I wanted to write a follow-up blog to the one I posted March 3 which I dug out of the archives from a podcast interview 5 years ago. As mentioned in that previous blog, the lack of a clearly communicated Collaborative Success Definition (CSD) is a big contributor to failed collaboration efforts.
To ensure the collaboration (or project) success is clearly defined and communicated, you must first be concise. Very few people have time today to read 25 pages. Summarize the CSD in 1-2 pages and ensure it includes the following 6 elements:
- What(product/service/initiative/policy/etc.) are you delivering?
- By when?
- Potentially include where(for example, if you’re not delivering globally, identify the countries or regions that will be receiving the “what”).
- For whom(customers, prioritized) are you delivering the “what”?
- With whom(partners—could be teams or individuals) will you be collaborating and depending upon to complete their key components in this effort?
- And how? List the major milestones/checkpoints and the level of completion dependent components will be in for each milestone as everyone works together to put the pieces together to meet the final deliverable and deadline.
To see an example of how I like to concisely communicate the CSD, check out this short video.