The Collaboration Leader
Here’s a thought
“We need to talk about collaboration”
In the film “We need to talk about Kevin” Tilda Swinton (brilliant actress) knowing something is not right with her little boy says to her husband ‘we need to talk about Kevin’. He replies ‘there is nothing wrong with him, he is just a normal little boy.’
Kevin grows up and does something terrible and it all ends very badly. I love watching films and this is one of my all-time favourites through it’s a devastatingly difficult watch.
The government has been saying for 40 years, ‘we need to talk about collaboration’ and the industry has either ignored the message or said ‘we are already doing it’ and cracked on, busy, busy. This time round, your organisation really does have to take up the challenge in earnest, and prove it has – otherwise it may end up very badly.
When I had a ‘proper job’ there was a period of about six years spanning mid-eighties and early nineties where, as contractor’s project manager, I ‘built’ several superstores for a canny Yorkshire retailer. For me those projects were all out war. I’m not sure who started it, them or I, though reflecting back I was horrendous and so were they.
I didn’t know it at that time though those projects took their toll and left me scarred, I still won’t shop at their stores.
I resolved to find another way of working and got out just in time for me and my family. For the last fifteen years I have been helping teams establish and sustain collaborative working, enabling them to build better, more and happier.
Nowadays, I [am] The Collaboration Leader and this month sees the launch of my second book called “We need to talk about collaboration. Pulling UK construction together”
The film and my book deliver the same message – we need to talk about this or it will end badly. The film is a difficult watch and does end badly whereas my book is a short, easy read that will help you get ahead. In it I set out the pressure coming from government, why collaboration for our industry is difficult and how you can establish and sustain systematic collaboration across your business, on your projects or in your team.
To set the scene and get the conversation going I am running a campaign of e mails each Monday, Wednesday and Friday throughout June – I hope you read and find them useful and that they inspire you talk about collaboration with your colleagues and maybe even with me.
The next Leader will be with you on Tuesday the first of July by which time everyone, I hope, will be talking about collaboration.