The Collaboration Conundrum
Krishna Gopal
Coach, Advisor, Mentor; TEDx Speaker ; Blogger; Trainer; Sales Enablement; #AIM; #PadiHaiwithKG
The corporate HQ these days is resounding with this word - collaboration. The switch has been thrown and now you are supposed to COLLABORATE.
Most of us, especially in India have been unfortunately weaned on a diet of Competition all through our lives. Competition for better schools, better marks / grades, better universities, "better"streams, better jobs, better assignments, better departments..........
And suddenly we are supposed to get off that high speed highway and smoothly get into this new highway. Some consultant called me recently asking my opinion on what sort of training, and that too virtual, can inspire and foster collaboration. That call gave me the inspiration to write this short piece. In the case of any large organisation, the leader imbues it with his personality. At Tech Mahindra there is a significant influence of CP Gurnani. CP is a natural at collaboration. Despite a hard exterior, at the core is a very natural tendency to take people along and collaborate. And given this fact its easy for him to say, "Elementary my dear Watson" when it comes to collaboration. The lesser mortals struggle to let go of the vestiges of competition and adapt to collaboration.
Which brings me back to the high level answer I gave the consultant. In my mind collaboration happens on a bedrock of trust, generosity, hope / optimism and gratitude.
- I am eternally grateful for what I have
- I am hopeful and optimistic that everything will happen for the good
- I am willing to give of myself, my knowledge and my time without expectation
- And I am confident that the other person will be likewise
Sounds like you need to become spiritual being instead of a corporate warrior? Well there is no escaping the fact to be a better corporate warrior you need to be spiritual at some point. The SENSEI.
All that is well, but how do we get started? My suggestion was that collaboration has a chance if people get to know each other better.
- Create forums where individuals get to meet and interact beyond work and get to know one another.
- Invest in sessions on Mindfulness and Meditation. As individuals make the inner journey there are chances that a few will come closer to the child in them which is natural with generosity, hope and trust.
These are not easy things to do but it must be done if we have to give collaboration a chance.
Grih Vaatika | The RFP Company
5 年Er. Abhishek Jha?Wonderful read. Thank you for sharing.
Seasoned business and delivery leader, WABC registered exec Coach, Thought leader in Communications space
5 年Critical article .. my two cents : 1. It works when one is free of expectation (the spiritual angle) or 2. when there is nothing in it for the person or 3. when the spoils of the result are going to be shared (selfish)
Member of Institute of Directors. Founder Owner: The Pearl Collection
5 年In 1976, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote in The Selfish Gene, “If you wish, as I do, to build a society in which individuals cooperate generously and unselfishly towards a common good, you can expect little help from biological nature. Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.”? By 2006, the tide had started to turn. Harvard University mathematical biologist Martin Nowak could declare, in an overview of the evolution of cooperation in Science magazine, “Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of evolution is its ability to generate cooperation in a competitive world. Thus, we might add ‘natural cooperation’ as a third fundamental principle of evolution beside mutation and natural selection.” Why is this deep-rooted belief about human selfishness beginning to change ? Read this article KG: https://hbr.org/2011/07/the-unselfish-gene
Teacher of English at ADEK
5 年Great
Strategic Initiatives, Health Systems Strengthening, Digital Health, Education, Advocacy
5 年Excellent one Sir !