31
Chapter Three
The First Principle:
A Cooperative Mindset
You have said a resounding yes to staying ahead of the curve, to being able to create and flourish in high-energy places. You want a life where you Glow, a working life of exhilaration, energy, and insight. You have also said a resounding no to a life dominated by the Big Freeze of political intrigue and gut-churning politics.
So let’s start with the first principle, developing a cooperative mindset. You will begin by completing the Glow Profile for cooperation and then read how three people—Jill, John, and Gareth—challenged themselves to become more cooperative and to Glow on a daily basis by taking action around the three cooperative actions:
Action 1 Developing the daily habits of cooperation, such as sharing valuable information with others, acting with discretion, using cooperative language, and making and keeping commitments
Action 2 Mastering the art of great conversation with both emotional authenticity and analytical rigor
Action 3 Having the savvy to act on the “smell of the place” by knowing the signs of the Big Freeze and moving to teams and communities where cooperation flourishes
32
When I asked people who Glow what it meant to be cooperative, this is what they said of their experiences:
“I felt completely in sync with the rest of the people.”
“I felt I could trust the people I was working with.”
“It was a very positive and exuberant experience for me.”
“I knew that if I had any real difficulties, they were there to help me.”
“I feel incredibly excited about the possibilities.”
“I knew that we were all in this together, and it was a good feeling.”
“It was a real pleasure to support the others in the team.”
Reflect for a moment on your experience of Glowing. My guess is that you felt especially positive about other people.
Let’s contrast this with how people described being in the Big Freeze:
“I felt consumed by rage.”
“No one really trusted anyone else.”
“We were always covering our backs.”
“Politics and bad feelings were rife.”
“We kept breaking up into smaller groups and protecting our turf.”
“I got home every night exhausted from the mental strain.”
“You never knew what others were saying about you.”
Sound familiar? I guess all of us have at one time or another been trapped in the Big Freeze. So why is cooperation so crucial, and why is the Big Freeze so caustic?
Why You Have to Cooperate to Glow
Perhaps, like Fred, you think that to stay ahead of the curve, you need to concentrate on yourself and to work on your own. My guess is that Fred had in his mind the picture of the genius working in solitude, thinking deeply, and finally coming up with a solution that transforms the way people think or inventing a product that makes a huge contribution. He pictures this genius laboring all alone, great thoughts their only company. Finally, after years in solitary, the genius has a breakthrough, an insight, a eureka moment. Perhaps that’s what Fred was trying to achieve when he closed the door and increased his working hours.
33
The mistake Fred made was that his image of the isolated genius is a fantasy. It does not exist in real life. In almost all known cases of people being innovative and adding true value, it was the result of working collaboratively with others. It is this mix of people full of energy and different ideas, mindsets, experiences, arguments, and conflicts that creates the context in which innovation can emerge. If you want to launch an idea or grow a business, cooperation with other people is essential. No matter how brilliant you are as a person, you cannot do it alone.
The challenge of cooperation is this: it is easy to cooperate with people whom you already know, who are similar to you, and who may even be sitting right down the corridor. That’s cooperation in its simplest form; you really need just a few basic cooperation skills to interact with people you know and see often. But if you want to Glow, you will increasingly be with people who are different from you and who work in other locations. Cooperating with people who are virtually strangers and who are very different from you is much harder. In fact, it requires a level of goodwill and trust and a set of cooperation habits that go far beyond the basic.
To Glow by cooperating with others, you have to learn the skills of cooperation. I was particularly struck by this in a recent study my colleagues and I did on whether teams of people had created Hot Spots of innovation. We discovered that people who were prepared to cooperate established trust with their colleagues throughout their network. The people and teams who did not cooperate failed to become innovative and instead hoarded their knowledge, refusing to share important ideas with others. Team members saw themselves as being in competition with one another for resources. They believed they had to fight to get attention or to get access to clients or to be promoted. As you will see later in John’s story, although this competition between people is sometimes taken as a sign of energy and focus, it is in fact more likely to lead to suboptimal outcomes for team members and the team as a whole.
