I was recently at a wedding and as always enjoyed that critical moment when the bride and groom say “I do”, each making a public commitment to their lifelong partnership.
And of course, this reminded me of the commitment required to collaborate authentically
Commitment to collaborate is one of the five elements of our Power of Co collaborative pathway. In the original version of the Power of Co it is step number one.
In our later iteration, Commitment to Collaborate lies at the centre of the cycle.
However we want to illustrate it, there is no doubt that the commitment to work together, much like the commitment to a marriage, is a critical success factor of any authentic collaboration. I’ve been thinking about it a bit lately and want to share a couple of things I’ve learned about commitment to collaborate.
Who needs to commit to collaborate?
In the ideal universe, everyone is up for this collaboration thing. But of course we can’t click our fingers and make people commit. In reality there is only one person whose commitment we have control over, and that is ourselves. So this is a great place to start. Who needs to be committed to this collaboration? We do. If we believe in this and really want to bring people in to help us make decisions, we stand a good chance of success. With our collaborative mindset we are likely to act collaboratively, and it’s hard to go wrong from there. Furthermore, our authentic collaboration will help others to make their own commitment.
Bottom line? Are you committed to collaboration and how is this driving your collaborative actions?
How much commitment is enough?
I used to believe that successful collaboration required everyone to be fully committed from the get-go but over time I’ve come to see it differently. In my experience it’s unrealistic to think that all parties, whether external or internal stakeholders and decision-makers, will simply sign up to this new way of working together. I’ve learned that commitment isn’t all or nothing and that it grows over time. In practice this means I now worry less about getting strong commitment from everyone at the outset. Instead I seek to get into doing collaboration as quickly and usefully as I can, confident in the knowledge that success breeds success. The experience of good collaboration builds everyone’s confidence in the process and each other and our collective commitment grows.
Bottom line? Build commitment by doing collaboration, rather than expecting everyone to be enthusiastic supporters at the outset.
When should we be focussed on commitment to collaborate?
The answer to this lies in our evolution of the Power of Co, from a linear framework with commitment at the start to a more cyclic framework with commitment at the heart. The difference reflects our realisation that we should always be seeking to build everyone’s investment in and commitment to working together. In other words, at every step in our journey it is useful to ask ourselves “how can we do this in a way that strengthens our collective commitment to this process”.
Bottom line?: Keep asking the question – how do we strengthen our commitment to this process today?”
Embarking on a collaborative process is not like getting married, but it does require a commitment to work together. And like a marriage, it helps to re-commit every day. How committed are you?