Emerson once said: The years teach much which the days never knew. In my career, I’ve had the good fortune of being exposed to many smart people. It never ceases to amaze me how just a few moments of discussion, or sitting and listening to well thought-out debates, can open your mind to ideas you can’t believe you didn’t think of on your own. The wisdom of collaborative learning and collaborating with others is significant, isn’t it?
Check out our thoughts on team leverage.
Collaborative learning
I have always found the wisdom of others to be something of a gift: free of charge, limitless of value.
Limitless of value because these pearls of wisdom can be connected to some of your ideas to produce something greater than what you might have created on your own.
Before we continue, let me ask you a question.
What works best for building collaboration in your business? We would love to hear what it was. Would you do us a favor and post it in the comments section below? Be the one who starts a conversation.
With the advent of the Internet, the number of marketing options available to both budding and experienced entrepreneurs has become staggering.
Related post: How Good Is your Learning from Failure?
In thinking about exploring, imagining, learning and collaborating with others, the following thoughts crossed my mind:
Imagination is the ability to see what is not there. Creativity is applied imagination. Exploring is being open to and experimenting with, new ideas. And innovation is putting good ideas to work. All are stimulated through effective collaboration.
Creativity is not a quality that is only found in the chosen few, but not everyone is as good at finding it as others (though everyone can improve with practice).
Do not get branded by your job description. Think well outside those bounds … all the time.
Build on other people’s ideas. Do not knock them down and try not to start on the ground floor. Connect ideas.
We are all very busy: personally, professionally, and socially. One of our scarcest resources is time. Time to sit and think.
To stretch our own limits. To learn new things. Time to imagine, create, explore, and experiment. Do you experience collaborative learning?
As Emerson said in the quote above, time can often be a teacher.
But if you are as impatient as I am, look to your colleagues, your friends, your mentors and to your own self to challenge you to reach new heights. Tap into the parts of your brain you may not use every day. The parts of your brain you may not even realize you can tap into.
Most of all, reach out to others to collaborate. The sum of the team collaboration is always greater than the work of each individual.
Need some help in capturing more improvements for your staff ’s teamwork, collaboration, and learning? Creative ideas in running or facilitating a teamwork or continuous learning workshop?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy continually improving your continuous learning?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of a business. Find him on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on learning from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
The Nine Most Valuable Secrets of Writing Effective Copy
How Good Is your Learning from Failure?
10 Extraordinary Ways for Learning to Learn
Continuous Learning Holds the Keys to Your Future Success
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Collaborative Learning: What I Learned from This Wisdom