Building Relationships and Achieving Goals Through Collaboration and Teamwork

Conversations, connections and strategic planning impact on your business success without doubt. Whether you lead a small business or a larger organisation, you will appreciate the importance of surrounding yourself with talented peopl. As you will no doubt have heard, you are the average of the five people you surround yourself with, so it is essential that the business collaborations and strategic business partnerships and the teams you build, and invest time and energy into, deliver the results you desire.

3 Valuable Tips for Successful Collaboration

These 3 tips are valuable reminders when you are considering collaborations (eg: planning a workshop or event with others with the same target market but different offerings) , strategic business partnerships (eg:putting forward a proposal to win a deal by bringing together the expertise of others along side of your service)  and working as a team(eg: to identify and plan the necesary processes and steps to achieve a common goal)  .

1.    Establish Mutual Understanding

It is essential when exploring a collaboration or strategic partnership that both parties develop a clear understanding of their goals, obligations and desired outcomes from the agreed program. Take the time to talk this through and do not be afraid to discuss potential scenarios that you may be concerned about, or that you would like to capitalise on as part of the collaboration.

We are running our Dinner event on 30th July and the theme is “Collaboration and Teamwork- Paramount to Achieving Your Goals”. I am currently working with a team to develop the structure and create awareness of the START foundation and inspire business owners, expand horizons and provide real life learning scenarios.

2. Agree the Plan

The more specific you can be about what each party brings to the table and is required to do, the better. Map out a month by month plan. Agree a start date. Is there an end date? What are the agreed objectives and goals? How will you measure and track success? When will you meet to discuss the plan? Who is involved in implementing the plan?

 To bring the dinner together, my team involves Michelle Jelleff from START foundation, Sara Shams a START foundation recipient and Serpil Senelemis, from Written and Recorded who will be interviewing Sara and having a conversation that will long be remembered. YTM is also reaching out to others in our network to make this a memorable event for the business owners and professionals who attend.

3. Agree the Benefits

Collaborations and strategic partnerships work when there is a mutual benefit. The best strategic partnerships create a win, win, win where the client is receiving the advantage of working with or gaining access to two business types who are both meeting their needs. Collaboration is extremely powerful if done well. So take the time to really nut out what you want from the collaboration and be clear about what you are prepared to bring to the table.

• But where do you begin?

• How do you decide who to collaborate with?

• And where do you find potential strategic partners?

Successful Collaborations and Winning Teams  

The best collaborations tend to work when it involves businesses who do not compete but serve the same target client; when the outcome is win, win, win for each party and the client and there is a strong level of know, like and trust between the parties. Success occurs when both parties have taken the time to really nut out if this is the right fit for them, their businesses and will achieve the outcomes they desire.

 If you are unclear about your objectives, you may not be achieving the outcomes you want or there may be no plan and no clear understanding of each other’s role in the partnership. To gain clarity and deliver the win, win, win you are all after, we recommend you take the time to re-set, agree a plan and work through your reciprocal rights and obligations. And if it feels like it is not the right fit, it may be best to walk away. 

Unfortunately collaborations, partnerships and teams can fail for a variety of reasons including one of the parties not following through, poor communication and lack of mutual commitment. It’s not a collaboration if only one person or party is winning.

Build Relationships and Trust

Our event will be a living example of collaboration and teamwork, bringing together business owners and professionals who see value in blending networking with enriching insights to expand thinking, both personally and professionally. It is an opportunity to build relationships and trust and determinine if there are potential opportunities to collaborate on a project, create a team and explore possibilities of mutual benefit.

Our YTM Progressive Dinner participants enjoy the ambience and conversations. The event format feels more like a dinner party with new and exisitng friends. You walk away having enjoyed a 2 course dinner, multiple conversations with others and gained insight into real life examples of collaboration and teamwork that you can reframe and apply to your own business development. 

Our speaker, Sara Shams has benefited from collaborations and teamwork to get her where she is today and where she is setting her sights for the future. Read more about our YTM Progressive Dinner event and register HERE.