Weekly Inspirations
2019 — Q2W13 — Collaboration
Statistically, chances are you are lousy at collaboration.
“For every great idea, the opposite idea is also true.” — Adam Cahane
Do you disagree with this statement?
Do you experience moments when you can’t calm down until you’ve made your point and best — others have agreed to it?
Do you act as if there is one solution to any problem which is the best?
Do you feel some people and situations really push your buttons?
Well, sorry to be the one breaking the news — you are really lousy at collaboration.
Chances are you disagree. You are smart, quick and you believe in teamwork. Who am I to tell that you are lousy at collaboration?
Definitions first
Few people understand the difference between cooperation (teamwork) and collaboration and these words are often used interchangeably. According to the Cambridge dictionary:
- Cooperation is acting or working together for a shared purpose, or helping willingly when asked.
- Collaboration is working with someone else for a particular purpose and could also mean supporting an enemy.
Therefore, teamwork is the ability of a more or less homogeneous group of people to work well together, to cooperate.
The ability of a diverse group of people — even enemies — to work well together towards a special purpose is collaboration and that doesn’t require to agree.
Why do we need to learn to collaborate?
- Diversity: Even the smallest organisation today is highly diverse. Genders, generations, backgrounds and cultures are mixing in unprecedented ways. That results in increased tensions which impede growth and cause ineffectiveness, frustration and stress.
- Pioneering: We work in pioneering industries and live in times of constant change. Getting ahead is much more about collaborating rather than competing.
- Wisdom: The easy thing to do— but not the wise — is to want to have it “my way”. It is much easier — also not wise — to chose what we perceive to be the right solution and come down on one side of the tension — i.e. chose one side or the other. The wise way is to learn to hold both sides of the tensions together. This is how we mature and deepen in life. I call this the intelligence of the opposites. That’s how we get to be good at collaboration.
If that’s the wise thing to do, why do so few people excel at it?
There are three main groups of challenges that prevent us from being good collaborators:
- Looking at life as a constant fight for survival in which me having it is about you losing it. That results in a desire to dominate and control.
- A feeling of not being understood and accepted. That comes through as a need to blame others and discriminate.
- A feeling of not being enough which comes through as the need to be accepted as a professional or an authority or to seek status.
Mastering these aspects is not all that's needed. Yet, it opens the door to appreciating and mastering the art of collaboration. Here is more on that:
Statistically, chances are you are lousy at collaboration.
The younger you are, the more work you still need to do. The more you find yourself in situations when your buttons get pushed. Also, you resent people which you don't get and perceive them to be the enemy. Sorry… this is exactly why you’ll never catch me dreaming of the past. I think that the further you go, the better it gets. That's if you are open to learning of course.
Check other weekly inspirations of mine.
