I work with organisations and individuals on how we manage work-life integration to thrive in both spheres. The overwhelming theme for so many is the lack of time. Or perceived lack of time.
Time, that great luxury, in such short supply. We have Apps and notifications that urge us to use our time more productively, they promise to help us be smarter, sharper, more on it. Ironically, these are the kings and queens of time-stealing distraction.
One of the things that gets short shrift in this desire for smarter productivity is collaboration. No time for it! I’ve got this. Leave it to me. Yet we are being called upon to collaborate more than ever before.
So, how about if collaboration was a time-saver? What if we started prioritising collaboration? What if it’s the answer to our time-poor working lives?
I think it just might be.
Ok, what do we mean by collaboration? It’s going to be different for everyone, dependent on your professional (or personal or wider societal) role and who it is we have around us. The OED definition is, “The action of working with someone to produce something.” Sounds super helpful, so why do we resist it?
Often, we believe it is simply adding to our workload and the daily tasks on the To Do list; the looming deadlines we just have to achieve. We can sometimes think it’s just others on the take and making demands on our time for outcomes that will only benefit them.
But true collaboration is give-and-take. Ask any musician. It’s because we often don’t acknowledge this reciprocity that we resist or deny the collaboration that could be good for us. Collaboration can help us with those very outcomes we’re working frantically towards.
So, what does collaboration give us?
It might be perspective and that much needed opportunity to look up from the daily grind and see the bigger picture. Collaboration can help us to make and understand the connections that support us in our tasks.
And collaboration is energising. Interacting with others, stepping across to new and different people shakes us out of the norm of the everyday which can boost our energy levels and breathe new enthusiasm into our ways of thinking.
Having energy means we can be more productive. Back to that lack of time excuse…more often than not it’s a lack of energy that impedes our outputs and progress.
So go ahead, reach out, say yes, be open to new connections. Your family, neighbourhood, work team and employer all need collaborative individuals and leaders right now - these times demand it.
And if we succeed with the art of collaboration, we might just be rewarded with more dynamic, coherent workplaces and family lives that we enjoy spending time in and on. We could find ourselves energised, rejuvenated and refreshed by perspectives different from our own.
Let’s talk...