Transformations

“Sometimes we can do the same thing wrong, over and over again, and call it experience.” - David Angerbauer

Transformations

I was standing in a group of Cooperative Venturers.  They’re a group of people dedicated to transferring their knowledge and experience to entrepreneurs seeking to start new companies and find investment capital so they can change our world.  Most of us have worked together for many years.  But, over the past several years I’ve missed one of our members, David Angerbauer.

I had just finished making a presentation on working together as a team when David approached me. 

“Thanks.”  He said.  “We’ve all been doing this for a long time, but today you made me realize something.  Sometimes we can do the same thing wrong, over and over again, and call it experience!”  His caused me to, once again, explore both the strengths and weaknesses of cooperation.

Cooperative Venturing is based on the concept that “two heads are better than one.”  I describe it to others as synergy, teamwork, having an open mind or even an adventure leading to the finding of new solutions.  It’s all about helping people to achieve more than they could accomplish on their own.  Cooperative Venturing is a process where people bring all their personal experience and expertise to the table so they can produce far more than they could as individuals.  And, as David pointed out so astutely, it allows us to discover things jointly that we’re much less likely to discover on our own.

When people begin to cooperate together in a genuine manner they open themselves up to each other’s influence and begin to gain new insight.  Cooperation accelerates new invention and progress when approached as a process for transformation.  But there are possible downsides as well.  I’ve identified five key challenges for you consider personally.

First, cooperation may be better than going it alone, but only when we can competently discuss our different perspectives.  If one person on the team has flawed information, or is less competent, then the outcome can be negative.  So, make sure you establish good communication so incorrect information and be identified and completely ignored. 

Second, successful cooperation requires each personal to evaluate one’s own ability. There’s a known cognitive fallacy called the Dunning-Kruger effect.   This can be described as “the most incompetent individuals often overestimate their skills.”  They just “think” they’re above average!  Having such a person on your team will severely damage and limit performance.

Third, watch out for the overconfidence effect, which is be described as one’s personal tendency for their confidence to be larger than their realized ability.  I like the common saying, “biting off more than you can chew” to describe this.

Fourth, sometimes having too many people trying to work together can become a problem.  I’ve seen others refer to this “social loafing.”  A large group can reduce performance pressure on each individual in the group, but it can actually reduce each person’s contribution. 

Finally, overcome the desire for sameness!  Valuing differences is what really drives cooperation. Do you truly value the physical, mental, emotional, and psychological differences among people? Or do you wish everyone would just agree with you so you could all get along?  Many people mistake uniformity for unity or sameness for oneness.  When cooperating, differences should be seen as strengths, not weaknesses.

Are you looking for more strength, zest and success if your life?  If you are, begin your transformation by recognizing that the greatest resource in our world is people.  Many of those around us see people as the “problem, “ or worse, the destroyers of our planet.  Distinguish yourself by seeing people for what they are, the special ingredient to contribute mental, emotional, spiritual and physical success to your life.

Cooperate with others today and enjoy your own amazing transformation.