Harnessing the power of cooperation

It’s been both an inspiring and unsettling time. I can’t help but be energised by being around incredible people doing some truly remarkable things. I’m also recognising how limited I can be when it comes to cooperating with others to achieve great things for our clients and community.

I have an independent streak, standards that I care about, and a sharp risk radar. These skills can serve me well and at the same time, can create unintended limits. I’m slow to ask for help. I wince at asking for endorsements. I like to control as much of my work as possible. I prefer to be the provider, not dependent on others. I could go on.

From competition to cooperation

I’m not against competition. Competitive sports can be exhilarating. Businesses seeking to create better products and services at lower cost can, in theory, make life better for all stakeholders. But it’s a short step - a very short step - from a healthy competitive attitude to a hyper-competitive, ruinous one.

The hyper competitive attitude breeds:

• arrogance: ‘My way is the only way.’

• aggression: ‘I will get what I want.’

• underhanded tactics: ‘I will get that advantage at any cost.’

• entitlement: ‘I deserve it all.’

• apathy: ‘If I can’t win, I won’t play.’

• sabotage: ‘I deserve top spot, so I’ll make those others look bad.’

Candidly, these are familiar and normal ways of being for many businesses, some non-profits, too. It’s easier to focus on our own needs, concerns and ambitions than consider those of others. After all, the voice we hear the most is our own.

It takes effort to set aside our self-oriented desires and explore how we can cooperate with others for mutual gain, where all parties benefit. Yet this is where we experience the wonder of human connection, creativity, and expand possibilities beyond our own limits.

• None of us is great at everything. We’re doing well if we’re great at one thing!

•  No company exists in a vacuum. It is intertwined with customers, suppliers, employees, and the communities it serves.

• No individual or company has a monopoly on good ideas.

• On our own (as individuals or our own companies) we have a certain number of resources; time, energy, finances, and skill. Cooperating with others, our resources are effectively unlimited.

‘Don’t partner with something that’s dying.’

Cooperation or partnernship cannot be as simple as jumping unquestioningly into any opportunity that arises. Good judgement and a laser sharp focus on the purpose of our business or organisation are essential to avoid a potentially unhappy or disastrous relationship. When we were discussing a potential merger situation, one of my former mentors put it starkly: ‘Don’t partner with something that’s dying,’ he said. That probably saved me a lot of pain!

And yet, if we receive every idea and request to join with suspicion, we will limit - perhaps severely - what we are able to achieve. In doing so, we rob the world of the best of our talent, ideas, energy and ability.

Trust - the critical element

There is an essential element that enables effective cooperation - trust. Trust is in short supply at the moment at practically every level we can think of. Global politics are fraught, ‘big corporate’ behaviours are too often harmful, neighbours are divided within their communities.

Now more than ever, we need our visionary leaders, whether in formal positions or those without a particular title, to refuse to let the divisive and destructive narratives take hold and to help us rebuild trust. Whether in significant ways (e.g Channel Islands cooperation) or day-to-day (opening opportunities to colleagues), trust is a choice. It takes courage and a little vulnerability (it could go wrong), but without it, we cannot achieve anywhere near our full potential.

Authentic trust cannot be outsourced. There is no artificial means of fostering trust. It is a deeply human thing. That’s what makes it precious, valuable, and enriching. In our work with leaders and teams, practically everything hinges on establishing, fostering and elevating trust; it’s something we love to do with the people we work with.

Start with empathy

What can we do, where can we start?

The Summit concluded with a sung blessing from a Colombian shaman (in full golden headdress) and an Amazonian tribal chief. All my white, British, Christian risk radar went on overdrive. Yet this was an enriching moment and entirely appropriate in the setting.

We can start by listening to others and truly listening. Listening to understand, to learn something new and not only to seek an angle to get something.

I’ve often written that good leaders spend quality time with their people. But I’m changing this view. Spending time with our own people is leadership 101; it’s basic and should be standard for anyone in a leadership role. Excellent leaders spend quality time with people who are not their people. Those with different experiences, perspectives, attitudes, and beliefs. And they do so with an open mind and an open heart, willing to explore new ideas.

From there, and there only, springs the potential for mutually rewarding cooperation and living a life that is truly human.

Who would you like to listen to? When will you take the initiative to meet them?

*The Horasis Global Summit, hosted in São Paulo