January is always a busy month for me – I love working on new projects and kicking off the new year with a wildfire whiz-bang! This year, all of my new projects are collaborative. Rather than working on stuff on my own, I’m sharing my creative energies and my responsibilities with others, and it’s turning out great. Working with other people can be a challenge, but it often results in something far better or more interesting than you could have created by yourself.

But collaboration can often be an intimidating thing. Trust someone else with my creative vision? Sounds risky. Well, sometimes it is, but great risks can also come with great payoffs. So for this month’s Kwikspell advice column, we’re going to take a look at how to collaborate more effectively with others!

Figure Out What You Want

Amazingly, step one doesn’t require anybody else at all! This step is usually a solo step, although sometimes new ideas will hit you and a friend at the same time (it’s a magical feeling!). You have to take a little time and think about what it is you want to do or make. Are you looking for someone to help you solve a problem, like figuring out the chords to a melody you have in your head? Do you want somebody to add their own skill or style to something you’ve already made, like getting an amazing drummer to take your track to the next level? (Thanks, Russ!) Or do you just want to make something new with somebody you like? Knowing what you want will help you communicate with somebody more effectively and get you to the creation stage faster.

If you are lucky enough to be in an organic collaborative situation that just comes together naturally, you’ll have to figure out what you want on the fly. When I was writing “Bring Them Home” with Ashley Hamel, I knew that if one of us took a break from working on the song it would never come together (I’m terrible at coming back to songs), so we agreed to sit with it and stick it out. The results make me so grateful we did!

Contact Them Politely

This one’s a bit easier if you’re near each other in person or are already friends, but it’s an important step nonetheless. Be friendly when you ask someone to collaborate with you!

In this day and age you’re most likely reaching out to somebody online. It can be easy to assume that people use the same online tools that you do, but you need to work together where you have common ground. Some people don’t check Facebook Messenger or read Twitter DMs, so don’t panic if you don’t hear back from someone you’ve reached out to. They might not have seen your message at all! Try and reach out to people through sites or tools that you see them use, and ask them the best way for you to have a conversation. Some people prefer video chatting and others want everything written down, giving them the space to answer when they have time.

Be Clear About What You Want

This ties back into step one. You have to be able to explain your vision to somebody else, and you might not always understand each other right away. When I’ve had musicians add instrumentation to my tracks, I’ve had to learn to communicate what I wanted in a couple of different ways. My violin player wanted to know how the songs felt, the emotions I wanted to convey, and to know what they meant to me. My drummer needed to know beats per minute and time signatures, and sometimes I didn’t know enough music theory to get information across appropriately to him. It took a lot more back-and-forth through emails to figure out things like, “Oh, you mean CUT TIME!” (Seriously, thanks Russ.) I speak that feelings language when it comes to music, but everybody understands their art differently and needs different tools to be able to contribute. It’s important that you work to give people information in a form they can understand. Examples and references are great tools to use!

This goes for all creative projects, not just music – setting up the Wizrocklopedia Compilation Club has been a lot of negotiation and expectation setting. Sometimes you think everybody’s on the same page about what’s going on and you realize you’ve all understood the situation differently or don’t all have the same information. When that happens (or when you think it might have), go back to the simplest core ideas and make sure you all understand each other. Use active listening and confirm what you understand – “So we’re going to have ten bands on each album, right?” The more you check in, the more you’ll be able to stay on track.

Keep Your Work Organized

Nothing is worse than making something cool and then losing it. If you’re sending files back and forth, try to keep file transfers to one medium and archive everything in one place (Google Drive and Dropbox are good for this). Make sure you’re all using the same file types so that you don’t end up stuck trying to convert a bunch of .WAVs into .MP3s at the end.

Keeping your work organized while making something in the same physical space can be even harder. It’s easy to lose track of that napkin you wrote a chorus on an hour ago! Try to make sure at least one person is keeping a digital recording of what you’re working on – lyrics, event planning notes, or song demos. So many collaborative sessions are full of people going, “Wait, how did that part go again?”  Sometimes you’ll remember, and sometimes you won’t, so having a central place to go back and see what you worked on is useful for keeping all the details straight. If you’re just jamming with friends and seeing what sticks, try leaving a phone on to record audio! That way if you stumble into something amazing, you can play it back and remember it later.

Remember Collaboration Goes At Least Two Ways

Sometimes you will want to take a project in a different direction than your collaborators. It can be hard to back down from a cool idea you have, but remember that everybody’s ideas need a chance to shine. Sometimes you needs to step and lead the group, and other times you need to step back and listen to others. It can be a really difficult balance, so try to pay attention to the mood of the room. If the choices you’re all making seem to be making a situation harder or worse, it might be time to try a different tactic. If somebody makes something they’re excited about, remember to give their ideas real consideration and be kind if you want to go a different direction. The classic rule of “treat others how you’d like to be treated” is a good one to follow here, but remember that not everybody wants to hear the same kind of feedback you do. Take care of each other!

Trust Yourself & Have Fun

I’m pretty sure every Kwikspell article has this piece of advice in it, but it’s always true. You want to be having a good time! Sometimes it’s hard, especially if you are self-conscious about working with someone you admire. Artists have a tendency to be perfectionists, and it can be embarrassing to be trying to work out a new melody or solo in front of other people, especially if you usually work alone. But as much as it’s possible, don’t let that get in the way! Remind yourself that these people are also excited to work with you – they also want to be there!

If you do feel overwhelmed, do whatever you need to get nerves under control and keep yourself comfortable. Take a break, get some water, or ask someone else to take over for a bit. Work on a different part of the project or say you need a few minutes to get your idea together in private. If it’s a digital collaboration, you can ask for feedback on something you’ve already done or let somebody know it’s going to take more time than you thought to get your part together. Communicating clearly tends to lead to more success in collaboration, and that often leads to more pride in the end result and more fun along the way.

Practice Makes Improvement

Collaboration can be scary, but it does get easier over time. The first time I let someone else record an album of mine, I ended up crying out of nerves and embarrassment. It didn’t matter that my best friends were recording me in their house I’d been to a million times, it was still terrifying! Singing raw vocals in front of them, messing up, hearing their feedback? I was gutted! But I learned to trust them and myself a bit more, and I learned how to communicate what I needed better, and the next time I recorded an album with a friend I was so much more relaxed in front of the microphone, so less self-conscious. Just like learning an instrument, learning to collaborate with others (especially creatively) takes practice.

If you ever are in doubt, go back to that first step and remember what it is you wanted to do in the first place. Appreciate that you’re taking a risk and making something new with someone you like! It won’t always turn out like you imagine, but give yourself permission to enjoy what you can. Sometimes it will end up so different from what you originally wanted – but sometimes that’s a good thing.