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| Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.net |
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” – Helen
Keller
As an avid gardener whenever I drive around neighborhoods
I scope out the landscape in yards. It’s interesting to see the variety of
styles, textures, and lack thereof. It amazes me when I see lines of beautiful
homes on a street and invariably there are a few with minimal landscaping –
like maybe a tree (dead) or two. There’s no cohesiveness between the landscape
and home. The scene is disjointed. Now, I get that a lot of people don’t like
to garden or feel that it’s a lot of work. However, any appraiser or real estate
agent will tell you that a well planed and planted landscape can increase the
value of a home by 10-15%. The home and landscape work together as a team – collaboration
at its finest.
Fall is a great time to be outside. The heat and humidly
of summer is gone and in many parts of the country the colors are incredible.
Wander around your yard a bit with a new set of eyes. Imagine that you are a
buyer looking to buy your house. What do you see? Is there a seamless
collaboration between the style of your home and the landscape? Do your
gardens, even if minimal, blend and flow with your home? The neighborhood? Does
your house reflect your taste and the yard? Does the landscape support and
enhance your home? If not, winter is coming and it is the perfect time to get
busy on paper and plan some changes for next year.
Think how your home and landscape can complement one
another. How can they better collaborate together to reflect your taste or that
of your neighborhood? Pick up some books or magazines from the library for
ideas. Landscapers are typically slow in the cold months and most will happily
assist you with planning, often at reasonable prices. Ask your garden friends
for their thoughts and ideas. In short, collaborate to make change and enhance
your yard.
Collaboration is key in many areas of our lives. We see
it in our gardens, neighborhoods, relationships, and our jobs. Take some time
this week to take notice of how collaboration is all around us, or not. I’m guessing
that many of us love the idea of collaboration, but see it lacking where we
work. The concept is great in theory but tough to carry out in most
organizations. There are often too many individual agendas or a focus on who
contributes the most and can climb the ladder the quickest. Some companies
reward these behaviors through their reward system or management style. Guess
what? Collaboration begins with you! We can’t count on our employers to create collaboration;
we need to step up as individuals.
I just finished the new book Collaboration Begins With You Be A Silo Buster by Ken Blanchard,
Jane Ripley, and Eunice Parisi-Carew. In the usual Blanchard style this book is
written in a story format which makes it an easy and memorable read. This book
is perfect for anyone. It’s a reminder that we all have a responsibility to
create and promote a special culture of collaboration in everything we do. We
can’t rely on our employers to do this. We all need to take the leap to act in
order to have an impact. Individually we can bring people together with our own
style to make a difference and produce results.
I love the simplistic and memorable process the authors
introduce to bust silos and bring people together. It’s easy and a 3 prong
approach: The heart, the head, and the
hands.
·
The
Heart: This is who you are as a person and leader. It involves your
character and intentions. It makes sense doesn’t it? You bring the inside out
and impact others. We all do this every day. We show our love to our family. We
nurture safety and trust.
·
The Head:
This is what you know. It’s your knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes particularly
about collaboration. This is where you involve others to create a clear purpose
with sound values and goals.
·
The
Hands: This is what you do. It’s your actions and behaviors. It’s what you
do to empower others and build collaboration. Empowerment begins with you
before it can be given to others. This is where you talk with others to build
consensus.
Clearly none of these “parts” can function without the
other. You need your heart, head, and hands to bring about change and build
collaboration with others. Collaboration
Begins with You effectively leads us down the path of collaboration with a
variety of interesting characters. We see their insecurities and struggles. We
earn how they change inside and effectively reflect that change onto others. We
quickly see how the efforts of the whole are greater than the one. We see
growth that brings about a collaborative culture, empowers others, uses
differences to share a vision, and turns everyone into an empowered leader. Collaboration
truly starts from within and emerges to destroy silos and build consensus.
Blanchard’s new book is well worth the reading journey.
You will learn about yourself and others as you learn how to better collaborate.
The book is an easy journey and offers a collaboration self assessment and best
practices to lead you down the path. Stop bemoaning silos and begin change with
a first step towards collaboration.
Please get that landscape in shape next spring too! You
never know who will be driving by………
