Collaboration is the practice of producing a better result with other people than any of them would have produced alone, and doing it in a way the others would repeat. It covers the visible mechanics, being handovers, shared artefacts, and reliable commitments, and the less visible work of making space for other people's contributions, absorbing friction rather than passing it on, and noticing when somebody is stuck before they say so. It is measured by the group's output and by the group's willingness to work with the person again.
What collaboration is not
- It is not agreeableness, and a person who never objects is often collaborating poorly by withholding their judgement from the group. It is not availability: answering every message quickly is responsiveness, which helps and is not the same thing. It is not doing other people's work, which usually indicates a failure to communicate about capacity rather than a strength. It is not the absence of conflict, because groups that produce good work disagree, and the capability is visible in how the disagreement is conducted rather than in whether it occurred. And it is not leadership: a person can collaborate excellently without directing anyone.