Maintaining a Company's Identity Amidst Collaboration

Collaboration seems to be the order of the day in today's crisis economy. Whether collaborating on marketing, community outreach projects, or pulling different departments together to work in new and creative ways'"we all seem to be exploring collaboration in our daily work worlds. While collaboration can present many benefits and challenges, one of the major ones is how to maintain the company's special identity while collaborating with others.

Marketing and branding may be leftover catchwords from the nineties, but after all the effort and resources a company puts forward to establish a solid marketing plan, it can be a shame to lose it through collaboration. It is important that during a collaborative project, employees remember that they are working for the company first, and then on the collaborative project second. While the project may need to have a stand-alone identity, it is also important to keep the company identity in tact. This takes diligence and focus.

Continue with the overall company marketing plan and mission statement, regardless of what the collaborations may be. It is important to evaluate potential collaborations based on whether or not they are a "good fit" and further the mission of the company. It can make for a very messy message if a company starts pursuing collaborations trying to reach out to all sorts of different markets if they don't have a cohesive way of enhancing the current company image and market.

Promote team-building and company identity through internal, as well as external projects and campaigns. Encourage company loyalty and reward both employees and customers or clients for continuing to be involved regardless of changes. These steps help to maintain the company's identity, even while creating the intended increase of influence (or shared resources) through collaboration. Collaboration can be a great way to grow a company on multiple levels, but it is equally important to keep the company's identity in tact.