The Four Styles of Collaboration

I take my business building cues from all sorts.

+ Lady Mary Crawley for her ability to fit in by being different.

+ Liz Lemon for her ability to sound smart while she eats and talks at the same time.

+ Adam Schiff for the art of the one liner as Jack McCoy walks out the door after a tough day.

+ Winnie The Pooh because he does silly things and they turn out right.

In real life I admire the type of business person who works from the heart but manages with their head. There’s few of them out there and one I’ve never met but would love to is the co-founder of Linkedin, Reid Hoffman. He recently co-wrote a book called The Start-Up of You, which is all about applying the idea of entrepreneurism to life as much as business.

If there is a label with which to tag Hoffman it’s the art of collaboration. And if I was to tag blogging 2012 with a label it too would be collaboration. So in the spirit of fostering better collaborations within the blogging industry, I have slightly tweaked a piece Hoffman wrote for a business journal on the four personal attitudes of collaborations. I hope it helps you to choose with confidence the best types of people with which to collaborate on projects/businesses/dreams.

Just like businesses need to form alliances to grow and prosper, bloggers will not only do better by connecting and collaborating but are more likely to become businesses. But not everyone gets this, either because they don’t understand the value of collaborating or they simply don’t understand that there are different styles of collaborations to be had with different types of people.

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to the art of collaboration. Just like you switch between spending time with your tennis friend; drinking buddy; school mom friend; life-long-why-is-she-still-here-oh-I-remember-now friend; crazy-and-exhausting-but-totally-lovable-and-super-interesting-friend and my other-from-another-mother friend, collaborations are bespoke creations that require forethought based more on the who rather than the what.

The list below is not an either/or proposition but cautionary tales. If you understand who you’re dealing with and why they’re dealing you are both more likely to avoid disappointment, despair or, God forbid, disaster.

Some people will have one or more of the four characteristics of behavior described below and each category requires a different approach to the relationship. All can work just as much for you as against you. It’s up to you.

FOUR STYLES OF COLLABORATION 

I’ll do something for you if you do something for me

“If you do business with people who have this attitude, in which trust is limited and so are the kinds of alliances you can form with them, you need to ensure a stream of short-term rewards for them so they constantly feel they are getting something back. These kinds of alliances are inherently risky. The moment you run into problems and the rewards dry up, even temporarily, these people will seek an escape route. They are unwilling to share your pain. They will not invest in an authentic relationship with you, because they do not trust you to honor that relationship in the future — because they themselves would not. The moment your interests no longer align with theirs, you will have problems.”

I’ll do something for you, but I’m keeping track of what you owe me.

“Some people approach life as if it works on a tally system. When they do you a favor, you owe them something in return. Maybe not today or this month or even this year, but before too long, they expect you to pay them back in some manner. This attitude can rear its head at the very beginning of a business discussion.

These individuals are no less focused on reward than those in the previous category. They are simply willing to wait a little longer for it. In a way, this makes them even less attractive candidates for a professional partnership, because they are too focused on their mental scorecard to invest in the relationship in a meaningful manner. Furthermore, if you give them something, they’ll believe it’s only because you want something at least as valuable in return. That’s just the way their minds work.”

I’ll put time and effort into this relationship, and I expect you to do the same at some point.

“Unlike those who are always keeping score, tracking who did and gave what, these individuals often make alliances with the understanding that each side can be trusted to honor its commitments to the other. Each is expected to provide a reasonable level of return, at least in the long run. But these people don’t expect you to explicitly say what form that reciprocation will take, or to offer a deadline by which it must be provided. There’s a mutual understanding that the relationship itself is important — and that sometimes one party may do something very one-sided on behalf of the other, with the view that it helps the alliance and the relationship, and that all favors even out in the long run.

An alliance with this type of individual can be an excellent foundation for a long-term, trusting partnership, so the relationship should be nurtured. The key to this kind of relationship is communication, talking explicitly and respectfully about what the boundaries of the relationship are, and how you can invest in each other, professionally or otherwise. When there’s a communication gap, or one of the parties is not quite sure of the signals, you will run into trouble. If one person believes that trust has been violated, or that the other has misrepresented what he or she intends to bring to the relationship in the long run, all bets are off.”

I’ll put time and effort into this relationship because it is a good thing to do.

“These individuals have no explicit expectation of return. They are providing great value with only the knowledge that they are improving the relationship and the satisfaction of having helped another person as compensation. These people seek out relationships with others who share their values and goals, and they believe that helping the other person will advance those values and goals. Underlying these relationships is the assumption that when the right people are involved, an alliance is extremely valuable in its own right; we partner with each other to change the world. This type of alliance can ensure a successful, long-term, satisfying outcome even if the personal rewards are limited or curtailed. To reach this optimal level of exchange requires a very high level of trust. Once you have earned that kind of trust, the relationship can move mountains.”