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ACTIVE COLLABORATION A simple guide to help you understand how to be more collaborative and get better at working in partnership. The Pfizer UK Foundation is funded by Pfizer Ltd
ACTIVE COLLABORATIONA simple guide to help you understand how to bemore collaborative and get better at working in partnership.
The Pfizer UK Foundatio
n is fundedby Pfizer Ltd
The Pfizer UK Foundation is committed to providing opportunitiesfor groups focused on community healthcare to meet each otherand seek out opportunities to work together.
In partnership with The Collaboration Company, we have puttogether this booklet to provide some top tips to help groups andindividuals understand how they can be more collaborative andget better at joint working.
These are the behaviours and principles that you can startapplying right now to make effective collaboration come to life inand around your organisation.
About this guide
We help people, groups andorganisations to collaboratemore effectively.
This booklet provides somedetails of the things we’vediscovered along the way aboutcreating the ideal conditions andencouraging the right behavioursto inspire people to activelycollaborate together.
We hope it will prove useful toanyone thinking about workingtogether in partnership with others.We think our ideas are prettyuniversal – they could apply toany business or organisation andany partnership project, in anyworking environment in anysector - they can evenbe used outside of work!
The Collaboration Company
In our work we have discoveredthat the term collaboration isuniversally misunderstood andoften misused.
Before you start any worktogether, make sure everyoneinvolved has the sameunderstanding and expectationsof collaboration.
For us, collaboration is... Peoplewith different perspectivesexploring new ideas together,multiplying each other’sstrengths and achieving morethan they could alone.
And don’t forget effectivecollaboration takes time andplanning – don’t rush it!
Make sure everyone has the same expectations.
Spend time initially consideringwhat you want to achievetogether.
What’s the problem you bothwant/need to solve?
What’s the opportunity you bothhope to make the most of?
What are your shared objectivesand desired outcomes?
If you both have a shared goalyou’re far more likely to want towork together.
What are your shared objectivesand desired outcomes?
Be clear on your shared goal.
All collaborations need the rightmix of people – people who willsee different aspects of aproblem or opportunity and havedifferent expertise and resource.
Know your strengths andweaknesses, what resource youare contributing and where youneed help.
And make a conscious effort toembrace the differentperspectives. Move yourthinking from “what do I thinkwe should do” to “what can Icreate together with otherpeople who have verydifferent views, experienceand expertise?”
See the benefit of different perspectives.
Sometimes it can be all tooeasy to be defensive whenhearing others’ ideas andopinions, but your own attitudeand intention will eitherencourage collaboration or getin the way.
Try hard to be a role model fornon-defensive behaviours andlanguage when you arecollaborating.
When you hear a different viewfrom your own, try to think“that’s different to how I seeit – I wonder why they see itthat way and how might itwork” insteadof “that’s a stupid idea – it willnever work – they don’tunderstand my world!”
Try not to become defensive.
The danger of experience is that you become ‘an expert’ - and inthe expert’s mind there are only a few possibilities.
In the beginner’s mind there are endless possibilities.The easiest way to start practising beginner’s mind is to simplyuse the word ‘why’ more.
If you don’t understand something, ask...
“why are we doing that?”or“why are we doing it this way?”or“why don’t we try a different way?”
and LISTEN to the answers!
Look at things with a beginner’s mind.
Explore as many options as possible.
No matter how clear the opportunity or challenge may appearinitially, encourage people to explore it from lots of angles beforediving into solutions.
Spend as much time as you can exploring what COULD happen,before deciding what SHOULD happen.
Work hard at adopting more of a “yes and” approach that looks for thehidden gems in others’ ideas and encourages you toadd or build on them.
“Yes and” inspires collaboration because it assumes that there issomething of interest in another person’s idea and it invites you to addideas and explore even bigger solutions together.
When another person comes up with an idea try saying things like“what I like about your idea is...” or“how can we make that idea stronger...” or“that’s really interesting because...” or“let’s push this idea further...”
Build on others’ ideas.
When collaborating with others, you have to really listento their ideas. When you hear an idea, stop, pause...don’t worry if it is a good or bad idea - it doesn’t matter at this stage.Simply allow an idea to exist without judging it.
Then dig deeper to better understand the idea and point of view.Try asking...
“why do you like it?” or saying“tell me more about it” and“let me see if I’ve got this right”.
Be a great listener and hear new things.
When working together withothers, as soon as you becomeattached to a specific outcome,you’ll feel compelled to controland steer the conversation.
In the process, you’ll also startshutting yourself off to otherpossibilities – and that defeatsthe purpose of why you arecollaborating in the first place.
Don’t get attached to an outcome too quickly.
Collaboration doesn’t justhappen. It starts with a leader –you. Someone who is not tryingto convince others to buy intotheir own ideas but someonewho recognises that working intrue collaboration with others willhelp us to achieve more togetherthan we ever could by workingseparately.
Where to start? - Take the first step.
1. Ensure you all have the same expectations.
2. Be clear on your shared goals.
3. See the benefit of different perspectives.
4. Don’t be defensive – keep an open mind.
5. Look with a beginner’s mind.
6. Explore as many options as possible.
7. Build on others’ ideas.
8. Be a great listener and hear new things.
9. Don’t get attached to an outcome too quickly.
10. Where to start? – Take the first step.
If you’ve only got 60 seconds, here are our top tipsfor collaborating successfully with others:
SSoo wwhhaatt’’ss ssttooppppiinngg yyoouu??
Pfizer UK LimitedWalton OaksWalton on the HillTadworthSurrey KT20 7NSTel: 01737 330713Email: [email protected] www.pfizer.co.uk
Alma ParkWatling StreetWibtoftLeicestershireLE17 5BETel: 0870 609 3019Email: [email protected]
CA000862 - Date of preparation: August 2010
The Pfizer UK Foundation is funded by Pfizer Ltd