The Key to Collaboration: Cooperative Attitude

A cooperative attitude is performance power. And a cooperative attitude is critical to building strong, sustainable teams. We know that when teams are engaged by their leadership in a cooperative environment not only is there in an increase in employee morale but increased productivity, and improved safety and quality with fewer incidents of error and rework.

Cooperation is the act of participating, contributing, or helping to advance or accomplish a goal. It is similar to collaboration in that cooperation requires the input of many people. It is different from collaboration in that those involved in cooperation do not necessarily have to be members of the collaboration, and as such these individuals or groups can have their own agendas but still contribute to the work of collaboration. For example collaboration between hospital executives and physicians benefits from the cooperation of nurses, other caregivers and support staff.

Collaboration cannot occur without cooperation, but cooperation can occur without formal collaboration. A cooperative attitude is a mental model. It influences a person’s desire and willingness to cooperate and produces an emotional response. For example, if an organization’s vice president is convinced that cooperation creates more work but yields no advantage for himself and his department, he will not volunteer his skills and knowledge to the effort; if required to cooperate he will perform with half effort, constantly question the necessity of the process and harbor resentment. This behaviour, in turn, negatively impacts his staff and anyone with whom he has contact.

Conversely, an executive with a positive attitude about cooperation will do what they can to help and will feel honored to be a contributor. Her attitude then inspires and encourages her staff and associates to change their cooperation mind-set. Since a cooperative attitude is critical to true collaboration, leaders must work to change their own mental model and guide their followers to do the same. Learning the skill of Positive Presence to hone a cooperative attitude is a surefire place to start.

Cooperation is the new, constructive competition. A cooperative attitude inhibits destructive competition. While competition among teams can be healthy in that it brings out personal and team bests, energy and commitment to work, it can quickly lead to negative or dysfunctional behaviour. Competition can turn some people into fanatics, so single minded in their pursuit that they become blind to the consequences of their actions. They desire to win at all costs, so they turn to unfair practices, manipulate or alienate those around them and ignore rules or stated guidelines. In addition, destructive competition can impact workers in ways a boss might not anticipate. Destructive competitive behaviour has no place in a cooperative and collaborative work environment. Organizations with teams that cooperate gain greater rewards than those who compete.

“Is it not enough that I am good at my job?” The simple and short answer to this question is, “no!” In 1627, English poet, John Donne, wrote that “no man is an island unto himself.” No matter where we are in our given profession we are not islands unto ourselves, especially in today’s digitally-connected organizations. It is imperative that we learn to avoid relying and depending upon the ability of any one person to simply “do my job.” We must begin to trust in and place value on the ability to connect, cooperate, and work positively and harmoniously with other people.

Organizational success is based on how well people connect emotionally with their leadership and with those around them in their work teams. What’s more, workers must emotionally connect with a leader in a positive and energized manner before they buy into the leader’s vision. Some surveys show that as many as half of workers feel low levels of work engagement stemming in part from poor leadership. If any one person, regardless of technical ability, cannot connect and cooperate with other people, their technical expertise will not advance the goals and objectives of the team.

A cooperative attitude is a behaviour skill that is part of what creates effective collaborations and highly functional teams. Without a cooperative attitude, disruptive competition and conflict reign – two conditions in which errors are highly likely, staff morale and motivation are low, performance is inconsistent and unreliable, communication and cooperation are nonexistent, and everyone has a secret agenda. Does any of this sound like a place you really want to work?

A corporative attitude begins with the skill of Positive Presence. Positive Presence is a new and deliberate way of thinking and behaving that makes the connection between human energy and behaviour and is easily practiced and developed right on the job. For many, it is just a lot of common sense, but for others it is a slow and gentle process that requires the help of both team mates and leaders.