34
The Glow Profile
Let’s begin by taking a closer look at how cooperation is playing out in the three parts of your working life by completing the cooperative portion of the Glow Profile.
Profiling the First Principle: A Cooperative Mindset
The rating scales in Figure 3.1 will help you determine your own beliefs regarding cooperation, how the members of your immediate team or community work together, and how your wider community, business, or organization behaves.
Respond to each statement by circling your reaction on the 5-point scale, as follows:
5 = agree completely
4 = agree somewhat
3 = neither agree nor disagree
2 = disagree somewhat
1 = disagree completely
Once you have responded to all the statements in Figure 3.1, add up your ratings in each section; they will range from 9 to 45.
36 to 45 = high
26 to 35 = moderate
9 to 27 = low
Now move on to the Glow Profile in Figure 3.2. In the “cooperative mindset” segment of the figure, use different colors or a coding scheme such as the one shown to indicate the level of cooperation in each area of your work life.
35
Am I naturally cooperative?
 I believe that the best way to succeed in work is through working with others.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| People would describe me as someone who enjoys supporting and nurturing others. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| People would describe me as very cooperative.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| I am always the first person to ask others if they need help.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| I always behave to others in a cooperative way.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Generally, I trust other people to do the best they can.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| I believe that sharing my knowledge with others is important to the whole team.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| It is important to me that people behave in a fair manner.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| People say that I am good at appreciating other people.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Is my team naturally cooperative?
| Members of this team trust each other.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Team members cover for each other.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| On this team, people are pleased to help each other out.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| On this team, the best way to get ahead is to cooperate with others.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| On this team, people willingly share information with one another.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Around here, leaders encourage people to work cooperatively.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| On this team, we are able to talk openly about the conflicts that arise.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| We treat each other with respect.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| We appreciate each other’s talents.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Is my wider community, business, or organization naturally cooperative?
| Leaders are seen to cooperate well with one another.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| It is the norm to coach others.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| We take social responsibility very seriously.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| We treat each other in a just and fair way.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| People are assessed for their cooperative work when it comes to evaluating their performance.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Very competitive people do not flourish around here.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| We use the word we more than the word I. | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| People are encouraged to spend time in conversation.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Being able to work as part of a team is an important selection criterion.
| 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
FIGURE 3.1 Cooperation in the Three Areas of Your Work Life
36
The Glow Profile
FIGURE 3.2 Your Cooperative Profile
Interpreting the Cooperative Profile
Take a look at your cooperation profile, and select the type closest to yours:
Profile Type A: Your score for cooperation is high, and so are the scores for the team and the community
You are a natural collaborator with others, you have a naturally cooperative way of looking at the world, and you have developed the skills of cooperation. Cooperation is relatively easy for you. You are in a team or community that is naturally cooperative and works on a day-to-day basis in a collaborative way. You are also in a wider community, business, or organization where there are strong cooperative norms and behaviors and the leaders behave in a cooperative way.
| Profile Type | Your Score | Team or Community Score | Wider Community Score |
| A | High | High | High |
| B | Moderate or High | Moderate | Moderate |
| C | Moderate or High | Low | Low |
| D | Low | Moderate or High | Moderate or High |
| E | Low | Low | Low |
37
You are in a context in which there is a high probability of Hot Spots arising, and you are in a great frame of mind to make the best of these places and times of high energy and innovation—if the other two principles are in place.
Actions to Take You are in a great situation and have a wonderful opportunity to Glow and to find and flourish in Hot Spots. Review Actions 1, 2, and 3 (Chapters Five, Six, and Seven) to ensure there is not more you could be doing. But the main action for you is to analyze the principles of jumping across worlds and igniting latent energy to make sure that the potential energy of cooperation is able to be tapped.
