That Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” – Inigo Montoya to Vizzini, A Princess Bride, 1987

As a collaboration consultant, I often find myself wanting to use my best Mandy Patinkin imitation (which isn’t very good at all) to correct those who keep using the word “collaborate” or its many variations in ways that I consider unhelpful.

Asking others for input is not really collaboration. It’s asking people for their input. But plenty of organizations invite stakeholders to a “collaboration” meeting and simply ask them for their input. And I’ve been to many meetings convened by powerful institutions that use the term “collaboration” to describe asking others to help achieve their institution’s goals. Merriam-Webster’s unhelpful definition of collaborate is “to work jointly with others.” Being told by the boss to work jointly with others doesn’t strike me as collaboration, either. That is called following orders. “Collaboration” has become so popular a term that it is now used to describe just about any kind of human interaction.

One reason the terms “collaboration” and “collaborate” are overused, I believe, is that most people prefer being seen as someone who works well with others, rather than being seen as tyrant (or a Sicilian crime boss).

But the big problem with overusing these terms is people have different understandings of what they mean. If you invite others to collaborate, but only ask them for their input, they may well be disappointed (or worse) if they believe collaboration means diverse, independent players share power, co-create solutions and make decisions together.

Based on experiences with multiple clients, I believe an “interaction continuum” can help people clarify why and when to collaborate, and when other, less demanding forms of interactions are sufficient.

Inform: Communicate your plans to interested parties.

Engage: Seek input and advice from others.

Cooperate: Ask others to support your efforts.

Collaborate: Participants share power, co-create and decide together.

Collaboration is merely a means to an end. If the end can be achieved more efficiently by simply engaging with others, why go through the difficult work of designing the processes and capacity required to enable co-creation and collective decision making?

I don’t expect the above continuum will meet the realities of every situation. But if you’re finding yourself or others using the term “collaborate” or “collaboration” a lot and it’s not exactly clear what the term really means, I encourage you to consider creating your own continuum to clarify what level of interaction is required to achieve your objective. You may be surprised to discover that collaboration isn’t what you need, at all.

Inconceivable.