At a few conferences we’ve spoken at lately, we’ve been asked, “What are the skills of collaboration?” This is a great question, because we’re also seeing collaboration appear on the lists of competencies employees are expected to develop as they progress in an organization. Collaboration isn’t a skill. It isn’t teamwork and it isn’t a technology. It’s a purposeful way of working intended to gain access to and leverage valuable resources in pursuit of objectives. And that’s the real power – the ability to access and utilize the knowledge, expertise, relationships, and other resources of people in ways that benefit and help achieve the objectives of all concerned.

We’ve just written a new article that introduces three principles of collaboration and defines ten competencies required to work collaboratively. Let us know what you think. Do you agree with us? Over the summer, we taught this way of thinking and acting in several executive education programs and management workshops. Our Collaborating to Win™ Assessment provides a powerful metric to use to guide your efforts. If your organization needs to improve its way of working, we can customize a program for you.