Old Rule: Eat or get eaten. Suck it up, Buttercup, it’s the circle of life.
New Rule: Collaborators finish first.

One of the many ways women rock in business is that they naturally look for ways to connect.

I read something recently (the source eludes me), about a possible evolutionary basis for women having this ability to connect. As the article described it, back in the day of the hunter and gatherer, men could get up and go when danger or difficulties arose. Women, however, had babies and children to consider, so they had to stick around, work together, and work it out.

Whether or not that’s true, isn’t so much the point. What is, is the acknowledgement that women are tuned in and perhaps innately suited to communication, negotiation and working together.

The traditional model of business says that in order to succeed, someone else has to fail. We’re supposed to climb the ladder, get to the top, become the top dog, in order to succeed.

In fact, women are busting that theory out of the water and have been for years. Instead, they look for ways to work with not against, and create strong relationships that build both their business and their community.

What Not To Do
I met a woman who chatted with me about her unique business until I mentioned that I’d once spoken on the phone to her “competitor.” Now every time we cross paths she gets all suspicious and makes comments about me checking her out for the competition. It’s really weird. And very old school. Not to mention paranoid and completely inaccurate. She’s actually not moving her business ahead, because she’s too busy looking over her shoulder.

A Better Choice
On the other side of the coin, one of my colleagues is a business coach who has banded together with a couple of other coaches. Together they can now offer a wider range of services, go after larger contracts, and market their services more widely with fewer resources because they are all out there in front of prospects. It’s working well for them and all of their businesses are growing.

Don’t fight your natural inclination to connect, or get caught up in the mistaken belief that you’re better off on your own. Success can be a win/win, no ladder climbing required.

- Liz Gaige
Market Navigators Consulting

A lot of the web tools we use for marketing purposes or just for fun can also be used to help us collaborate better in our work.

For instance, if you’ve ever tried drafting a document with two or more people, you’ll understand the frustrations of using email to send drafts back and forth. Is this the latest draft? Who made these changes? How do I get rid of all of this markup?

One alternative is Google Docs, which allows all invited users access to the same document, which they can look at and edit all at the same time.

Cell phones are also rapidly becoming mobile computing devices with tons of capabilities. If you’ve got an iPhone or a device with recording capabilities, consider recording a voice memo and sending the recording off to your teammates with just two more clicks.

Apps like Tweetdeck can also act as mobile group messaging devices on the fly. Take five minutes to create Twitter accounts (if you don’t already have them), create a work group on Tweetdeck and download the application to your phone. Now you’ve got a quick messaging platform that can also be used to share links and pictures.

With more teams working remotely than ever before, technology is awfully useful for helping people collaborate in new and practical ways. Experiment a little and you’ll find even more tools and tricks to keep your group in sync.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

Clarity is the first step of powerful collaboration. Here is a five-step process I came across earlier this week that makes a lot of sense (By Rachel Kellogg):

1. Get your team on the same page.Everyone in your department needs to be able to agree on at least one competitive advantage. Ask the group to tell you what they think the competitive advantage of the company is to find out how many different perspectives you have to work with. Then you can narrow it down and communicate the best ones to the group.

2. Examine all of your deliverables.You can start by thinking about every process that happens in each department of the company. What are your company’s deliverables besides the product? How you deliver the product is often more important than the product itself. What does the company do to get results? How outstanding is your response time – or anything else that you don’t charge for?

3. Make competitive advantage positioning statements.These statements are measurable, objective, not stated by the competition and not clichéd. It’s best when you can be specific with statements like, “Ninety-five percent of our calls are answered in less than a minute.” Saying you offer great customer service or have a great reputation is expected – and are things your competitors would also claim.

4. Conduct market research.Ask existing customers what is most important in their buying decisions. Why did they pick you? Would they recommend you to their friends, and why? Fewer than 10 percent of middle-market companies conduct research, so 90 percent are just guessing what their customers want.

5. Integrate and communicate your competitive advantage. Consider putting policies and procedures in place to make sure what you’ve determined to be important continues to be a priority. If you’re going to say your advantage is that your response time is better than the rest, you’ll want to make sure it really is. And don’t forget to spread the news to everyone, not just your managers. Your sales team and customer service reps need to be able to tell clients why they should do business with you and not the other guy – or gal.

Best,

C/

www.ghostceo.com

Last week’s post on the Benefits of Collaboration got me thinking more about values fit and how that alone can make a significant difference in the success of a partnership.

