It’s a crazy world out there, isn’t it? Wherever you look, there are disputes, and one group of people is set against another.
I suspect that, like me, you have worked in offices where someone wants to create an “us or them” culture.
Arguments and division ensue, which only serve to weaken the business and prevent it from thriving.
When everyone works together collaboratively, it’s incredible what can be achieved. Ask the folks at the local circus whether it’s a good idea to collaborate or be in conflict, potentially dropping their partner from the trapeze.
All of this came into sharp perspective in recent weeks when I attended an event run by The Times newspaper in London.
It was a fascinating evening for rugby fans in the run-up to the British & Irish Lions tour in Australia. The evening saw two former Lions players, Lawrence Dallaglio and Sam Warburton, in discussion with three sports journalists.
The audience was allowed to ask questions, too, and one question was about the relationships between the players.
The team comprises individuals from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Throughout each rugby season, they are sworn enemies; however, once selected for the Lions squad, those bitter rivals must get on with one another.
Lawrence Dallaglio said that the Lions team only works if rivalries are set aside and each team member is open and honest.
He then likened the situation to businesses in competition with each other. He asked if three or four companies had to work together, and success would depend upon those firms forgetting they were competitors.
Recently, while thinking about those words from the night, I opened my news tracker only to find that Marks and Spencer had been helped by its rival Tesco during the aftermath of the recent cyberattack.
It reminded me examples I use in lectures of competitors that work together.
Apple, for instance, could not have succeeded in the mobile phone sector without the help of its rival Samsung, which provided the iPhone screen for many years.
Similarly, UPS worked with DHL in the USA to fly parcels nationwide.
And Boeing and their rival Lockheed Martin have a joint venture in the space sector to compete with Elon Musk.
Competing firms clearly can achieve success when they collaborate.
But don’t take my word for it. That’s what Harvard Business Review pointed out almost 40 years ago in the 1980s.
That article says that one of the significant benefits of collaboration is what companies learn from each other.
That was also a point made in The Times event about the Lions tour.
The players know a great deal from working together with their rivals.
Competition is good because it provides motivation and can lead to greater quality and improved customer pricing.
However, it is not the only route to success. Collaborating also leads to benefits, such as learning new ways of working, improving productivity and the development of fresh ideas.
Indeed, this was shown in a study published in Milan.
It found that when teams used the artificial intelligence application “DALL-E” it produced greater creativity and the production of more ideas by the group.
It's important to acknowledge the power of collaboration over conflict, both in the workplace and beyond.
Drawing parallels between office environments, competitive businesses, and sports teams like the British & Irish Lions, it's easy to see that success often depends on setting rivalries aside and working together.
Many sports teams only succeed when national rivalries are replaced with trust and openness.
This lesson extends to business: companies such as Marks & Spencer and Tesco, or Apple and Samsung, have benefited from cooperation despite being competitors.
Historical examples, such as UPS, DHL, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin, demonstrate how rivals can collaborate effectively.
Academic studies further support the idea that collaboration fosters learning, innovation, and productivity.
Ultimately, it's important to encourage individuals and businesses to embrace cooperation, suggesting it can yield greater results than competition alone.
The key message is that collaboration leads to shared growth and innovation.
Fighting with your competitors or colleagues in the workplace is a distraction.
Collaborating with them can achieve much more than rivalry alone.
Next time you eye your competitor warily, ask yourself: What could we achieve by collaborating instead?
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