From the Desk of Paul Elvidge

I saw a link to this video via this months WBS newsletter.  Whilst he is promoting his recently published book it asks some very pertinent questions relating to leadership communication skills. I have also observed that leaders who are good at operations and strategy are also not always strong at communication and motivation.  One skill is the ability to adapt your communication to suit your audience and the use of language skills to deepen your message.  Another skill as a leader is generating trust from your audience through clear demonstration of the values that drive the message. Where is a good plan if no-one else understands it or buys in to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECpDXYIm0LQ

At the time of writing, many organisations are seeking economies in their business expenditure, without wanting to compromising their business strength.  Equally the Third Sector is being radically challenged to find economies to be able to do more with less in the services they provide.  The word collaboration is being heralded the solution to the many problems of underfunding and fighting off competition.

Having experienced collaboration in my past franchising days and having experienced first hand the two edged sword of bringing multiple interests together to find common causes.  I know only too well the challenge that this brings to organisations and the people involved.  The European Union is an example of collaboration and the difficulties of successfully bringing different types of structures together.  I would argue that it is the best cautionary example to help anyone take the task seriously and ponder over what could go wrong.  The key is often finding the balance between involvement of all the stakeholders while still being able to have clear leadership and authority to make decisions that do not get bogged down in committee mentality.

The drivers for change are often market forces which require quick responses to be able to meet demand, sometimes the response needs to be swift in order to survive.  I remember some years back a colleague saying that in M&As, there are in reality very few mergers as there needs to be a dominant partner in order for the M&A to succeed.  Just as we can see in the EU, not everybody can get their way and the ship still sail happily on in all weather! Here is my list of the top five priorities for successful collaboration:

1. Is there an urgent need? Without a strong common purpose, there is little motivation to get involved.
2. Building Trust. For the collaboration to succeed, people need to feel they can be honest and open.
3. Transparency. Once trust has been established, it must be maintained through clear communication and clear demonstration of the processes agreed.
4. Equity. Whilst different stakeholders of the collaboration may possess different strengths, fair equality is key.
5. Balance. Get the balance right between the necessary speed of change and therefore the involvement of stakeholders.

Update December 2011: This is a link to a useful booklet on different structures that can be used for collaboration from Sayer Vincent (who work with not-for-profit organisations). In order to achieve those desired competitive advantages, the collaboration must be fit for its purpose and deliver the objectives.