Does this sound too good to be true and, if it is, impossible to achieve?

You are not alone in that initial reaction but consider this; 43.2% of websites globally use WordPress and Wikipedia has 25 BILLION page-views per month. Both are built and maintained by communities aligned by shared purpose and shared value.

Your organizations does not need to be a non-profit or collective to use a collaborative strategy but it does need to understand the power of a community pulled together by a compelling vision and kept together by shared value.

The heart of any collaborative strategy is a shared purpose and shared value statements.

Shared purpose is what brings people together – it speaks to each participants values, intrinsic motivations, and priorities.

Shared purpose, however, is not enough to keep people engaged and committed because if nothing of value is being generated, those that care most about the shared purpose will leave.

Shared value is what keeps people engaged – it is the meaningful progress toward realizing the shared purpose.

The process to get to a compelling shared purpose and shared value strategy requires understanding each stakeholder, their daily work and interactions, and their motivations. We can then develop the shared purpose and shared value statements into an operational plan by working through the different topics critical to creating behavior and culture change, including: