Collaborative Advantage

The world is a competitive place. In whatever arena you play in, you could try to distinguish yourself by being the tenth competitor or the eleventh competitor. But if your arena could use some collaboration, consider building your personal collaborative advantage. Consider your organization having a collaborative advantage.

Capitalism is competitive. Unbridled capitalism starts to resemble kill-or-be-killed. Some competitions are winner-take-all. In some competitions, there’s enough reward for every competitor.

Some people are wired for competition. Competition is glamorized by revered coaches like Vince Lombardi who famously said, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” A famous Wall Street saying is, “If you not cheating, you’re not trying.” Their competitive nature approaches predatory, rule-breaking, and law-breaking.

The intensity of competition and the pace of change are contributing to exhaustion and burnout in workforces. This doesn’t feel like winning. Business is a team sport, and good leaders don’t use, abuse, and waste their team. In a team environment, a collaborative advantage IS a competitive advantage.

A good leader knows they need to bring out their team’s best over the long term. This simply requires all of their energy directed toward excellence in their shared goals. Excellence requires ambition. Excellence doesn’t require competition. Intra-team competition results in every team member needing to spend energy protecting themselves. How much energy from each team member are you willing to lose due to reduced safety and focus? Minimize that.

Hyper-competitors have the need to achieve, often at the expense of others. Hyper-collaborators have the need for common challenges and opportunities. Collaborators turn attention toward mission and partnerships.

The Elegance methodology enforces collaboration. The methodology neutralizes hyper-competitive individuals quickly. You have ten other resources on your new competitive advantage. The Elegance methodology wants to be your new collaborative advantage.