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Cooperation is Natural

8/16/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
We often hear about “survival of the fittest.” The standard view of evolution is that living things were forged by ruthless competition. While there is no doubt that today's species carry the genetic legacy of ancestors who fought to pass on their DNA, we were intrigued with a recent NPR Radio Lab that explored “whether there might also be a logic behind sharing, niceness, kindness ... or even, self-sacrifice.”
 
It turns out we don’t really live in a selfish, dog-eat-dog world. Cooperation is ubiquitous in nature, from the cellular to the societal level. Our cells are descended from competing single-celled organisms that forfeited their autonomy to function as cohesive units. Many plants host bacteria or fungi they depend upon for vital nutrients. Ants defend trees that house them. Animals from bees to lions cooperate with close relatives, and research points to considerable evidence that sharing, reciprocity, and empathy are found in apes, monkeys, and chimps.
 
And what is the engine of cooperation? Communication. Writing about the “unselfish gene” in The Harvard Business Review, Harvard professor Yochai Benkler says, “Nothing is more important in a cooperative system than communication among participants…Over hundreds of experiments spanning decades, no single factor has had as large an effect on levels of cooperation as the ability to communicate.”
 
The bottom line: The better we communicate the more we can take advantage of our predisposition to cooperate. It’s only natural.   

 
We want to hear: Can you give us an example of how a cooperative environment led to greater success than did a competitive one? What role did communication play? To join the conversation, click "comments" below.
 
If you would like to read more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our book: Be Quiet, Be Heard: The Paradox of Persuasion


2 Comments
Dick Swenson
8/16/2016 03:16:51 pm

I agree, communication is an essential ingredient in enabling cooperation. Sadly, though communication seems to imply a measure of listening and asking clarifying questions, it often deteriorates into talking, and, often, often talking over the other talker.

Communication requires time. Most of us are not skilled at being thoughtful at the same time as being talkative. So we stumble, backtrack, "ummm" a lot and generally take more time than seems to be needed to make our contribution. This often results in impatience in a listener.

But what do we learn from observing TV or listening to radio - soundbites separated by commercials. A chance to truly carry on a dialogue (look up Peter Senge's reason for using "dialogue" instead of "conversation" or "discussion") are few.

More than this, the word is abused in politics and management. A Director of Communication is generally someone with whom one will never communicate but is someone who will tell you what his or her boss wants said.

Communication must be a relaxed activity, though it may seem intense at the time. It is an activity in which all participants agree will take time. It must permit disagreement but not anger.

And it should, in a perfect world, require a "summing up" at the end. What did we learn, what remains to be learned? On what did we agree, disagree or require further explanation? Did we resolve any problems, and what problems remain? How can we make the process of communication better next time?

Does this seem too polyannish?

Reply
Susan
8/16/2016 03:30:49 pm

Thanks for this thoughtful, insightful clarity, Dick. You strike a chord on so many levels.I don't see it as polyannish but rather a value based target that is attainable with commitment and practice.

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