To work together, cooperate, join forces, unite.
Yesterday I elaborated on collaboration, the second of three trends for small businesses for 2010 that are being encouraged by a variety of converging influences, with social media being one of them.
I've been wondering if we can harness the power of these converging influences by uniting the talents of the people in the markets where we work by capitalizing on this increased collaboration. Maybe you have considered the same. Here's a perspective you may not have considered.
Yoga
When I began practicing yoga about 15 years ago, it was still an anomaly here in the Midwest. These days its as common as going to the gym to push some iron. To each his own. I prefer to do both, so in a way that is my yoga.
The word yoga is derived from the word yoke – which means union. Yoga is the union of the mind and body, and if you believe in spirit, that too. It's really a way of saying that everything works best when it works well together. That is collaboration.
Where the body stops and the mind or spirit begins is subject of some debate. It's enough to understand they are inextricably joined together. That is most true when you have a high level of awareness. That's one thing that yoga does for you. It brings your awareness back to your body, which means it brings your mind and body together. That awareness is key to the art of building solid business relationships.
There are actually eight "limbs" of yoga, according to the traditional definition. Those postures you know as yoga are just one limb. Meditation, the management of the mind, is another limb, along with other practices that are beyond the scope of this article. Just know that they all seek to build more refined levels of awareness. And that is something you understand in all areas of your life, including the business side.
Social Yoga
I'm going to take some liberties here with this self-created definition. When you think of collaborating with your markets, your customers, your business and social communities, you should be considering a balance of mind and body. In other words, collaboration in mind, such as on the social networks, should be balanced with personal, face-to-face collaboration – in body, so to speak.
The yoga tradition teaches us that when you achieve higher states of yoga, the mind and the body both disappear, with nothing left but pure awareness. This is where you have a spiritual experience. This of course is not going to happen on a practical business level. However, what is possible, if not entirely likely, is that the right balance of collaboration with the people you care about will lead to a higher level of creativity and accomplishment. That's collaboration.
Collaborative Communities
No worries; you don't need to have a group hug with your customers! Although, it's a nice thing when it happens, isn't it? In a business context it may be surprising at times, yet it is welcome. You and your customers should care a great deal about the success of your joint venture. Quite simply, you can enjoy your collaborative work with others who are like-minded.
My suggestion is to think about your collaborative efforts with your customers as not necessarily work, but as uniting together as one mind. To say someone has a mind of their own usually indicates they have ideas that are different from the norm, or at least different from yours. Why not take those leading edge ideas and collaborate to make them work for the larger community.
That's what we'll talk about when we wrap up our series on small business trends. We are living and working in uncharted waters these days. We have to think of new ways to accomplish in these tough times what may have been easy when the economy was easier.
In other words it's time to stretch – yoga metaphor and pun intended!
I'm up for it. How about you?
Photo Credit: Myyogaonline
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