After an amazing 3 week holiday in Brazil, February not only brought a time of reflection and relaxation but also surprising connections and opportunities abroad. And to top it all off, February concluded with the 2^nd CC Event, where we continued to build relationship with one another while exploring The Circle of Collaboration©…. a tool to guide active team building through clarifying and aligning values and visions.

I will share more about my Brazilian connections and collaboration opportunities in my next post, so stay tuned.  Right now, I wanted to share the highlights of the February CC Event…

As we all continued to take networking to the next level, we opened our minds to what is possible and created trust amongst the group by discussing current issues and exploring ways to overcome them. It was very evident through the conversations that what we all valued authentic relationships at home and in the workplace – not only with others but also with ourselves. It simply reinforced that absolutely, without a doubt, building relationship and creating trust is the first step in establishing effective team work and reducing competition.

This finding fit in perfectly with the knowledge sharing of the morning. As we consider coming together to collaborate and co-create on projects, I encouraged a change in the way we think about and perceive Collaboration; to align with Creative Collaboration as opposed to the familiar ‘Corporate’ Collaboration so many of us are used to working within.

When we creatively collaborate we need to move from:

• A hierarchy based approach that is directive in nature to a role based approach that fosters cooperation;
• A profit driven venture that places higher importance on profit over people to a purpose driven venture that nurtures its people and honours their true value (which ultimately serves the bottom line because the truth is it’s the people who build the business and the profit);
• An egocentric consumer focus that stays true to the old saying ‘What’s In It For Me’ (WIIFM) to an altruistic contribution focus aligning with a the new and improved saying, that I like to call, ‘What Can I Contribute’ (WCIC). In doing so, we overcome scarcity and add value through sharing knowledge.

Creative Collaboration is rewarding for everyone and the way forward for all workplaces, businesses and projects, alike. Furthermore, visualise Creative Collaboration as a way to becoming interdependent, like a collective community where each member has an important role to play in the whole, and we address and reduce the fear of losing autonomy and/or becoming co-dependent. Follow these 7 essential ingredients and achieve success through creative collaboration:

Ultimately we each need to make the COMMITMENT to ourselves, our role and the team; to creativity, diversity and sharing knowledge; and to contributing towards the collective vision!

This is what it will take for us to come together and purposefully #ActOnPassionsandVisions.

So the next time you find yourself teaming up with others, ask yourself do we practice Creative Collaboration? Consider these concepts and watch your team flourish!

The next CC Event will be held on Friday March 27^th – I hope to see you there!!!!! Details coming soon…

You can also connect with the CC Community via the CC Page and/or CC Group on Facebook to contribute, share knowledge and participate in upcoming events.

Courtney ‘Co-Creator’ Wilson

m: +61 (0)417 107 888| e: courtney.connect@outlook.com