One of my doctoral class topics that somehow gets integrated into subsequent classes is Collaboration. I have tried in the past to collaborate with others and frankly was not very successful. I believe there were two primary forces working against me:
My trust level was not very high. And my ego kept getting in the way. I don’t believe the companies I partnered with would give me the credit I was due, and would treat me as an equal. I knew my strengths and freely admitted where I was not the best company for the task [metrics, data gathering and analysis for two]. I highly recommended other companies I knew. My ideas were not treated as seriously as I had treated theirs, or as I had wanted them to be. Somehow I knew I would not be given the credit for what I had been researching: the effects emotional intelligence has on customer service.
Luckily those proposals were not accepted. Looking back I thought the money, which I thought I needed, would make up for it. I am glad we did not win the contract – that would have been disastrous.
I am about to embark on another collaboration – we are calling it a strategic alliance. i trust them and, from what they tell me, they trust me. The principals of the company and I met under other circumstances and, in our discussions, realized that we could help each other.
At some point we will have to talk about egos, respect, trust and monetary value. I have no doubt with this course I will be better prepared to address and handle these issues.
