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Everything I ever needed to learn about TakeTurns I learned in preschool

At Every Turn TakeTurns Blog
|  by
Christophe Barriolade
Christophe Barriolade
,
Co-founder & CEO
Collaboration
Everything I ever needed to learn about TakeTurns I learned in preschool

TakeTurns helps you improve how you collaborate with external parties, such as customers, partners, and service providers.

If you’d like to learn more here are a couple of recommended next steps:

  • Watch this short overview of TakeTurns:

That said, one thing that’s not covered in those resources is the name. How and why did we decide to call the company TakeTurns.

Believe it or not, it’s tied to preschool. 

Back in 2013, I moved from Paris to New York City with my family. We relocated to help support the US expansion of my last company. At the time my children were small so we enrolled them in a local preschool where we encountered this book from Cheri J. Meiners,  Share and Take Turns.


It’s quite clear why preschools need to get their young charges through the basics of how to share and take turns. After all, one can only imagine how much more chaotic a preschool would be if all the kids were constantly engaged in battles over who got to use what and when. Teachers use the structure of sharing and taking turns to keep things orderly.  

But it goes beyond order.  Taking turns is also about respect. Through sharing and taking turns, children learn to respect the independence and humanity of their peers. They learn trust as well.  After all, on the playground and in the classroom everyone has an equal right to shared resources. It’s only fair to trade control so everyone has a chance to play and learn.  The kids also don’t care how the other children use the toys, playground apparatus, or supplies provided that they remain good stewards and make safe choices.  

Is what happens in preschool really that far removed from the workplace? 🧐

After all, when we collaborate with customers, suppliers, or partners on documents and files, we are sharing responsibility for the final outcome. We trade control over the collaboration, giving each party time to perform their work.  We extend trust, assuming everyone is working in good faith.  And we respect the fact that both parties need time to consider the collaboration in the context of their business. Or, when we collaborate with external parties we are, in fact, taking turns.  

And that’s how we ended up with the name TakeTurns.

If you’re still not clear about how to take turns, please watch this instructional video:  😉

Get started today

TakeTurns brings structure, security, and transparency to your collaborations. With TakeTurns, you and your external parties will know whose turn it is to work, track the full history, and maintain confidentiality. Learn more in our Help Center or follow us on LinkedIn and YouTube. If the Two-Headed monster cleared things up and you’re ready for chaos-free collaboration: check out our demo and sign up for free today!

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