planning and foresight, be far more effective?

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
— Michael Jordan, NBA Hall-of-Famer & Olympic gold medalist

5. If possible, allow everyone more time to get things done. With people on vacation, in different locations, erratic schedules, and more family demands upon them, summer is a good time to build in extra “cushion” time for key project deadlines. Or, if you cannot allow for more time, and many of us can’t because business doesn’t care what season it is, re-think people’s schedules and try to add flexibility and alternative options for work-hours.

Collaboration is my go-to strategy for getting through summer and life.  Once you make it a way of working, you won’t go back. It allows you to be more productive, more accurate (as you gain the ability to read cues from so much one-on-one), and provides the most flexibility in managing work and life. Use collaboration as a way to defy distance and unleash the power of your people. You will be so glad you did. And so will your team.