The Power of Collaboration and Teamwork

Hi, everyone, its Sal Celly. Hope you all are doing great. Today I want to do this quick blog on the power of collaboration and teamwork. This may seem really obvious, but it is so critical and equally important in your personal life and in your work life.

Doing everything by yourself has limitations

There is only so much you can do alone. But when you recognize your limitations and try to collaborate with one or two other people who complement your gaps, and provide a more finished offering, or a more complete solution to the end customer, that’s when the adoption and acceptability increases. The first step is to recognize where your gaps are-once you recognize that, then you can collaborate with other people that excel in those areas.

Change something when your current approach is not working

Let me give you a real-life example. Say you are working on a sales opportunity. You sent out a proposal and the customer and a specific person within the corporation is not getting back to you. There’s no point in trying to keep on doing the same thing and expect a different result. That is the definition of insanity. You’ve tried to reach out to the person to get a response via email, phone and/or text, and they’re not responding. You’ve done it multiple times, but they’re not responding.

The proper approach here is to take a step back and to look at the full picture and understand what else could you be doing? What could you be doing with somebody else’s help? That’s where you can identify the people who are connected to that individual. Once you have done that, you work through them to try to get a response, or you have one of those folks reach out to your client. Ask them to follow up with your specific customer, and say “John has been trying to connect with you on the proposal he sent earlier- have you made a decision on it or is there any additional information you need from John?”

Partnering with others is a sign of strength

It’s a very simple and obvious solution. Yet very few of us do this- we try to do everything on our own. That is not a sign of strength, it is actually a sign of weakness. Recognizing your limitations, partnering with other folks, and providing a team-based approach is what we should really focus on as a path to move the ball forward. Now, having the right folks in the right positions is critical. But you must first understand and recognize that you cannot do it alone.  That is the first step.

Many of us are guilty of this, where we keep on trying to do the same thing over and over again, and we expect a different result. This is equally relevant in your personal life. If you’re trying to convince your spouse to do something, or your kids to do something or your parents to do something and you are not getting the desired response, then try to go around that and seek the help of somebody else who can try to get to know what is really going on.

In a lot of situations, the reason the other person is not responding is because they have not fully and clearly understood what you’re positioning. Maybe they have not recognized what you can do for them. Or maybe they just haven’t had a chance to look at your proposal in detail, because they have been very busy, and they have a lot of other things going on. Whatever the reason is, you’re not in the customers shoes, but you know what the impact of that is on you. So, identify that, collaborate with other folks, and create a team-based approach and then see what happens.

Moving the ball forward is important

The worst thing you can do, and the worst outcome is that you will get an answer. It may not be the answer you want, but at least you will move the ball forward and that’s the goal. So, I wanted to do this quick blog on the importance of collaboration and teamwork. I’m currently in Houston and it’s been cold for the last few days here, which is awesome. I hope you’re enjoying your day and your week.

For additional questions or to schedule a complimentary discussion on how you can strategically collaborate with others to maximize potential and transform for a balanced, happier and impactful life, please email me at coach@maximizeu.life