Imagine This

I am sitting in a quiet room, calm and peaceful. I am comfortable. I can feel my body sink into the cushions and be supported. The tension drains from my muscles. I become limp. I am relaxed.

Images swirl in my mind. I ‘see’ a peaceful surrounding with happy people. The sun is shining and people are getting along. I am hoping for a good future in which people of all kinds get along with one another. I love the thought of people working together, creating together. I’ve seen it in the past. I’ve worked on teams where this was the norm and the outcomes were terrific!

Working together. Collaborative energies merging with one another seeking commonality. Seeking worthwhile outcomes. What marks their work together? Friendliness and fun, joking and laughter. We respect one another. We value one another’s mind and talent. We want to share that with what we have inside, too. I want to share what I have and deeply need them to respect and value it. Wonder of wonders, they did! Together we are creating something new. Something that will be used by others to live better. To live well.

Collaboration is like that; it doesn’t reward one person for a thought and process created and worked by the whole team. The collaborative team focuses on the end result it hopes to create. Outcome. The fruit of our work together. A desired outcome.

This image of a result did not come out of thin air. It came out of the team working together and asking critical questions: What should we spend our time on? What is happening in the present that we wish wasn’t happening? What would we rather be doing with our time and our future? What are the outcomes we should be striving toward?

That kind of thinking was done by the group. That kind of work was accomplished. Out of it came defined outcomes hoped for by the team. And then? What then, you ask? Well, then they sat down and asked this basic question: We know where we are and where we want to end up; what do we have to do to make that happen?

Together they figured out what should be going on to make good things happen. They listed resources needed for the work. They identified what they knew and what they didn’t know. They figured out what needed research and discovery if progress were to be made at all.

Yes, together they did all of this. The groundwork was developed. It was recorded. It was measured and defined. They were then ready to get down to solving the problems. They were ready to create, to discover and find. They were ready to try out theories and ‘what ifs’ endlessly until they had a workable model they could push forward toward the desired outcome.

This is what we need to do in America.

This type of work is done throughout the nation at think tanks and corporations and universities and research labs. It is a common theme of collaboration and collegiality. Remember when we expected this behavior and got it in our federal and state governments? Well, times have changed, I guess.

Watch Congress in session. Watch their words, actions and body language. It is nothing like collegiality or collaboration. It is more like gamesmanship and open warfare. Same in the state houses of many states, certainly in Illinois that describes the situation!

I don’t like seeing my government brought down to this level. I expect them to respect one another, respect each other’s views and values. Theirs is not a killing ground for success to be achieved.

No; theirs is the prime place where desired outcomes are defined and discussion makes them happen.

We need a nation of collaborators doing the business of our nation. In government and out, respect and collegiality ought to be the norm every day.

How do we get our politicians to mend their ways? When do we get this rescue mission underway? Whose country is it? Yours and mine, right? Why then are we not on the front lines making good things happen?

July 27, 2017