Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and ours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to collaborate
Speaker 1: on something new. Whether you're feeling stuck at work or
Speaker 1: just looking for a challenge, actively seeking out to a
Speaker 1: new collaborator and trying a small project together can be
Speaker 1: just the nudge you need to keep work in Trusting
Speaker 1: Remote work is great, but as many of us have
Speaker 1: discovered over the last few months, sometimes it can be
Speaker 1: hard to introduce new things into daily life. We tend
Speaker 1: to generate new ideas by combining our existing knowledge with
Speaker 1: something novel. Where do we get those novel inputs Often
Speaker 1: by doing new things, such as attending conferences or meeting
Speaker 1: people in different industries, or even chatting with a new
Speaker 1: colleague in a different department. These activities have all been
Speaker 1: more challenging since COVID changed how people work, but challenging
Speaker 1: doesn't mean impossible. One great way to shake things up
Speaker 1: seek out a new collaborator and then come up with
Speaker 1: something small but cool that the two of you can
Speaker 1: do together. The emphasis here is really on the who.
Speaker 1: Who do you find intriguing? Whose emails do you always
Speaker 1: feel excited by when you see them in your inbox?
Speaker 1: Who is a friend of a friend whose career you've
Speaker 1: followed a bit more closely than you might admit during
Speaker 1: a first conversation. Which former colleagues have you really wanted
Speaker 1: to stay in touch with. Any of these people could
Speaker 1: be potential collaborator, So pick one who seems amenable. I'd
Speaker 1: start with the who rather than the what, because these days,
Speaker 1: small acts of collaboration are almost ridiculously easy to pull off.
Speaker 1: For instance, a writer friend and I just set up
Speaker 1: a Facebook live chat recently. It was a way to
Speaker 1: introduce our related but slightly different audiences to each other.
Speaker 1: Took a grand total about forty five minutes. And that
Speaker 1: same friends set up a virtual speaker series that involved
Speaker 1: pairing two experts on a bunch of different topics to
Speaker 1: have a conversation with each other. Now, I know that
Speaker 1: she put a lot of work into organizing this, but
Speaker 1: each individual expert was able to collaborate with someone just
Speaker 1: by discussing a topic that other people could then listen to.
Speaker 1: You can do Instagram live chats or Facebook live a
Speaker 1: Twitter chat or something on LinkedIn, set up a zoom
Speaker 1: for interested people to watch. Or you could do something
Speaker 1: that requires a bit more effort, like co writing an
Speaker 1: article together, are creating a limited run podcast, interview your
Speaker 1: collaborator for a virtual training session for your colleagues. None
Speaker 1: of this takes a lot of time, but with the
Speaker 1: right collaborator, it will be a lot of fun for
Speaker 1: you and probably produce something worthwhile for others. We can
Speaker 1: all wind up doing a lot of our own stuff
Speaker 1: and saying the same things over and over again. Introducing
Speaker 1: someone a little different can shape the discussion and make
Speaker 1: you start thinking about things in new ways. So today,
Speaker 1: identify someone in your life who might be open to
Speaker 1: a short collaborative project. You could propose an idea as
Speaker 1: you reach out, but be open to what the other
Speaker 1: person might suggest. To brainstorm what you'll accomplish, and think
Speaker 1: about who would be interested in watching or listening, and
Speaker 1: then look forward to this novel work event. Chances are
Speaker 1: work will feel a bit more interesting. It always does
Speaker 1: when we've got time with intriguing people on our calendars.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's the succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New
Speaker 1: Corner Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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Speaker 1: or wherever you get your favorite shows.