Collabor(h)ate

by Deb Mashek

"We’ve all gotten stuck working with people we don’t like. Thankfully, Deb Mashek has written a lively, actionable book to fix that. Combining her expertise as a psychologist and her experience as a consultant, she reveals how we can earn trust, repair relationships, and create collaborations that bring out the best in us.”
Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

Many people have mixed feelings about workplace collaboration. On the one hand, they know collaboration is essential to achieve complex goals. On the other hand, they know collaboration is a slog. People pull in different directions. There’s desperately little communication and even less follow through. One person ends up doing all the work. The result? Friction mounts. Projects fizzle. Great people walk.

Here’s why: very few of us ever receive any formal training in how to collaborate well.

In Collabor(h)ate, Deb Mashek draws on her deep experience as a relationships researcher and collaboration facilitator to reveal everything you need to know to make workplace collaborations less painful and more productive.


Dr Deb Mashek is an experienced business consultant, professor, higher education administrator, and national nonprofit executive. She applies relationship science to help people collaborate better.

Genres: Nonfiction

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 23, 2023

Reviews

[Manuela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collabor(h)ate, as you might have guessed from the title, is a book about Collaborations, and how to make them succeed.

The book provides some guidelines to transform a collaboration from Collabo(h)ate to Collabo(g)reat, giving some insights into some things such as:
- How evaluate the stage of your current relationship
- How to transform you relationship for success
- How to decide if collaboration should be pursued
- How to exit a collaboration

The language of the book is accessible and it is very well organized - I would recommend to anyone struggling with work collaborations.

[Regina · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me personally, the reading was quite boring, despite the author’s numerous attempts to spice up the language with jokes and funny phrases. The content is reasonable of course, but so lacking freshness and novelty. Nothing wrong with the book, probably i just read similar ideas in other books previously and hence didn’t find new ideas.

[Ell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collaboration. This single word brings up mixed emotions. It can be rewarding and impactful. Or it can go sideways and be difficult and unproductive. The author of Collabor(h)ate is a relationships researcher and a professional collaboration workshop facilitator who shares insight into how to get the most out of collaborations. Her Mashek Matrix, nine strategies to positively influence collaborative relationships , and insight into understanding and managing interdependence are worth their weight in gold. Author Deb Mashek will take you from Collabor(h)ate to CollaborGreat.

[Joie Frankovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Creating great collaborations matter because, well, you matter. Your work matters. Your experience of work matters. Your brilliance, your gifts, your wisdom, your talents, your abilities— collaboration can amplify all of these in a world brimming with both troubles to be fixed and opportunities to be realized.”

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all have to do it, whether virtually or face to face. There are people we naturally warm to and work well with, and those who we struggle to find common ground with - no matter how hard we try.

Regardless of the environment you are in, there are times where you have to work with those who you would rather not, it is those relationships which generally take more time to build, and in the early stages cause us the most stress.

Collabor(h)ate is an excellent book, which gives you brilliant tips in how you can turn (virtually) any relationship you hate, into one that is great.

What about those where you cannot turn into something great? For those, there are helpful tips on how you can at least stay sane - knowing you have done all that you can, and the problem isnt you.

Personally, i've been trying to put this into practice - it seems to be working.

For a short book, it's exceptionally powerful, and one I would not hesitate to recommend.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.