Over the years there’s something I’ve come to believe wholeheartedly, the key that makes a design team good is collaboration. Naturally there has to be some amount of skill in the individuals, but skill by itself will only go so far. Over the last year I’ve had the fortune of working with an individual where I can experience this first hand. The experience has tought me some important lessons in forming a collaborative relationship.
Become Open-Minded
In order to collaborate on a project, you have to be open and willing to listen to anothers’ ideas. You might think this goes without saying, but what is it that makes someone open-minded? I’ve found the main component to being open-minded is humility. In order to listen to anothers’ point of view on your work, you have to be humble about what you have produced. You have to care more about making the work better, than you do that the work is yours. Then you are free to listen to any critique about your work and seek to improve it.
Earn Trust
Along with creating an open environment, a certain amount of trust must be developed. You have to be able to trust in the people you collaborate with, and trust that they also place the quality of the work above their own ideas. Then you know that any critique is said with honest intention, and is only meant to improve the work. If there are any games, politics, or insecurities present, it shuts down the environment and stifles collaboration.
Embrace Different Perspectives
Once the key elements of open-mindedness and trust are in place, you need to have a variety of perspectives present and learn to value them. Each person in the team has different strengths and weaknesses. This gives them a unique perspective. These differences are not things just to be tolerated, but instead, things to be encouraged. In valuing these differences you learn to seek out the perspectives of others, knowing that they may see the problem differently and help to better the work. Building diversity into the team ensures the problems can be attacked from all angles.
Let It Stew
As any good chef knows, anything worth cooking takes time. The process is something that has to grow and evolve. We have a saying the we throw around the office, ‘Let it stew.’. In other words, let’s throw the element of time in and see what happens. Creating an atmosphere of collaboration is a continually growing and evolving process and it takes time to develop.
Enjoy It
We all love what we do. However there is nothing like hearing a fresh perspective from a co-worker and watching your project evolve into something greater than you imagined. This adds a whole new dynamic to your work. Not only do you love what you do, but you learn to love working with people that make you and your projects better. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about?
Published on February 7, 2005
Resides in Management, Design
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One Response to “No Man Is An Island”
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Brian Radford on December 28th, 2005
No doubt this is very wise advice. Humility goes a long way to assist in encouraging peaceful relations with others. It’s not the easiest quality to develop but it is well worth the effort to cultivate it in oneself.