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March 13, 2017

Earlier this week, I participated in a manufacturers’ roundtable and tour at Combustion Associates as an APICS Inland Empire chapter event.  It was an enlightening conversation and tour since the products and services are quite unique and the power of collaboration shined through at every point in the process.  See a few of APICS-IE Board member colleagues pictured below.  (Tony, we missed you for the photo!)

Not only did Kusum Kavia (EVP of Combustion Associates) make sure it was an interesting event, she invited a wide variety of colleagues from international resources to government officials to local manufacturers to participate with our APICS-IE members.  They showed a clip of former President Obama talking about Kusum, and it spoke to her amazing power of collaboration and partnership.  Are you thinking about what partnerships can do for you?

One tip to implement this week:
Collaborating can be one of the simplest of goals and one of the hardest at the same time.  Somehow, collaboration seems quite simple yet is rarely achieved to a significant degree.  Just as Kusum has shown with her participation and support of countless collaboration partners, we should pursue the power of collaboration.

Start with your top collaboration partners.  Who is important to your success?  Who should you be appreciating?  Think about all of your collaboration partners and pick your top few.  Next get in touch.  Don’t send an email.  Pick up the phone and ask to get together.  Start your new approach to collaboration by meeting in person.  Listen to what your collaboration partner wants to achieve, and think about how you can help him/her.  For now, just focus in on how you can add value to your top few collaboration partners.  This alone will go a LONG way.