Collaboration: 5 rules for success
Working in collaboration with partners and colleagues — that’s an area where the rules of communication should work effectively, and in this area, the establishment of collaboration is given the least attention. It is often assumed that the result will appear by itself, without preparation and effort. This leads to communication failures: the colleague did not understand the goals of the task, the partner forgot about the terms in the contract and did not deliver the products on time. Everyone can give a lot of similar examples.
We decided to eliminate the disproportion and propose working rules for collaboration. The problem was first recognized in ancient Greece: the famous philosopher Aristippus devoted the third guideline of the Code to this. “Be able to cooperate with others,” wrote the ancient Greek thinker several centuries before our era. The Aristippus’ Code is a collection of 24 guidelines, which in a brief aphoristic form outline the basic principles that help to achieve success. In the modern sense, the Code represents useful recommendations for work and life that have been proven by experience.
Rule 1: find common goals
Collaboration involves the integration of individual goals into a common one. Your partners and you must understand who is striving for what and what is in priority. Start by formulating, voicing, describing the goals set. Then, through discussion, find ways to combine them.
Determining a common end goal is the most difficult moment of collaboration. To successfully overcome it, use the fourteenth guideline of Aristippus: “Be ready to apply a trial-and-error method to problem solving.”
The next step is to distribute tasks into short-term and long-term ones and set specific deadlines for implementation.
Rule 2: allocate roles, responsibilities
Productive collaboration is a combination of interests, creativity, resources. To avoid unnecessary competition or overlapping duty regulations, clearly define the project participants’ rights and powers.
Information about the distribution of responsibilities between team members should be clear to all the participants in the process. Therefore, explain to the team who does what and what each area of responsibility is. Then, if necessary, employees will know who to contact.
There is an important psychological moment in the process of distribution, which Aristippus wrote about in the ninth guideline: “Be on equal footing with other people and avoid emphasizing differences in social status.” This time-tested thesis does not need additional interpretation.
Rule 3: set the interaction mode
Admit it, for any action, preliminary preparation is necessary: materials, documents, presentations, psychological attitude. Therefore, a pre-agreed meeting schedule will help participants come to the scheduled meeting fully prepared.
Spontaneous meetings may be necessary to organize an emergency brainstorm, but the regularity of the meetings makes working interaction the norm and demonstrates respect for employees and partners. “Be caring, kind and attentive to other people,” Aristippus advised in the second guideline. It is hard to disagree with him: thoughtful communication rules are a manifestation of respect for others.
Rule 4: record what has been said
Do not rely on memory — your own and the memory of others. In the course of collaboration, each agreement, goal, task, role of the participants in the process must be set out in writing. This will help, on the one hand, to track the entire process in stages.
On the other hand, documented conclusions will solve the problem of controversial interpretations of the question, which everyone can understand in their own way. Aristippus considered organizational skills and accuracy to be the foundation of success. In this case, his advice works perfectly.
Rule 5: respect a different point of view
According to Aristippus, respect for the opinions of others is an essential quality for a person. It is no coincidence that the first guideline of the Code says: “Be able to accept different points of view and ideas.” This skill demonstrates not only the breadth of a person’s knowledge, but also helps him/her improve relationships in the community. And what is collaboration if not society in miniature? Hear the views of others, even if they seem wrong to you. You can always find common ground and reach a compromise.
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