{"id":2488,"date":"2012-12-05T11:50:55","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T11:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/?p=2488"},"modified":"2012-12-05T11:50:55","modified_gmt":"2012-12-05T11:50:55","slug":"some-thoughts-on-collaboration-and-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/12\/05\/some-thoughts-on-collaboration-and-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Some thoughts on Collaboration and Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don’t do it unless you have to!<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you know what it is that you\u00a0want\u00a0to achieve, and you have the power to do it without collaborating then JFDI. \u00a0Collaboration is a tool best left in toolbox. unless you have the right job for it.<\/p>\n

What are you collaborating for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Be really clear on what you\u00a0want\u00a0the collaboration to achieve, both for you, your\u00a0preferred, chosen collaborator (more on\u00a0this\u00a0later) and your service users or customers. \u00a0What impact do you\u00a0want\u00a0the collaboration to make?<\/p>\n

Develop the vision and rationale for the collaboration – but leave the detailed planning till later<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finding the right collaborators depends on having a vision that is credible, compelling and achievable. \u00a0But leave plenty of room for your collaborators to get on board with you in refining the vision and getting down and\u00a0dirty\u00a0with shaping goals, projects and plans. \u00a0You\u00a0want\u00a0them to be\u00a0collaborators\u00a0remember – not just hired hands…<\/p>\n

Choose your collaborators with care<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make sure that your collaborators being resources, abilities, skills, something to the party that you don’t have but that you need to achieve what it is that matters most to you. \u00a0Collaborations\u00a0that bring to the game more of what you already have tend not to be very exciting – unless your challenge is simply to ‘do more’ rather than ‘do different’ or ‘do better’.<\/p>\n

Surviving or thriving?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For some at the moment the need to collaborate is driven by the scissors of doom, the falling levels of investment and the rising demands on services. \u00a0‘Collaboration’ is seen as a\u00a0way to get more done at lower costs and can be a euphemism for, or a preamble to,\u00a0merger where back office costs can be cut and we get to live another day. \u00a0Nothing wrong with living to fight another day, but using collaboration to innovate might\u00a0mean\u00a0that you get to thrive rather than\u00a0merely\u00a0survive.<\/p>\n

Collaboration, like innovation, is an\u00a0acquired\u00a0competence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Innovation and collaboration are both complex processes that require certain skills and cultures to enable them to develop and thrive. \u00a0You\u00a0can’t\u00a0just expect individuals or\u00a0organisations\u00a0to be innovative and collaborative, any more than you can expect them to\u00a0walk\u00a0a high wire or speak Latin. \u00a0These things have to be learned, and learning takes time.<\/p>\n

Get used to failure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both collaboration and innovation are risky endeavours. \u00a0They cannot be ‘evidence based’ and\u00a0guaranteed\u00a0to succeed. \u00a0The more you innovate and\u00a0collaborate\u00a0the more you will fail. \u00a0But also the greater the chances that you will succeed. \u00a0And as long as your successes create more\u00a0value\u00a0than your failures destroy then you are winning.<\/p>\n

Ponder the ‘non suicidal acts of courage’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Collaboration and innovation both demand courage. \u00a0For us to leave our comfort zones. \u00a0To risk failing, looking stupid, provoking disapproval, even anger. \u00a0There are risks we could take that, if they went wrong, would put us out of the game. These are potentially suicidal acts of courage – and sometimes they may have to be taken. \u00a0But what are the non-suicidal acts of courage that you might be able to commit to?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t do it unless you have to! If you know what it is that you\u00a0want\u00a0to achieve, and you have the power to do it without collaborating then JFDI. \u00a0Collaboration is a tool best left in toolbox. unless you have the right job for it. What are you collaborating for? Be really clear on what you\u00a0want\u00a0the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-entrepreneurship","category-leadership","category-management","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}