Collaborative Future — This is a blog series by the people, for the people, thus, helping create a better collaborative world. To participate in the global discussions on future of work, business, lifestyle & commerce, mail us your insights at business@colco.app
Post Covid-19, synergy between people & businesses is the key to growth. Period.
As we discussed in the last article, it is imperative that we think of new social and economic models in order to bring about a sustainable economic energy, especially in times like these. It is the time when businesses from disparate industries are ready to put their collective intelligence and personal experiences to build new products, services, and processes, thus kicking off the trend of collaboration. The potent combination of technology & business processes is enabling to bring people together with their focus on building a more cooperative society.
Synergy, if done right, always enhances the overall performance & output of the collaborators than would have been possible if done individually. The international collaboration between research labs, companies & multiple stakeholders for the quicker production & mass distribution of Covid-19 vaccination is the most relevant example for us to look at.
Yet, synergies are not that easy to capture and build. People try & find right collaborators across domains & geographies for their vested, and often than not for their noble interests, but fail to find the right individual or an entity for the same. Going by some of the faux pas in the past, like failure of Shell’s initiative to launch a common credit card in Europe or failure of Allegis airline’s attempt to collaborate with hotels and other airlines for related travel businesses, it becomes clear that cross-business synergy is not a simple arithmetic.
Following are some of the observations which can make synergies last longer:
1. Co-evolution Over Co-operation
In nature, co-evolving means unique species, in their process of evolution, get intertwined as their paths cross. This leads to inter-dependency where they start adapting to their environment as well as to each other. This builds an ecosystem of partially interdependent species, adapting to and with each other.
Businesses should take a cue from nature and establish business synergies with a novel mindset. Sharing a common vision and language is what’s needed to create sustainable wealth. Given the trust deficit that’s running high globally, it is difficult to build up synergies but at the same time, it has become a necessity for our future survival & growth. We just can’t keep fighting over the scarce resources that are there. New alliances need to be forged on an individual & business levels.
2. Reputation & Culture
People from diverse backgrounds form companies which further form cultures — a collective identity of an organization.
When individuals and businesses come together, their collaboration gives them a joint reputation which can be a means to bring about more success. As per a report by Henley Business School, Albers School of Business and Economics at the University of Seattle, successful partnerships are built by outlooks which complement each other and close collaborations. Such a partnership builds a strong reputation that gives an edge to the collaborating companies over their competitors. The joint identity & culture with an emphasis on loyalty & community feeling is what attracts other stakeholders to the collaborative venture. Customers, like investors, too feel to be a part of the growing affiliation with the collective identity of the organization.
3. Fluid Collaborative Webs
Mostly when people or businesses come together, they tend to form rigid or fixed patterns which are seldom visited once they are forged. They might share their brands or manufacturing facilities and never revisit whether these links still hold themselves, in changing scenarios. Those who believe in co-evolution do a frequent re-evaluation of the links and find ways to reconnect them. Some links might not last long and some might open up new avenues.
Collaboration is a process and not an end goal. The real work begins post the handshake — whether it be between businesses, or between people forming businesses. 37Signals, a company nailing productivity across borders, started with fluid collaborations between their employees when remote collaborations was not even there in our lexicon. What helped them achieve higher productivity than most of their peers was their focus on ‘focused fluidity’ — that is, fluid work communication & less of a dreaded talk.
4. Quality Over Quantity
This goes without saying. Having just the number of collaborations isn’t the goal of individuals, and even businesses, today but the importance of quality leads & collabs they engage with. Too many links may lead to issues with adaptation and less number of links might make you miss out on some important synergistic opportunities putting, especially, the new-age workforce at crossroads of choice.
Synergistic Collaborations between entities is, thus, the new way forward. Credibility, transparency in communication & common vision towards an end goal are the key ingredients to make the synergy happen.
To know more about our approach to the future of collaboration, please visit us at colco.app
