What's in a Name?

Back in college during one of my marketing classes, there was a case competition whereby teams of students came up with ad campaigns for major brands.? One campaign that stuck out to me particularly was for one of the major airlines, and it focused on the idea of what the name and brand meant.? For Collaborative Solutions - it’s no secret that the current owners are retiring the name this week after over 20 years in the marketplace to focus on their brand.? I didn’t think it appropriate to let the Collaborative Solutions name be thrown on the scrap heap of discarded IP that happens with acquisitions these days without giving it the proper eulogy it deserves.?

I’ve been asked many times how I came up with the name “Collaborative Solutions” for my business when I started it back in 2003.? Did I go through an elaborate process of researching words and phrases, read a dictionary or conduct man on the street interviews?? Well, none of those things came into play.? At that time, I was reading an article about new technology being developed around software tools that would help people work better together.? These tools were referred to as “collaborative solutions”.? That name stuck with me, and it became my answer when I was first asked, “what name should be put on the deck for your company”.? In my twenty years of being CEO (and nearly that many as owner), I never once second guessed that decision and thought about changing the name.? Over time we did get to be known as “Collaborative” and “Collab” just for efficiency’s sake, but there was no doubt who we were.

Collaborative Solutions meant many things to many people.? Our unique employee centric culture, where people were referred to as “Collabies”, was one of our calling cards.? From the earliest days, we were very focused on making sure the employee experience and company culture were the best they could possibly be.? We accomplished this by asking our people to help actively define and build the culture they wanted with us, rather than simply dictate what the menu of options were.? As we collectively grew the business, we always stayed focused on making sure the growth didn’t come at the expense of our culture.? Did we get it right every day for every person?? Of course not – we are all human.? But we did TRY every day and in every way for our people.? We listened.? We learned.? We asked for continuous feedback. ?We made mistakes.? We adjusted and fine-tuned when we needed to, like all good businesses do.? One of the most consistent comments I would hear from new Collabies who joined us was how amazed they were at the number of people who would reach out and pitch in to help with anything and everything when needed.? They had never seen anything like it from their past employment experiences.? Our Collabies embodied the very notion of what it meant to be, well, collaborative (as you can probably imagine).?

Over the years, that consistent focus on our employees and culture was noticed.? Collaborative had the special honor to be recognized by industry leaders and leading publications as an outstanding workplace around the globe.? These included numerous years of being in the top five Best Firms to Work For in Consulting Magazine (even reaching #2), Great Place to Work Certified, Top Workplaces, including recognition as the #1 Best Workplace for Consulting & Professional Services (Medium Size); we also placed in Best Workplace top categories for our local offices such as Washington, DC; Chicago, San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and London, UK.? The most significant aspect of these awards was that they were determined by the feedback from Collaborative’s employees, the Collabies; they were not “pay to play” awards.? I believe this recognition further enhanced the sense of pride we all had in the organization and really made us a “destination employer” in our space.?

?Of course, then the next logical question would be “What did all this focus on Collaborative’s employees mean for its clients?? Don’t you have to focus on one or the other?”.? Happy employees and happy clients should never be mutually exclusive concepts – you can have both.? This focus meant that each and every client got a skilled and passionate set of consultants, a synergistic team, who were motivated to not just meet but exceed expectations every time.? Collaborative’s philosophy was simple – do your best for your employees, treat them well and take care of them, and they in turn will take care of our clients.? We saw the impacts of this philosophy through our own eyes continuously.? We saw it in strong NPS scores from our clients.? Most importantly, we saw it through our over one thousand clients around the globe who willingly served as evangelists and advocates for Collaborative as they shared their experiences with others on our brand of consulting and professional services.? What else did that philosophy get Collaborative? Recognition as an industry leader in our competency areas by trusted research firms like HfS, ISG and Avasant.

Perhaps to me the most important element of what Collaborative stood for was supporting charitable causes beyond our day-to-day work.? Collaborative specifically provided me a unique platform to engage our friends, our employees, and our communities, to help draw attention to needs of the larger autism community through our unwavering sponsorship of Autism Speaks for over a dozen years.? In that time, Collaborative was able to raise nearly a half million dollars in support of Autism Speaks through our support of the Annual Walk.? When we started, our walk was in Washington, DC.? As we completed our last walk, we were a national sponsor and had walk teams in multiple cities throughout the US.? When people ask what I believe was Collaborative’s greatest accomplishment, I always look at this work with Autism Speaks as my answer.

There are so many different points that could be made about the wonderful things tied to Collaborative over the years.? The amazing relationships we all developed with some of the world’s most notable clients.? The vendor partners we in many ways grew up with during the emergence of the Software-as-a-Service wave.? Becoming a true global company operating on four different continents and clients across six of them.? At the end of the day though, Collaborative was nothing without its people – the Collabies.? We saw people start their careers here and retire from here; we saw them learn and grow from the great mentors they had to being great mentors to others; we saw people start with one career trajectory and yet find a separate one they were passionate about here.? Whether we were fortunate to have someone with us for their entire career, for a brief stop, or a return home after time away, I can say without hesitation that Collaborative’s fabric was woven with the presence of and contribution from each and every person who came through our door.?

So, what’s in a name?? According to the Cambridge Dictionary, collaborative means “involving two or more people or organizations working together for a special purpose”.? The Webster Dictionary defines Collaborative as “to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor”.? I could go on to a few more definitions, but I think the point is resoundingly clear – people are the essential ingredient, the common thread, in every definition of collaborative.? ?My hope is Collaborative Solutions will be remembered for all the great things we accomplished with our clients, our business partners and in our communities.? Most importantly though I hope when Collaborative is remembered it is for the truly amazing people who helped create a one-of-a-kind organization and built a lasting legacy.?