Collaborate and Improvise!
“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. – Charles Darwin
I came across this quote in a blog on zenhabits.net titled “12 New Rules of Working That You Should Embrace Today. Aside from the fact that article is a little judgmental and reductionist (why not 14 rules or even 20?), I think the themes of collaboration and improvisation are noteworthy , and are valued especially by the twenty-somethings of the millennial generation about whom I have commented in prior blogs.
First, let’s talk about collaboration. One of the characteristics of the baby boomer generation is its competitiveness. As my colleague on generational issues Wendy Shannon points out, boomers are competitive because there are so damn many of them! I had to try out for the baseball team, the orchestra, the play, and compete for a place in my entering class in college when there were way more applicants than spaces. And when I was in graduate school in the early ˜70’s the reality was that there were way more Ph.D.’s than open positions. My friend Tom Brady, who was a philosophy graduate student at the University of New Mexico at the time, told me that UNM had an opening for an assistant professor in philosophy and that there were over 500 applicants! So the boomers learned how to compete.
In organizations today, boomers hold the majority of leadership positions and therefore set the direction and policy for those organizations. Hence, most organizations are more competitive than they are collaborative. It is one thing to compete externally in the marketplace for customers and talented employees. However, competitiveness often gets out of control internally when employees on the same project or department are competing to get ahead in their careers because of the policy of “up or out that seems to dominate most organizations. Peter Senge in “The Fifth Discipline talked about how mental models or assumptions that people hold can shape the way people think and act. He emphasizes the importance of questioning assumptions to see if they have become outdated. I think the assumption that internal competition is a good thing for an organization needs such questioning. The idea that collaboration is the new productivity tool is worth examining. The twenty-somethings understand the value of collaboration. Maybe the Boomers can learn something from them – instead of seeing them as so different.
Second, let’s address improvising. In the context of the blog, improvising means adapting, changing ways of working, and utilizing technology most effectively. I know a lot of boomer leaders in organizations who find trying new methods, new ways of thinking, and new technology too scary and so they resist change. As a result, I think there is a possibility that large corporations may become casualties because of their failure to adapt. Rapid changes in markets and resource availability , especially non-renewable fuels- will force improvisation. And I see examples of corporations resisting change frequently. Here is a simple – almost trivial example. There is a readily available piece of software called Skype. It’s free and with a camera and microphone attached to your laptop , which is usually built in in newer machines, you can talk with and see people anywhere in the world there is Internet access. And yet, the norm is to hop on a plane, travel across country or continent in order to meet face to face. Just think how adapting new technology can aid collaboration.
The author of “12 New Rules of Working That You Should Embrace Today, Leo Babauta, ends by stating that the ideas he put forward in this article do not have main stream acceptance. So as I reflect on the quote that sparked this blog, I wonder how many corporations will prevail?