As I am listening to social media, falling down the TikTok rabbit hole, and building my business, I constantly come across messages that tell me to be individualistic. Organizations tout the success of cross-departmental work but when it comes to making decisions old hierarchies are suddenly reinforced. Brands and companies engage agencies and influencers in order to solve a problem they have, but ultimately if there is a misalignment between the output and the organization, edits are requested or the project stalls. While collaboration is often at the beginning of a process, the gremlin of autocracy will eventually rear its head and push itself into the foreground. What would happen if we aimed for and practiced true collaboration from start to finish? (Note: This might turn into a small idealist rant, so keep reading at your own peril. 😉)
What do I mean by true collaboration?
We generally understand that collaboration means two or more people or organizations working together to accomplish a common goal. In my journey so far, I have rarely seen the outcome of a collaboration be accepted at face value. Rather, there is always something that either needs to be tweaked or is unsatisfactory. In this case it is usually due to the organization’s or approver’s ego. My (perhaps idealistic) approach to true collaboration is that when we enter into a collaborative partnership, we let go of our ego and accept the outcome as is. In other words, we will have to give up some of our original vision and be open to a new one. An important marker of true collaboration is to accept the outcome and celebrate it.
The concept of radical collaboration articulated by Jim Tamm and trademarked by the RC Group LLC is a crucial part of what I think of as true collaboration. In his Ted Talk, First step to collaboration? Don't be so defensive! , Tamm talks about how working on overcoming defensiveness is a necessary process to invite collaboration. I have not been able to read their book Radical Collaboration yet (it’s on my reading list) which focuses on imparting tools to its readers to build more trusting and collaborative environments in the context of organizations and beyond. From my 3+ years in marketing, I have seen defensiveness creep up a number of times - often in the form of someone’s ego. When discussing a visual or campaign idea that was developed by a colleague or vendor under the guise of collaboration, the conversation tends to steer toward – “Well, this is not how I would have done it. Maybe we should explore my way too to see its viability…” – There it is the ego.
A basic tenant for the arts
To anyone working in the arts, collaboration will be a familiar term. In fact, without collaborating most of the art we experience would not be possible. Many artists and professionals working in the field will be well accustomed to letting go of their ego and working toward a common goal. Yes, there are divas and auteurs, but even they cannot exist without collaboration. For example, a theater director could not put on a theatrical experience without the actors, writers, various designers, backstage staff, and front of house staff, among others. While the director might give the general path everyone treads on, they cannot possibly have the knowledge or skills covering all the areas, such as costume design, scenic design, sound design, lighting, etc. They rely on their collaborators and experts in those fields to make a vision reality. In my experience, if the collaborators say something can’t be done, we have to restate the goal or intention and work on a solution together. It will look different than previously imagined but the outcome will be more beautiful than I could have thought of myself.
This methodology extends to the business world as well. Without various professionals from other fields, entrepreneurs or CEOs could not scale their businesses or even get them off the ground. In the process of building .beyondcomms, I am trying to embrace collaboration right from the start. Instead of trying to design a logo myself, I am engaging a design studio to do so for me. My strengths don’t lie in graphic design, so I find it more exciting to work with someone else. Also, because their design will tell me a lot about how they perceive the brand I am trying to build. And I am certain that I will discover new things in this process. Let’s not even begin to talk about the legal documents and agreements that I could not possibly get done without the help of a legal professional. Any large organization has departments and professionals with different skill sets and they all have to work together in order to create shared success. Sadly, this is not necessarily how much of organizational psychology works today. Imagine though, what would working and collaborating look and feel like in an organization that embraces and celebrates diversity and shares success with everyone?
We all bring Unique skillsets and points of view
Let’s dive a bit deeper into the point I alluded to above – collaboration promotes diversity (and if engaged with consciously can accelerate self-development). With the digital revolution and search engines, the amount of information at our fingertips today is incomprehensible to one singular individual. While we can technically look up and learn almost anything at this point, frankly, we’d be wasting our time and a big opportunity. As I wrote in last week’s article The Power of Amplification, we all have an individual lens through which we pass information. The same applies for collaboration, we each bring different skills, experiences, and convictions to the table. In marketing, this can only be of benefit! The point of marketing is to create awareness, educate potential customers, and engage communities. All three aspects include a multitude of individuals, so why then should a campaign or strategy be created by only a handful of people? For efficiency’s sake, yes, let’s streamline who works on what. But getting input and involving multiple stakeholders is a must. Not only will the campaign and brand be stronger, but those involved in the process might learn something for themselves.
Collaboration requires trust
A non-negotiable for true and successful collaboration is trust. I am definitely an idealist in that regard, because I would like to give a small bit of trust to anyone who I want to start a collaboration with. Perhaps, against my good judgement, even someone I am only getting to know, would get one metaphorical trust-point from me. Word-of-mouth and referrals are great to ensure that we can rely on our networks to work with people that are trustworthy and will put just as much effort into the collaboration. Nevertheless, the truth is that trust takes time to build. So, what do we do instead? We engage vendors, freelancers, or consultants to help us with our projects. Now, you’ll say: “Yes, but that’s not collaboration. They are getting paid for a service, so they have to provide it to me the way I want to.” True – that’s one way to look at it. What if we looked at the payment as a means of creating accountability and commitment though? What if the money that we pay to our collaborator is a way for us to support their livelihood and enabling them to give us their energy and attention for our collaboration? At the same time, it’s a way for us to signal that we will hold them accountable to the project, while the service agreement that we will have inevitably signed is a way for them to create accountability from our side. Rather than looking at the exchange of money and signatures on legal agreements as a means to exert power and influence over one another, let’s change our mindset and view them as setting the foundation and boundaries for our collaboration. A foundation that can begin to build trust because both parties have made the commitment to each other.
Set Boundaries
An important part of true collaboration is setting boundaries. What are we collaborating on? What does that include? What is each party willing to give and what are elements, or convictions one or the other would not want to compromise on? In the professional world, we might call this a scope of work (SOW). In the arts, the boundaries tend to be a bit blurrier, and one really has to know their own limits and how much they are able to contribute. Again, that is something that can be negotiated by an agent, lawyer, or union. Communicating your boundaries is important so that everyone knows what to expect from the process of collaborating.
Strike a Balance between Humility and Pride
Lastly, to make a collaboration successful, it is crucial to strike a balance between pride and humility. What do I mean by that? We all have ideas and when we are particularly excited or passionate about one, it can be easy to feel proud which will make it harder to let go of it. Collaboration requires us to let go. Let go of our absolutes, perfection, and ideas. We need to be able to let go of the preciousness that many of us feel when we come up with something new. Nevertheless, pride is important because it will drive us to fight if we are convinced that our contribution needs to be considered and included.
The danger with pride is that if one person exudes too much of it, others will not feel welcome and encouraged to truly collaborate. This is where humility comes in. The artist trio Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, and Hesam Rahmanian created raw and dark clay objects called the ‘hole’ series which explore the idea of the empty space or gap that many feel when migrating or fleeing to new spaces or experiencing new cultures. For the three of them, collaboration is in every aspect of their creation. From working together between themselves and with other artists and craftspeople, to collaborating with curators and institutions. When working with them on Parthenogenesis at The NYUAD Art Gallery, they spoke to our student assistants and the staff about the importance of making space and stepping aside so that others can occupy the hole left behind and create something new and different. What a powerful metaphor it was.
As I end this article, keep this metaphor in mind. When and how can you create space to invite others to truly collaborate?