The Beatles might be the most famous example of a group of people coming together and making something bigger than themselves. Collaboration is one of the most powerful forces in the world. It’s important because it’s how people and groups work together to achieve a common goal. It’s what fuels innovation.
The same is true for your company or organization. Long before you’re in crisis, an important step is to put together a team from various industries and arenas to help prepare for what might be in the future. But what is important to remember when you’re putting together this group, is to be intentional about selecting members from different fields.
In the video, we reference a study that spanned 20 years and included over 2,000 professionals from all walks of life. Some had doctorates, others were titans of industry, while others were educators and thought leaders. What the study revealed was when these individuals were asked to predict the future in their area of expertise, a coin flip was actually more accurate. But when they were put into groups and asked to predict the future, they had a better than 80% success rate.
The learning here is when you are thinking ahead of what might come next, you are far better prepared for a potential crisis if you have formed a working group that meets once a year to discuss business matters than you would be if you gathered your own colleagues and others in your same line of business.
Certainly there are some crises you will not be able to predict. Natural disasters top that list but discussion may arise that help you be a few steps ahead if that sort of crisis happens upon you. All thanks to collaboration.