Is collaboration the key ingredient for successful businesses, asks Northland Inc's Lisa Cunningham

Te Rito Marae, one of the partner marae. Photo / Ministry of Primary Industries with permission from Te Rito

COMMENT:

By Lisa Cunningham

I recently spent some time with an acquaintance who, like me, works in destination marketing. We were chatting about marketing and social media, and as our conversation progressed I found myself furiously scribbling notes and ideas, as we exchanged links to inspirational content, and bounced concepts off each other.

At the end of our conversation, less than an hour later, I had renewed enthusiasm and a list a mile long of ideas to pursue. But it also prompted me to think about how important teamwork and collaboration is for creativity and innovation.

Unfortunately for small businesses, especially in our tourism and hospitality industries, collaboration can feel like a challenge. Long days and often anti-social hours, coupled with the feeling that we are all vying for the same customer, can leave us feeling less than excited about the thought of sharing ideas.

It almost feels as though we are revealing our business "secrets", and partnering with the (perceived) competition can feel risky. But it's exactly this sort of collaboration over competition that gives us an edge when it comes to business.

If you've heard of Simon Sinek, you might be familiar with the concept of The Infinite Game. A basic premise of the concept is that in an infinite game there are an unknown quantity of players and no agreed rules, and therefore no winners and losers.

The goal of the game is to keep the game going, to keep playing, and the only person you play against in that situation is yourself. When you apply this concept to business, it becomes clear that to play the infinite game in business is to aim to improve, to compete against your past self and to strive to be better.

What better way to do this than to team up with others, to learn from one another and to build collective knowledge? Collaboration increases creativity, and creativity fosters innovation.

It's inspiring to see how businesses thrive when they come together. We've seen creativity and innovation shine through, especially in the challenging environment of the past year, as businesses have looked for ways to pivot, find new ways to attract customers and create efficiencies.

Collaboration can, unfortunately, feel like a challenge especially for small businesses in our tourism and hospitality industries, says Lisa Cunningham. Photo / Supplied

Through the Regional Business Partner Network, we've seen businesses join programmes such as The Alternative Board, where business owners collaborate, solve problems and support one another through collective wisdom.

We've spoken to accommodation owners who have built relationships with similar accommodation providers in other small towns and regularly refer business to one another, providing value to their guests as well as to each other.

We've also seen businesses pool resources and facilities, adding value to their own products and services while reducing the expenses of offering such value independently.

An outstanding example of collaboration is the collective of marae in Northland that is working together to offer marae stays. Together they have partnered with organisations and agencies like the Ministry for Primary Industries (Haumaru Kai), local government, Northland Inc and Pou Herenga Tai Twin Coast Cycle Trail Trust to share knowledge around food safety and gain an accreditation to develop quality marae stays.

Each marae offers something unique to their own marae stay, but together they can jointly market their product, achieving better results than they could do alone. And when one marae is in use, as can unexpectedly happen, the other marae step up to host their manuhiri (visitors), ensuring no cancellations are required.

The great thing about collaboration is it doesn't need to be grand, or formal. There's no need to break out with jargon like "joint ventures", or "memorandums of understanding", unless of course, you want to.

Sometimes, simply talking to your business neighbours or joining your local business association or promotional group can be enough to kindle collaborative relationships.

There are also business networks, co-working spaces such as The Orchard Business and Events Hub, and collectives of similar businesses throughout the region where you can find like-minded people.

Regional agencies and organisations such as Northland Inc, Te Puni Kōkiri and NorthChamber are also passionate about facilitating connections between businesses and each other. We all know the saying "two brains are better than one", so why not give it a go and see how your business could thrive?

• Lisa Cunningham is a destination content specialist for the Northland Regional Tourism Office at Northland Inc.