I’ve always been fond of the phrase “a rising tide lifts all ships,” and, in my view at least, the message is clear that a deliberate focus on collaboration is simply good for businesses in any industry. According to longtime PR professional Nancy Behrman of Behrman Communications, one of the most effective strategies available to those in management or other leadership positions is to continually encourage and foster collaboration whenever possible.

Of course, there are instances in which it is appropriate to make any number of exceptions, but the overwhelming majority of creative professionals are very likely to agree that some level of collaboration is always of significant benefit in terms of the end result that is possible. This does not mean that a PR professional should spend the entirety of their day running every idea by a colleague for additional insight, but there are certain types of creative responsibilities in which putting together a team of thoughtful professionals to work together will almost always yield a greater outcome than putting the task in the hands of a single individual.

Some professionals advocate an approach in which team members can work on a task or project on an individual basis before bringing the concept or idea they have developed to others for the purpose of collaboration. In my opinion — an opinion I believe would be shared by the experienced and knowledgeable professionals at Behrman Communications — tailoring the collaborative strategies used by a business according to the individual skills of team members is just as important as utilizing collaborative strategies in the first place.