It’s a funny one… today we tend to express our success by the individual effort of ourselves to a given goal. Rarely though… is that the case? Collaboration is the mixing pot and the real differentiator of success. We often see collaborating as more than a single person effort, again this is something we tend to confuse. We can of course work out how we collaborate more effectively with others, we also have to think about how we collaborate more effectively with ourself from too.

Collaboration is a verb, much like the word running. Oddly the two can be compared really nicely! Let’s think about the word running. If we break it down there are many components that go into it based on the goal of the run. For example the goal might be to get healthy, so we need to think of the fuel we put into the body, the way we run and where we might go for a run. If the goal is a relay race, then the commitments change and we think differently about what’s needed. Who goes at which stage, how we improve power and how we work as a team to win! Ultimately, collaboration is the same thing. First we need to determine the goal we are focused on, the second is then to understand the tools we have to get there and lastly we need to have a think about the hurdles we need to over come to get achieve it!

I like to boil things down to the lowest common denominator. This basically means how can we get down to the simplest view of things in order not to over complicate it all. As humans, we tend to like the hard way! What I’m referring to within the world of collaboration is something I talk a lot about with people. The 3Cs. It’s a framework I’ve identified and used with lots of teams and individuals to learn why there might be a block in the effectiveness of succeeding their goals.

The 3 Cs are:

– Communication

– Capability

– Capacity

By asking questions against these three elements you can typically start to understand where the real challenges lay in not achieving your goals. The cool thing is… it’s fairly simple to identify. The challenge is the change and implementation!

Take the self awareness assessment here: https://coache.uk/self-awareness-quiz/ find out more about yourself so you can unlock your future you!