The Key Ingredient is Collaboration

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Collaboration is the not-so-secret secret ingredient for successful businesses and projects. When it comes to defending Canadians against insurance fraud and crime, collaboration is in all that we do at Équité Association. Internally as an organization, and with our members and partners, this approach is making headlines and driving our strategy forward.  

Collaboration is synonymous with working together, teamwork, cooperation – I could go on – but we do not often discuss the collaborative efforts that fail or struggle. How can we use collaboration most effectively?

Collaboration requires trust. For collaboration to work we should trust that we:

• Each have a voice;
• Will listen openly;
• Know our input was heard even if it couldn’t be used at this time;
• Will deliver on what we’ve promised; and
• Will jointly take responsibility regardless of dis/agreement and outcome.

Collaboration doesn’t always mean consensus. Too often, we see parties quietly opting out of the outcome because their ideas weren’t used as part of the solution. This results in a lack of investment in each other’s success; eroding the trust for all involved. To be truly collaborative, we need to continue to support and invest in each other during the entire process – from ideation, through execution, and finally to delivering the results. We cannot opt out if we want to achieve our common goals.  

When the trust falters, communication can always help build bridges. At Équité, we’re fostering a culture of open communication. We are listening for real-time feedback from our teams, our members and partners, and approaching insurance fraud and crime as a larger, more collaborative team. We encourages peaking up, speaking out, and asking questions. We encourage healthy and intelligent debate because these conversations are energizing, rewarding and empowering – all products of good collaboration.  

Collaboration is the key to our collective success, as it is only by collaborating together that we can eradicate insurance crime in Canada.