The importance of not being alone in business…and life for that matter
by Shane on 16/05/08 at 4:34 pm
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Being independent is something that is globally celebrated – “You ain’t a man unless you can do it alone” etc etc – but the older I get the more I realise that inter-dependence far out weighs independence. The reality is, when I choose to work with others and celebrate the strengths of others, I find I am able to accomplish way more than I would have if I had walked it alone.
Now don’t fob this post off because you think I’m going to throw some things out there about how important team is and the need to be working as a team. And I’m certainly not going to advocate any blind-folding and free-falling in the name of team building. Simply having a nice acronym for T-E-A-M, and calling yourselves a team doesn’t necessarily mean you understand team or how to work in a team.
Here are some things that I have found to be helpful over the past few years of doing business:
You are not alone.
There are others out there who also feel the need to collaborate and work with others, it’s just a matter of finding them. It’s like dating – unless you get out there and meet new people and build relationships, you’re at risk of being a loner. Get involved with some type of networking event; last week I attended my first Cape Town Coffee Meetup. It was kind of like speed dating for business people… unofficially that is. It was well worth the effort.
Make genuine friendship the goal, not business.
I can’t stand getting those calls from old friends who want to reconnect over a cup of coffee, later to discover they are trying to ‘Amway’ you! Those who are in it for genuine friendships will never walk alone and those who are well connected that are more likely to succeed in business.
We reproduce after our own kind.
Who you are and what you are is the very thing that you will reproduce in others and in your business. If you are someone suffering from a heavy dose of individualism, you are going to reproduce that in others. You will have a group of people that work FOR you, a group of people who are part of YOUR team. This may work for you, however I am are not convinced that this is how teams should function.
The best teams are made up of people who are completely different.
For some reason we think everyone in a team should be the same so that they’ll all get along and work well together. If you’re all the same you may as well be alone. The strength of a team is in it’s diversity and the victory of a team is it’s ability to successfully bring all the members’ strengths together. If everyone in a team is doing what they are brilliant at, then you have something really special and you have a good chance of bringing world peace.
If you are a loner and suffer from a heavy dose of individualism, here’s a song for you to sing along with…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVKv6PdBR-I[/youtube]
Shane Dryden is the 'Maven' at Ideate. The driving-force of Yuppiechef, Shane loves to write on advertising and innovation. He spots the non-obvious stuff behind the obvious, which seems obvious, but isn’t really that obvious (obviously). View more articles by Shane.
