“I’ve been thinking of collaboration as extra steps, as extra work. I’ve been adding things in and trying to do more. I know now that it’s really about my mindset, not about trying to fit more in”, said a participant in collaboration training this week.

It’s a profound realisation and I was thrilled to have it articulated so succinctly.

We often come to collaboration thinking it means lots of work, lots of talk, lots of meetings, lots of time and not all of it useful.

And sometimes that’s true. But it’s not inevitable.

Most fundamentally, collaboration means changing the way we see our stakeholders and their place in the process, changing how we think about ourselves and our stakeholders. We can make this change in a moment, without adding so much as an email to our workload.

Looking at the world with a collaborative mindset is like donning a new pair of glasses. We don’t need to do anything differently to see the world differently through new glasses. But because we have a different view we will likely do different things.

So when you next get worried about collaboration and how much effort it takes, just reach for your new collaboration goggles and take a different look at the world. You will find that you can’t help but collaborate better, even without adding lots of new work.

Remember, collaboration really happens between our own ears, so think like a collaborator and get your projects moving today.