Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Collaboration Cookies


These days, when you talk about a cookie, others may be quick to interpret that as the information that is stored on your computer by your web browser when you visit a web site. However, the reference in my blog topic is not nearly so high tech. No, I am talking old school, the Mama-in-the-kitchen monster chocolate chip kind. I was recently eating one and I realized that I only had it because I had taken steps to collaborate with others. You see I got this cookie because I had taken the initiative to collaborate with a lender and a design-build firm to offer a facility expansion seminar to area churches.

Then I realized that this cookie was actually symbolic of many collaborative efforts currently in my life. Looking beyond the left over crumbs, I considered these other collaborative efforts on my plate these days:
- Co-laboring with the leadership team of two churches through consultations
- Connecting our school district with a community non-profit for an upcoming conference
- Working with two for profit executives on the incorporation of a non-profit
- Developing the strategic direction of another non-profit
It is fair to say that there has never been a time in my life when I have been involved in more collaborative effort. So how does that happen? What are some factors that make this possible? What does and does not make this work?

Well, on the not side, collaboration is definitely not an activity reserved for extroverts who garner energy from being with others. I am a confirmed introvert. As I go about my way draining energy, there is something else going on here. It is also not primarily about the rewards of monster chocolate chip cookies or other things. Rewards may come, but the entry fee is far from an overwhelming desire to get something.
Insight comes from reflecting on the language origin of the word collaborate. Webster’s tells us it means to work together, often with people with which we are not immediately connected. This is at the heart of my experience. If I look carefully at what I am doing, it is about:
- Working and contributing what I can, which others may not be able to
- Others working and contributing what they can, and which I cannot
- And, it took some work just to get us all working on the same thing
The power of collaborative work is that what it produces can only happen if we make the effort to find each other, introduce ourselves, and roll up the sleeves. That kind of effort can help kids who need it, turn churches around, start new corporations, and take older ones in new directions.
If there have been barriers to what you are trying to do alone, consider collaborating.

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