In case you missed my earlier comments, let me explain. Partners’ values — the intangible outcomes they hold as important — don’t have to match up identically for a joint project to work. They do need to be compatible, not in opposition to each other. And if they are not mutually exclusive and not identical, they do need to be mutually respected.

A misalignment of values means that even if you and your partner have compatible skills, personalities, and communications style, the collaboration still may be a bust because you’re at cross purposes. You have your heart set on different intangible benefits, even if your tangible benefits are the same, i.e. financial success.

Mutually respected values means that even if you don’t hold the same priority to your partner’s values, you still respect and will honour those values equally to yours.

Now here’s where things get interesting and where 1+1=3 really takes off. By not prioritizing what matters to me more than what matters to you, but making them equally important, we push for a better outcome.

Say one partner values functionality over design, and the other values design over function. One is the technician, the other an artist. If the value for function wins out, you have a chair, but it’s aesthetically uninspiring. If the value for design wins out, you have a really cool looking chair that is uncomfortable to sit on.

However, when those two values come together, you get a chair that is cleverly designed and beautiful, as well as comfortable and stable.

Another example we can all relate to, technology tools were primarily functional from the day they were invented. Then along came Apple and turned things upside down. Their products are highly functional, no one can dispute that. But at last, someone over there decided functional could also be beautiful. They compromise neither form nor function, and the result speaks for itself. They have raised the bar and continue to do so.

Don’t compromise what really matters, work together to create a more amazing outcome than you might have.

Liz Gaige
Market Navigators Consulting

Collaboration in business is often evaluated solely on the basis of potential financial benefits. That is an important factor for sure, but as in all areas of business, there are some “soft” benefits to as well, and considering them is an important part of knowing if a particular joint project makes sense for you.

Personality fit is a big one — There’s no one right personality type for an ideal partnership. Both parties just need to be clear on know who is who, and what foibles they each bring to the table. It’s easy to look at the other party critically, but we need take a good look at ourselves as well. And it’s just as important to truly know and acknowledge our weaknesses — or as I prefer to call them, “lesser evolved qualities” — as it is our strengths. Maybe even more, since it’s the former that seem to bring out more of the challenges.

Communications style is another intangible — Are your communication styles compatible? I’m pretty straightforward, which rubs some people the wrong way. Other people love it. I show pleasure and displeasure with equal sincerity, so if someone expects me to dance around an issue with, “Well, uhm, I sort of think, maybe we should…” we’re not going to work well together. Without compromising mutual respect, I want to know what they are thinking without second guessing, and I want to work in an environment where I have the same freedom.

Values fit is another biggie — What do you value, what does your partner value? Creative autonomy, collaborative problem solving , high quality standards, level of financial return, social or community contribution, environmental benefits… These are just a few of the values that may come into play, the list is endless. You don’t have to have identical values, but they do need to be compatible. Knowing and respecting each other’s values allows you to both get what you need.

Know what works for you and doesn’t, then don’t take it personally. If both of you can acknowledge and openly discuss differences up front, and come up with a game plan to bridge any gaps as they arise, you’ll be better equipped than many marriages to weather the inevitable storms.

If you can’t discuss things openly and reach an agreement, better to know before you “walk down the aisle.”

Liz Gaige
Market Navigators Consulting

Some people are stronger at things than others. That’s what makes business so magical. Before you get into new collaborations, take some time to get to know your own personal SWOT. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Strengths are things you are good at.

Weaknesses are things you suck at.

Opportunities are circumstances that make something possible

Threats are things that could cause person or professional damage

Make a list of characteristics you have for each area. Then look for people that don’t have the same profile as you do. Choosing those who are strong at your weaknesses and vice versa makes business grow under the partnership. If you have to people that love to sell and are horrible at details, unless you can find someone to do the details, you’ll just have bigger problems collectively. Have your partner do a SWOT analysis themselves and then compare with each other.

The mistake I see a lot of people make is that they try to get good at what they suck at. What they should do is just focus on what they are good at and find partners that are good at the other parts. For me, I’m a starter, not a finisher. I get my jump from building new business models, developing the cash flow process, and building out the systems, then I want a partner who can run the ball and keep me in the loop, but do what they do. If I find another starter, all we are going to do is start things and not finish them. Every good partnership has two sides that reflect one another, but have different skill sets. This is where collaboration gets very exciting. Birds of a feather, might flock together, but they rarely make money together.

Cheers,

Chris.

www.ghostceo.com

Are you making collaboration happen for your company, or are you hindering it? Fostering collaboration requires a bit of forward thinking and organization to make it seamless. A few things you can do:

1. Synchronize your calendars. A lot of office software allows you to view your colleagues’ calendars from your desktop. If you don’t have that option, wall calendars and bulletin boards can work well even for a big office. Flag special events and opportunities for your colleagues to work together.

