Roxanne wrote:
>Another major issue in this discussion is independence vs.
>interdependence. I often hear employees say "You can only hold me
>accountable for what I can control?" Like emptying your own waste basket,
>perhaps? * We Americans have a hard time accepting how dependent we are on
>others to get anything very significant accomplished.* * We also seem to
>have a great need to assign blame.* We demonize our politicians (and their
>spouses) instead of trying to make the country work better. * It's easier
>to criticize others than to fix the system.* Let's put all individual
>performance reviews (including Hilary's and Newt's) aside until we have
>all of our major systems (including health care) working well for all our
>people.
I added * to set off the couple of statements I think point to the crux of
the challenge. I didn't want to lose their context though.
I believe our challenge is to foster cooperative efforts and avoid
competitive behaviors. We have a hard time recognizing our dependency
because we need recognition for ourselves. "To be noticed is to be
someone; to be someone soothes a trembling self-esteem." However, the
best recognition can take place within a defined group or team. "...[T]o
the extent that an extrinsic motivator _can_ have a positive effect, one
of the most powerful motivators is not money or victory but a sense of
accountability to other people. This is precisely what cooperation
establishes: the knowledge that others are depending on you. The only
stake others have in your performance under a competitive arrangement is a
desire to see you fail." It's your fault! You're bad, you lied...
I firmly believe in taking responsibility for my words and my
actions...that's why I stand for cooperation. "...[C]ooperation takes
advantage of the skills of each member as well as the mysterious but
undeniable process by which interaction seems to enhance individuals'
abilities." The latter is why we pursue teamwork, yes?
My quotes are taken from a favorite and powerful book, _No Contest: The
Case Against Competition; Why We Lose in Our Race to Win_ by Alfie Kohn
(Houghton Mifflin, 1992). The book is the result of some seven years or
so of compiling the results of other peoples' research and results
spanning decades. To give you an example of what the book is not, I tried
to read _Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus_. I couldn't get past
the first chapter because there was no evidence, no facts to support what
the author was claiming . With "No Contest," the opposite is the case.
There is such overwhelming evidence (including the gut level "Mars v
Venus" uses) one cannot help but be '-suaded.' Persuaded, dissuaded...
I'm just so tired of the easiness of throwing barbs. I relish the
challenge of throwing opportunities to grow.
-- Ginger Shafer The Leadership Dimension "Bringing Leadership to Life" vshafer@azstarnet.com