Don’t lose sight of the value.
It’s very easy to consider working as a collaborative group and losing sight of the value additions and transfers that are going on within the companies of the group. The temptation to work for the group and therefore, perhaps, not raising invoices internally to the group means that some aspects of the collaboration may fail if one or other member of the group feels they’re not getting a fair return for the effort that they are adding to the collaboration.
Our recommendation is that whilst companies remain separate, it is important to maintain an invoicing and payment structure internally as well as externally to ensure that those imbalances are fairly dealt with. For example, a group that includes a graphic designer who provides services to all of the other companies of the group may feel that they are providing far more time and effort than a group which provides some strategic analysis support for the group and is used intermittently, whereas if all of the parties invoice and are paid as normal then, in the round, the flows of money will cancel out within the group and the collaborative effect is identical, but any imbalances in terms of effort, inputs or costs also gets properly handled in the books of all of the businesses so that their results truly reflect the impact of the collaboration and not the impact of their mutual goodwill.
The key message is that money was invented as a means of measuring fair exchange, and exchanging it in the context of a collaboration works well. When the collaborators know their value is being fairly rewarded, then they will commit a fair effort to delivering the best result they can.
