When it comes to providing great customer service to our clients, one factor is key: Collaboration
It’s what takes us from a contractor for hire to a partner in your business’ success. Collaboration is the key to building successful relationships that make a difference in the way we work. This might mean sharing complaints and working toward building better solutions, or connecting valuable team members whose communication builds preventive solutions.
Inc. explains a few reasons why collaboration can improve your business in their post:
- Self-awareness. Nothing crystalizes what you bring to the table more than when you’re forced to articulate your competencies Collaborating challenges you to articulate and distill what you are great at, and what you do poorly. That honesty about your strengths and weaknesses can force you to ask for help when necessary and be brazen about how you can help others.
- Scale. The old adage, “two heads are better than one” has been around for over four centuries for a reason. More effective problem solving happens when you combine resources in talent, experience, finances and infrastructure. Sharing and leveraging those resources means that your reach to new markets increases and re-energizes the connection you have with established customers. Ecosystems rule, and as in nature, our social organizations thrive where there are diverse and complimentary systems that enhance the lives other firms. Understand that your firm is part of a greater whole, and that there is power in that.
- Creative Abrasion. This term was coined by Jerry Hirsch when he was an executive designer at Nissan. “Abrasion” is a process of wearing down through friction. We typically associate friction with something negative, but friction in its purest form, is energy. So why not convert that energy that comes from working with people who are different from you, into something positive? Leverage the differences and work to identify what can be complementary about them.
- Learn, learn, and learn some more! Collaborating propels your firm to become a learning organization, a popular phrase right now that refers to organizations which have cultures of ongoing learning, and structures that support that learning through safety nets for failure, and opportunities for growth in all aspects of employees’ lives. Each time your firm collaborates with others you optimize the capacity of your associates to extend beyond their comfort zone, grow, and in turn, stretch the boundaries of the organization.
How do you plan to collaborate and grow your business’ potential? Let us know! Comment below or contact us today.
