From my new blog, Karyn Says on my new Karyn Ross Consulting website!
So often people think that competition is the best way to drive innovation and solve complex problems.
It isn’t. Cooperation is.
That’s because when we cooperate with others, we can come up with more ideas, and then combine and synthesize them so that we can create something that is greater than one person ever could imagine on their own! When we cooperate with others, we can have access to strengths we don’t possess ourself. And when we cooperate, we put the problem first…not our own (or our department’s) agenda first.
Today, I was on an all day continuous improvement event (or Swarm as they call it at University of Waterloo Housing) where this is exactly what happened. A cross-functional, cross-divisional team came together and cooperated to create amazing countermeasures to work towards increasing waste diversion in campus housing buildings. Everyone contributed, everyone added to the amazing countermeasures that came out of the day!
Totally inspiring! And the best reminder that when we cooperate and work together, we can solve any problem!
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