Collaboration |

When you work for money in the Ai zone, you are either an Employee or self-employed. In such a scenario, you can either be a lone warrior or you can collaborate i.e. join hands with others to improve your prospects. As an employee we call such a person team player. As a self-employed person, we call this collaboration or partnership.

Let’s talk about self-employment zone. Would you like to be a Proprietor or a Partner. This is a very critical decision in life, when you want to be self-employed. As a proprietor you have 100% control over your destiny; you call the shots. You juggle all the balls and very often you will drop the ball because it is not easy to focus all the time. A single person might have great ideas, but no sounding board. There is often a very thin line between “great ideas” and “crazy ideas”. In life one needs a mirror to evaluate and examine oneself. Very often sole proprietors do not have this mirror and hence they fall prey to the various hazards of entrepreneurship.

So is Partnership a guaranteed solution? Unfortunately, the answer is negative. Very often partnerships fail, even when real brothers join hands. The reason for such failure makes an interesting subject for study and introspection, especially for people who have had bitter experiences in partnership. Most often such people blame the other person. I feel many times it is the change in circumstances that causes a split in the bonding between the partners. When one starts a partnership, it is like a marriage. This looks very rosy and bright during the courtship period and the honeymoon period. The problems start after a few months/ years. Here are a few lessons I have learnt:-

Initially during the struggle period, the challenge of making the Venture successful leads to good bonding. Circumstances change when the venture becomes successful. Each partner starts thinking that he is making a major contribution to the success of the venture. In fact, if you survey each partner to know about his contribution towards the success of the venture, the total will always be more than 100%
Many times partnership between people at different life stages develops cracks. This is because each partner has his/her own perspective; nobody has the objectivity to look at the firm as a separate entity.
Personal styles very often lead to partition within a few years of partnership. People are not able to appreciate the contribution of a person whose style of operation is different.
One looks at the other person’s contribution with the smaller time perspective. Any temporary distraction from the other person is negligence. However, the criterion is different when it comes to self-evaluation.
Many times an introduction of a new partner or the next generation disrupts certain existing patterns that have been accepted for long years.

I feel that there is immense power in collaboration in the self-employment zone. However, with changes in times and human temperament, perhaps we are moving to a period of strategic association instead of full-fledged partnerships, although it is not an ideal choice for creating steady organisations. Human ego will have to reinvest itself to allow this power to unfold.

What are your stories on Power of Collaboration? Leave your comments below.