Team Building

Long ago I learned that no one in my office had all the answers to any problem. However, each of us had part of the answer. If we worked together intelligently, we could piece the parts together in ways that often worked. We called this collaboration.


That’s collaboration.


One of the best examples of this process is America’s race to the moon. Alone, no one had the answer on how to get to the moon, return, with no loss of life. Together, various teams worked together to produce the final outcomes. We did get to the moon before the decade (1960) was done. We built on that success to produce an exhilarating space program of long-standing success. We continue to build on that to this day.


Collaboration has been successfully employed in countless projects to solve problems and mysteries for hundreds of years. The Scientific Method is an example. In medicine, science found a solution to polio, yellow fever, smallpox and countless other diseases. Over the years, this method has discovered a treasure trove of products we now take for granted. The space program alone created many advancements we live with daily. Cell phones, computers and their speed, software, cloud computing, GPS technology, to name just a few.


Some collaboration remains in the public sector – universities, academia in general, and medical research via National Institutes of Health, and the CDC. Over the years private research spiked to discover products and processes that could be owned and sold for profit. The energy sector remains mired in for-profit research and thus avoids collaboration to quickly discover new energy sources other than fossil fuels. Collaboration is stunted. Results are also stunted.


The race to find medical cures is also somewhat stunted by private motivation for wealth. The outstanding example is the pharmaceutical industry. Medical procedures, however, are collaboratively researched and tested in academia. Thus, medicine advances quickly for maximum benefit for public good.


I don’t fault the profit motive, but I do fault leadership and greed that hampers progress of the human condition. Increasing potable water supplies to underserved populations is a huge problem. Treating sewerage and polluting wastes is another long-term human problem. Expanding education to all the world’s masses continues to be a challenge left unsolved. Clean, renewable energy is a problem already mentioned here.


We have the problems. We have the brains and know-how. What we lack is leadership to tackle the problems intelligently and in a timely manner. Perhaps we also lack the will to strive for solutions?


Collaboration recognizes the genius of group, not individual. Maybe that is another reason we fail to work for solutions?


Building productive teams is a skill we need. Now.


Let’s do this!


April 14, 2020