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ProTip: 3 Big Cooperation No-Nos

Michelle Nitchie / Nov 6, 2014 8:00:00 AM

ProTip_Team_GearsCooperation means working together for mutual gain—sharing responsibility for success and failure and covering for one another on a moment's notice.  It does not mean competing with one another at the team's expense, withholding important data or information to "one-up" your peers, or submitting to groupthink by going along, so as not to make waves.  These are rule breakers that are direct contradictions to the team-first mindset.

- John J. Murphy, Pulling Together


There is a lot of talk in our blog and elsewhere about what cooperation is, but the above quote from John J. Murphy seems particularly valuable for pointing out what cooperation isn't.  Sometimes we have to look at the negatives/incorrect paths first before we can focus on the right ones.  So let's consider each of these in turn.

First, "competing with one another at the team's expense."  This can be a problem to avoid, especially because some competition is very good for a team.  Managers often try to encourage "healthy" competition between colleagues.  But it can certainly go too far, and it will often devolve into straight infighting and cut-throat tactics if the manager doesn't set the right tone for the competition, obtain the buy-in and understanding of all parties, and monitor the competition carefully to avoid favoritism and unfair situations.  

Second, "witholding important data or information to 'one-up' your peers."  If we don't kid ourselves, we have to admit we all occasionally (read: almost always) want to be the smartest one in the room or have the best ideas.  Of course we do—why not?  And sometimes, it seems the only way to make this happen is to get a "leg up" by, for example, not sharing a particularly juicy sales lead with the other team members or not telling them about a new efficiency technique so as to stand out as the best.  To avoid this on a personal level, we first need to recognize when we're doing it and how destructive this can be.  On a team level, we need to create an atmosphere for all individuals where they feel recognized for their contributions to the team as much as (or more than) they are praised as individuals and thus don't feel the need to set themselves apart with bad tactics. 

Third and last, "submitting to groupthink by going along, so as not to make waves."  This is perhaps the most insidious of all because, on the surface, this one really does look positive and follow the basic definition of cooperation.  But it's just as harmful, if not more so, than the others.  It means we have a whole group of people whose knowledge and expertise is being utterly wasted because they only agree with the most popular idea.  It also means that the people with real, direct knowledge of potential issues are not always speaking up to redirect the thinking of the group, which can have dire consequences (one only has to think of the Challenger disaster to see the extremes this can go to).  To avoid this on a team level, an environment must be cultivated where differing opinions are welcomed and seriously considered on their merits, regardless of who presented them, and where mindless agreement is strongly discouraged, if not even disciplined.

So do some serious considering - when have you been guilty of each of the above? (Of course you have been—we all have.)   And why?  Thinking about why you ended up in each situation will help you avoid it in the future.

 

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