Home »
Collaboration in our Kootenays
By David B. Savage
I have been a businessman since 1975. My undergraduate degree is in Economics. In a 10-year period, my partners and I built and sold four companies. In that 10-year period, I, also, cofounded three not-for-profits.
In business globally, I see repeated failures in organizations and their capital projects and operations. The monetary cost of such failures is in the billions. When a company makes mistakes, tries to force its agenda on others and is in conflict with stakeholders, stakeholders revolt, projects get delayed in regulatory and community review for extended lengths of time, and employees simply don’t give their best because they do not trust the systems they work in.
The costs can be disengagement, rejection by regulatory bodies and governments, impacted communities, damage to the environment, and more. The human cost ranges from depression, conflict, suicide, marital breakdown, career paralysis and loss of the intelligence and vision of bright people in your business because they check out when they come to work.
Remember Monty Python’s John Cleese great videos and training-Meeting Bloody Meetings? We can now do the same thing with Collaboration Bloody Collaboration. Too often, a boss has a task he wants others to buy into. The task is narrow and the outcome predetermined. The boss, at times, is afraid of making decisions alone. So that boss calls a meeting. “We must collaborate to succeed …” the boss begins, oblivious to the yawns, sideways glances and grimaces. Collaboration is not more meetings.
That is why I wrote the book and broadcast the show; Break Through To Yes.
In 2004, I moved to the Kootenay Rockies; first Rosen Lake then Cranbrook. I choose this area due to our amazing natural environment and have made many good friends here. And, like many, I am very concerned about the drain of resources and youth from our area to Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver and elsewhere. I am very concerned that so much of the work force here comes as government payroll.
A number of us have been building a vision of our area becoming a Centre of Leadership for the world. More of us have been searching for ways to attract sustainable economic development for our area. And, yet, we continue to do the same things over and over and hoping for a different result.
We cannot count on second homes, golf courses, ski hills, coal mines and natural resources to attract the next generation of tax payers and community builders. The Kootenays offer incredible lifestyle and relatively low cost of living that should be a magnet for those in the 25 – 50-year-old demographic. Yet, our populations are not growing, our tax bases are not growing and our chances are lost. Our children live and make good incomes elsewhere.
Since mid 2014, Laura Hummelle, Becky Pelkonen, myself and others have been working to create real positive change. We approach the economic development and social development from three pillars; a) training to build collaborative leadership, b) creation of a live global network of intelligence and resources to access and c) formation of project teams that break down the “silo” approach seen too often. With these three pillars, businesses and leaders realize their vision.
So what can you do? Does your company have a strong collaborative culture or are you really a command and control culture? Have you experienced poorly designed collaboration? Often business leaders need to solve pressing questions, like–
– how do I deal with a political or power-driven agendas on my team?
– how do I get my team to stop being negative and help me to solve these challenges?
– how do I foster new ideas that translate into actual implemented steps?
– how do I clarify the purpose of effective collaboration?
We set ourselves up for failure when we make common collaboration mistakes, but you don’t need to!
We have developed a Collaboration Assessment to provide you a check up. Go to www.davidbsavage.com and see where your organization ranks. Design purpose, diversity and results in your collaboration with this provoking 25-question no charge assessment. With this assessment, change the conversation within your organization and across organizations.
I challenge business leaders to more actively engage in this conversation. While the “C” word is used often, collaboration is rare. And, more rarely, done well. What if we appointed a Chief Collaboration Officer in our organizations? That role would provide the answer to the key question; “If we really want to succeed, where are the best practices, aligned resources and leaders inside and outside our organization that we can engage to make success far more likely?”
We will find better ways through collaboration. But, only when collaboration is understood and capitalized on. I love the Kootenays. I want to make my income and life here. And I do not want to see our economic opportunities pass us by unnoticed because they don’t look like they used to. They are not second homes or golf courses or coal mines. They are businesses that are being created around the world today. We must create the necessary conditions to host them and nurture them. And the best way to do that is to work together. As 2016 is starting, let’s do.
Lead image: Collaborative Global Initiative executive met in Cranbrook in November. Duncan Autrey (California), Laura Hummelle, Dave Savage and Jeff Cohen (New York).
– David B. Savage is an East Kootenay-based Consultant, Speaker, Author and podcast “Break Through to Yes: Unlocking Possibility within a Culture of Collaboration.”
