Relationship Is Collaboration

When we come together, it must be for a purpose. Every relationship we are in should enhance and utilize our strengths while complimenting our weaknesses. That way relationship becomes a multiplier. If the relationship you are in isn’t enhancing your strength and helping you realize your dreams, then you may have to reconsider the relationship.

Earlier on in life, I learned that relationships are a dime a dozen and they are not by compulsion. No one will report you to the police or charge you to court for refusing to be in a relationship with them. Since the influence of relationships is powerful and subtle, you need to make sure that you are intentional about the relationships that you get into.

The goal of a relationship should be to capture opportunities that are mutually beneficial. It should be one that allows you to utilize your strengths to create something that is beneficial to everyone. Take the relationship between Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak for instance. Each person’s strength was utilized by which they were able to create something that is of value to humanity.

How are your relationships creating value for others? Your relationships should be inspired by a purpose that unleashes your potential and ingenuity. It should make you better than you were. It should help you bring your best out. Any relationship you are in that doesn’t enhance you, is something you should avoid. When a relationship is based on purpose, creativity is easy.

We waste a lot of our potential on relationships that don’t really enhance us. I sat down one day to look at the time I wasted with people who do not enhance in. Rather than enhance my potential, we use the time to disagree and be negative toward one another. Nothing with an infinite value that would have made a dent in the world was created. It was really a waste when you compare that with the time we have to work.

We all need to see our relationships as collaborations. Employer-employee relationships are collaborations to create value for one another. Company-customer relationships are collaborations that involve creation and utilization. Every relationship is a collaboration and the purpose is to create something that will utilize people’s unique capabilities and enhance their uniqueness.

When we come to relationships with the idea of unique capability collaborations, magic happens. The multiplier effect of such relationships is out of this world. Rather than compete, we will be looking at how to bring our uniqueness each moment into that relationship. We will be thinking about ways we can better utilize the person’s capability and enhance his uniqueness so as to create game-changing value.

A relationship without purpose is people coming together for the fun and pleasure of being around each. In some cases, they may even try to be like one another but be in competition with one another. Value Giver Relationships are all about collaboration, where people come together to multiply themselves in every aspect.

Everyone has a unique capability except they haven’t yet discovered that. If they haven’t then they may not have the courage and confidence to bring value to the relationship. It will certainly be hard to find anything to enhance and utilize in them.

Intentional relationships always led to collaboration

1. Similar Mindset: Just as birds of the same feather flock together, so people with similar mindsets associate together. The kind of mindsets you have will determine whether you are willing to collaborate or not. People with a scarcity mindset, compete rather than collaborate. They see everything around them as scarce. However, those with an abundance mindset, look for every opportunity to collaborate.

2. Complementary Unique Capability: When we come to a relationship with our unique capability, we complement the capability of another person, thereby multiplying our impact and results. A normal relationship makes 1 + 1 = 2, however when there is unique capability collaboration 1 + 1 = 100.

When two people with similar mindsets and complementary capabilities collaborate, the results are exponential. They create a new, unique, game-changing capability. There has to be intentionality when it comes to collaborating.

Relationships require a lot of time and effort to nurture, why not put that effort into building something that will create value for the world.