Is there a bigger choice in life than choosing your partner(s)?
Or indeed, choosing to have a partner at all?
We choose partners in life — or not.
And we choose partners at work — or not.
The Latin root of the word is partitio / pars / partem — meaning “a part” or “portion.”
So, at its very root, partnering means to share a part in something together.
There is, of course, overlap between Partnering and Collaboration, which simply means to work together.
Team members who collaborate are “sharing a part” of the work or task they are committed to — and at the same time, they are building their relationship.
I’ve made some big partnering choices in my life and work.
On our second date, I asked Elsa to marry me (she said no… but a few years later, yes!). We’ve now been together for nearly 30 years — and working together as co-founders and partners at ici2learn for almost 10.
Since 2008, I’ve also partnered with my childhood friend, the artist Martin Smith, at Laikingland, where we design and manufacture beautifully crafted kinetic sculptures that have been sold in many of the world’s foremost design stores and museums.
And I partnered with Floris Dekker at Gathering Natuurlijk, creating retreats in nature for leaders from different sectors — to slow down, learn, and make sense together in our hyper-active and turbulent world.
And this year, I’ve partnered with my son, Barnabé (and Elsa), to create our Skillful Collaboration service. He’s doing the back-office work and leveraging AI while I focus on training, facilitating, and coaching teams.
Our mission is to help teams everywhere grow the human skills of collaboration!
But “everywhere” is a big place…
and so — we are looking for partners!
In-company partners:
HR Leaders, L&D Leaders, Internal Trainers, Facilitators, and Coaches —are you interested in partnering to enable Skillful Collaboration in your teams and across your organization?
External partners:
HR Consultants, OD Consultants, Facilitators, Team Coaches, Coaches, Trainers, and Dialogue Practitioners — are you interested in partnering to enable Skillful Collaboration across your client organizations?
Are you interested in Skillful Collaboration?
Are you interested in partnering?
👉 Let’s connect!
