Lesson 1 | Defining Collaboration (2:09 minutes)

Defining Collaboration

The ultimate purpose of collaboration is to tap into and harness the collective wisdom of a group of people. Collaboration can mean different things to different people, and we're often commonly using words or phrases that are being thrown around as one's definition. The National Association of Estate Planners & Councils, we will later refer to in this program as NAEPC, defines collaboration as a synergistic and client-centric approach, where the client and/or their team of advisors engage in mutual communication, coordination, and cooperation. So, let's take a further look at these three areas of information.

Communication: At a high level this component requires us to trust one another, share our perspectives and rationale openly and honestly while respecting one another to remain open to the possibility that the best thinking may come from somebody else on the team or maybe from the client or even his or her family member.

Coordination: This element speaks the systematic nature of estate planning, in which the actions of one or more professionals can affect the actions of other professionals on the team, as well as the ultimate outcome of the work that's being done or considered,

Cooperation: Many advisors cooperate with other advisors. They have a way of balancing the interests of themselves and others. It's critically important for family and advisors to define a strong, flexible sense of who they are, what they believe, what's important to them, and what they will or will not do, while remaining open to being influenced by others, but not because of the influence of the emotional pressure or to preserve harmony.

While each of these represents an aspect of the collaboration process and each is critical to success, true collaboration requires all three of these elements.