Collaboration is defined as the action of working with someone to produce something. For creating any collaboration you need a creator, a mover, and a connector. A successful collaboration has all three. If you understand this, it will create ease in your life.
Connector – A connector is always looking for who they can talk to. They will talk to anyone about anything at any time. The connector never looks at how they win, lose, fit, or benefit. They look at what they can contribute. People will come to you, pay you for your service, and then tell everybody they know, how wonderful you are.
Mover – A mover is always looking for what has to be delivered. This is someone who knows what will happen in the future and knows what will have to be delivered. A mover always looks at the possibilities and asks, “What’s going to be needed next?” They are more futurists than anything else. A mover is the person who is always prepared for what has to be delivered now and in the future.
Creator – A creator is always looking for what’s possible. They are aware of the energy that must happen for something to be created and they carry the vision – as an energy that they know can come into existence. The creator lives from, “What’s possible? What choice do I have? What can I contribute?” They don’t just ask these questions, they are living them.
Foundational – If you have all three of these together and you are one who has all three, you are a foundational person. Which means you really need to create a business that other people run for you. A foundational person can stand alone and do all three. These people should really accumulate a creator, connector and mover rather than doing it all themselves. They look at what choice, question, possibilities, and contribution they can be and receive.
You need to look at these and ask, “Which of these am I? And how can I expand my project with all of these?” You have to be willing to use all of this, no matter what.
What Else Is Required In A Collaboration?
- Deal and Deliver – In a collaboration it is important to be very clear. This will show you how to deal and get delivered what you want. If you actually expect something to come back to you – ever – it’s a deal.
The following questions are the primary ways you can get clear with people:
- What is the deal?
- What do I want delivered? (Can this person deliver? Will they deliver?)
- What do I have to deliver to get what I want?
- What am I unwilling to ask for?
In any business, you have to get clear about exactly what the deal is. People will do everything they can to weasel, but if you ask “exactly” how it’s going to work, they have to get succinct about how it’s going to work, and you will get a different result. You have to ask:
- Exactly what does that mean?
- Exactly what is that going to look like?
- Exactly how is this going to work?
- Exactly what are you going to deliver?
- Exactly when are you going to deliver?
- Exactly what is that going to cost?
- Exactly what do you expect of me?
- Exactly what do I have to do in order to get this done?
- Never confront (Instead: “I’m confused. Can you help me please?”)
- Never validate
- Never explain
- Never justify anything
When you are confronting, you are trying to prove the rightness of your point of view. When you are validating, you are trying to get the person to agree with you. When you are trying to explain, you are trying to get them to see what your point of view is, not be aware of what their point of view is. When you are trying to justify, you are trying to make you right and they can only be wrong. Don’t bother. If you need to create something different, you go: “I’m confused. Can you help me please?” Then the other person has to explain, validate, or justify. People will take care of you if you ask them to help you.
If the deal is not working, then: “Do we need to change this? Or do we need to end this?”
- Truth – If you think “truth” before you ask any question, the person has to tell you the truth or you get to know they are lying. This is how you know if the person you are collaborating with is going to deliver whatever is agreed upon. This is how you can negotiate over prices. This will also work when you are interviewing someone for a job position.
To sum up, you can create a successful collaboration by identifying the type of person you require for the project and partnering with them, using a clear deal and deliver.
