Clarity of Mission + Great Relationship + Investment = Successful Collaboration

It’s Simple math, but successful collaboration isn’t as simple as it sounds. I meet a lot of entrepreneurial leaders, lead pastors and influencers in society. I do this with the goal of bringing existing and entrepreneurial leadership within a city together to catalyze a collaborative church planting movement focused on accelerating the transformation of that city.

The reality is churches don’t collaborate well, in fact many other sectors of society (business, education, health care, military etc.) due a better job of collaborating than the church does. There is a lot we can learn about collaboration form the various models that exist.

So what does true collaboration look like? Simple, here are 7 key indicators of true and successful collaboration

#1 Successful collaboration only happens when there is commitment to the same vision and mission. Collaboration is about a unified cause. For collaboration to happen the mission and vision must be clear and understood by all who participate.

#2 Successful collaboration only happens with Great relationship! I always say vision only gets accomplished with great relationship, the same is true for collaboration. Collaboration isn’t easy, our ideas, opinions and ego surface and cause memorable conversations and battles – Great relationship allows us to work through our differences. Great relationship also keeps us coming back, we all want to do great things with people we love and enjoy being with.

#3 Successful collaboration only happens if people are personally invested. A lot of people get together, network and share ideas and best practices. This isn’t collaboration. Collaboration only happens when it cost us and the organization something. In fact, having “skin in the game” is key to successful collaboration, with any idea, mission or project. Why? Simple, when people put their time, treasure and talent into something they begin to take ownership, they care more and they are invested. For collaboration to work people need to own it and be invested in it.

#4 Successful collaboration only happens when people come to the table open handed. There is a curse and a blessing, or catch 22 in successful collaboration. The reality is, one must come to the table willing to lose a lot and gain nothing. Collaboration isn’t about the individual or organization, it’s about moving an idea or dream forward. For this to happen, all those involved must come to the table with open hands. In some ways, this is one of the biggest differences from collaboration and other gatherings of people with a common cause, i.e. networks, prayer gatherings, conferences, etc.

#5 Successful collaboration only happens when there is diversity. Simple, collaboration in its purest form is when people work on mission together from different organizations and various backgrounds. To say it another way, if everyone is from the same organization/company, it’s called part of their job. For example, we just launched Vision360 San Jose with 9 churches as a part of the city board. Vision360 helps serve as a sand box for these 9 churches to play in. In the sand box you have six different denominations represented. My friends, that is true collaboration and in my opinion, an expression of the Church with a capital “C.”

#6 Successful collaboration only happens (within the Church) when there is a Kingdom Mindset. It’s not about the part or individual but the whole or Kingdom. For collaboration to work, the focus must be on the Kingdom and Great Commission.

#7 Successful collaboration only happens when patience and endurance persist. Collaboration takes time, it doesn’t always happen quickly.

Those are some of my learning’s and thoughts about Successful Collaboration. If you’re not familiar with Vision360 and what I spend most of my passion and energy on, then take a moment to read a brief description of who we are below.

The mission of Vision360 is to serve and empower a collaborative church planting community in the largest 500 global cities. We do this by bringing existing and entrepreneurial leadership within the city together to catalyze a church planting movement in their city. Vision360 seeks to serve this movement with providing best practices in assessment, training, coaching, resourcing and connecting. Our objective is to capture and catalyze local ministry, business and domain leadership in the city and to help empower them to move the vision God has for church planting in their city forward. In the DNA of every Vision360 church is a commitment to being kingdom minded, globally connected, city engaged and local church multiplying. The effectiveness of Vison360 is largely based on unleashing the skills and resources of Christian business and domain leaders who come alongside spiritual leaders and churches committed to taking spiritual responsibility for their city.