2. Schedule regular meetings to get updates on progress, brainstorm and work together on specific projects.

3. Encourage water-cooler chats. A simple coffee and water station can be a focal point for some informal chats and collaborative efforts.

4. Collect emails and send out a daily or weekly memo with a quick update from everyone about what they’re up to. This simple habit will help everyone keep up to date.

5. Get to know each other outside of a work setting. Whether this means organizing a company softball team, grabbing a slice of pizza at the corner or a round of mini-golf, seeing each other in a less formal setting can help reinforce relationships and even inspire some out-of-the box thinking that will help when you get back to the office.

Linda Chu
CEO – Out of Chaos, Professional Organizing Solutions
www.outofchaos.ca

In-depth partnerships may take some time to cultivate. In the meantime while you’re working on developing those, one of the easiest and quickest ways to make collaboration pay is via co-marketing. Since we all agree it’s limiting to live by a philosophy that says working with others in some way diminishes us, it’s time to put ourselves to the test!

Co-marketing is the idea of piggybacking your marketing along with someone else’s marketing in a win-win situation. The first step is finding another business that meets the needs of a similar target market to yours and provides a complimentary product or service.

Then, you look for ways to reach that target market and promote your products or services together while sharing costs.

Here’s an example:

A fellow with a personalized car service wants to reach drivers with more money than time who would be happy to have someone pick up their car, have it serviced and cleaned, and deliver it back, all while they were busy at the office. Regular maintenance gets done on their vehicles, but rather than using up their own valuable, personal time on weekends, the task is handled by a trusted professional.

What we know is that busy professionals are likely to have disposable income, value convenience, prefer personal service, and value their vehicles. They are also likely to be concentrated in a downtown area. And, we know that there are other businesses in the downtown area that cater to this same clientele, as well.

One example is dry cleaners. Often downtown dry cleaners charge more than ones in the suburbs, precisely because they are offering greater convenience, and paying higher rent to do so. I speak from experience back in the day when I say, it’s less hassle to grab your dry cleaning on your lunch break than it is to make an extra stop on the way home after an already lengthy commute.

In this instance, a co-marketing campaign might look like this:

The car service prints promo tags that can be hooked onto the hangers at the dry cleaners. In exchange for having the dry cleaner add the tags to every order, he offers the dry cleaner a free opportunity to promote his business on the back, complete with special offers or seasonal discounts (this space is usually left blank, so it’s wasted real estate otherwise). Coupons from the tag can be returned to either business to claim the special rates.

The car service pays only for the printing, while the cost to actually reach his very specific target market is free – printing is cheap, doing mass mail outs to a niche target customer is not. The dry cleaner gets free promotion for the mere effort of adding a tag to each completed order. And both parties are able to track how effective the marketing program was by the number of coupons they get back.

It’s a win-win for both, and they both received a greater return together than they would have if they’d each done a campaign alone. That’s how 1+1 can = 3.

- Liz Gaige
Market Navigators Consulting

Collaboration allows amazing things to happen, but make sure that you are partnering with the right person. It is much easier to avoid a bad partnership, then it is to get out of a bad partnership. Women will give each other the benefit that they will both contribute equally. This is rarely the case. When you are collaborating, have a conversation that openly discusses what each person is going to bring to the table. The relationship should have measurable goals that both partner contributes to and that both partners can identify with one another. When everyone is pulling equally and in the same direction, magic can happen. When one partner is doing all the work and the other is coasting, bitterness and resentment set it.

Here are some questions to go through with a partner you are considering collaborating with. If the answers don’t add up or make sense, look for someone you are better aligned with.

1. What is each of our selfish reasons for this alliance (“because it would be fun” is not the right answer)
2. Let’s make a list of what needs to get done and who will do what.
3. What needs to get done that neither of us want to do? Who will do it?
4. How will me measure the success of our collaboration?
5. At what intervals do we want to check in?
6. What ‘weaknesses’ do each of us bring to the table?
7. What are some of the reasons that past collaborations we’ve been involved with (individually) have failed?
8. How am I likely to piss you off? How am I likely to get pissed off?

Having a frank discussion at the beginning of the process will save feelings, time, and resentment down the road. Collaborators who don’t take the time before hand, set themselves up for failure. Those that put in the due diligence will benefit from the collective power of the team.

Best,

Chris.

www.ghostceo.com