Cooperation is about listening when you want to be heard and finding the best way, not in having your own way.
Cooperation is about working toward the benefit of the group—across all levels and environments. If what we are doing doesn’t benefit everyone involved, then it’s not cooperation. It’s something else. It could be ministry or service, where it helps others. Or, it could be selfishness, where it only benefits a small group or just us as individuals.
Some of us work better alone. Scientists, mechanics, writers—and we accomplish a lot. But when we work alone, we are unchallenged by the thinking of others and therefore don’t reach our trues potential. Incorporating the reasoning of others makes our ideas and solutions better and more robust.
Whether we are cooperating in person or virtually, there are two approaches we can take to cooperation. We can be loud and abusive, playing to the cliché “the beatings will stop when morale improves.” Or, we can enter the water gently, creating less whitewater. A gentler method is often better than being harsh. We have this play out with children, horses, dogs, and we know this from our own experience. It’s another law of systems: if we feel pressure, any pressure, from another, we are more likely to press back, reject, and defend. Similarly, a team working together can accomplish much more than individuals working alone.
One of the most successful teams I’ve worked on achieved incredible results in a relatively short time. It wasn’t because we had talent from top-10 MBA schools. The consensus among most of the leaders was that we had a “fine little group,” but other groups had better resources at their disposal. But, we outpaced them because we operated as a team.
The ability to make progress in and outside of our team was the ultimate test of our cooperative spirit. Each member covered other members of the team, and they had to trust each other to do that. In making progress, the group came to expect a certain pace to our monthly results. Members collectively looked for whoever was able to help the team most on any given day, rather than always looking to a “star” member. The abilities of the members served the team, as opposed to the members being used to serve an individual. That’s cooperation.
Ironically, the team members weren’t that close outside of work. They varied in how much they liked one another. After work, they pretty much went their separate ways, but they were utterly loyal to one another at work. No one tried to undercut the group and be a hero. They were each unassuming and accomplished.
PRACTICE
List all contexts where you find yourself in a cooperative group.
Where, in your experience, are you working alone and could benefit from the cooperation of a colleague or group? What steps will you take to develop a team in one of these areas?
How does this apply to your experiences of partnering virtually?
COMMIT
[ ] I commit to myself to developing a team spirit in all that I do.
Alongside technical skills, people who can master a range of subjective skills are better able to influence, deal with ambiguity, bounce back from setbacks, think creatively, and manage themselves successfully in their pursuit of mastery. Learn more about applying craft skills in the modern world.