What became possible because we collaborated?
Return on Collaboration measures the value and outcomes created by working together — what happened that would not have happened otherwise.
Return on Collaboration is not a personality profile and not a six-dimension radar. It is evidence, gathered against a specific collaboration, usually with the people who were part of it. Nine outcome dimensions frame the question — not every one applies to every collaboration, and that is the point.
Nine outcome dimensions
Speed
What happened faster because we worked together?
Cycle times, time-to-decision, time-to-first-deployment.
Quality
What was better than it would have been alone?
Defect and rework rates, user or client assessment, expert review.
Innovation
What became thinkable that wasn't before?
Novel solutions adopted, ideas that crossed a boundary to exist.
Efficiency
What duplication or waste did we remove?
Avoided duplicate spend, shared infrastructure, consolidated effort.
Capability
What can we now do that we couldn't before?
Skills transferred, practices adopted, capability retained after the work.
Relationships
What durable connections now exist?
New working relationships that persist beyond the engagement.
Opportunity
What new possibilities opened up?
Follow-on work, new partnerships, funding or market access created.
Resilience
What are we better able to withstand?
Redundancy, shared response capacity, reduced single points of failure.
Impact
What changed in the world beyond us?
Outcomes for the community, sector, environment or system involved.
Measuring your Return on Collaboration
We work with clients to define what value would look like before the collaboration starts, then evidence it afterwards. That evidence is what turns collaboration from a good intention into a design discipline.
ME → WE → VALUE