Profile Type B: Your score for cooperation is moderate or high, and the team and community scores are moderate
You are a natural collaborator with others, you have a naturally cooperative way of looking at the world, and you have developed the skills of cooperation. Cooperation is relatively easy for you. However, you are in a team or a wider community that does not value cooperation so highly. Working cooperatively is not a very strong capability or the natural way of working for this team. Remember, though, that the team or community does have the potential to be cooperative, and this potential can be developed by working on the habits of cooperation and learning the art of conversation.
Actions to Take You have the great advantage of being naturally cooperative and now need to engage with others to encourage them to become more cooperative. Your first action is to engage them with these concepts: join with your colleagues as a learning group, and discuss how to become more cooperative. If your own cooperative score is moderate, you need to take a closer look at Action 1—developing the daily habits of cooperation— to strengthen your own cooperative skills. With regard to the team, work together to look at Actions 1 and 2 (Chapters Five and Six), in which you can together practice the art of great conversation.
Profile Type C: Your score for cooperation is moderate or high, and the team and community scores are low
You are a natural collaborator with others, you have a naturally cooperative way of looking at the world, and you have developed the skills of cooperation. Cooperation is relatively easy for you. However, you are a cooperative person caught in a Big Freeze. You are on a team or in a community that is competitive. People just don’t trust each other enough to create a Hot Spot or to support team members to Glow.
Actions to Take You can support the team by sharing these diagnostics and engaging in Action 1, developing the daily habits of cooperation, and Action 2, mastering the art of great conversation (see Chapters Five and Six). Or you can choose to work less with this team and find projects and teams that are more cooperative or a wider community or organization that is more in sync with your own values. If you decide to take this action, look carefully at Action 3—acting on the “smell of the place”—and moving to places where cooperation flourishes (see Chapter Seven). Ensure that you don’t make the same mistake again by becoming more astute at spotting low-cooperation places.
39
Profile Type D: Your score for cooperation is low, and the team and community scores are moderate or high
Until now, you have not valued cooperation or learned the habits of cooperation. As you will see in Chapter Four, Jill was in a similar position when she began her working life. Like you, she had been brought up thinking that the best way to stay ahead of the curve was to compete with her colleagues. But when she found herself in a more cooperative situation, her behavior and attitudes began to change, and she became more cooperative.
Actions to Take You are in a great position to build your cooperative habits because you have around you people who work cooperatively with each other. So take a closer look at Action 1, developing the daily habits of cooperation, to see how you can develop (see Chapter Five).
Profile Type E: Your score for cooperation is low, and so are the team and community scores
You are probably already feeling you are in the Big Freeze and wondering how you got there. The challenge is that it will be difficult for you to create Hot Spots of energy or innovation because you don’t trust people and you are on a team or in a wider community that is also untrusting and highly competitive.
Actions to Take This is the time to think about your options and your future. As you will see later, there is a cycle of reinforcement that creates cooperative or competitive contexts—and you are in a cycle that has created a competitive context. So you need to think carefully about Action 1, developing the daily habits of cooperation, although you may find it difficult to really gain traction if you are in the Big Freeze (see Chapter Five). You might also consider trying Action 2, mastering the art of great conversation (see Chapter Six). This may give you more of a way into conversations about how to create energy and innovation. If you want to become more cooperative, you will have to consider Action 3, acting on the “smell of the place,” and become more skilled at spotting teams and communities that are cooperative (see Chapter Seven).
In Chapter Four, we’ll take a closer look at how these different profiles affected the work of Jill, who moved to Profile Type A; John, who is in Profile Type D; and Gareth, a cooperative person in a very uncooperative place— Profile Type C.
Key Points in Chapter Three
The First Principle: A Cooperative Mindset
Being able to cooperate with others is crucial to you capacity to Glow. In this chapter, you used the Glow Profile to determine where you stand with regard to your own attitudes and skills, your team’s attitudes and skills, and the extent to which your company or community encourages you to be cooperative. From the profile you are able to determine which cooperative profile type is nearest to your own:
Profile Type A You, the team you work with, and your wider community are highly cooperative, which creates a marvelous opportunity for you to Glow.
Profile Type B You, your team, and the wider community are skilled in some aspects of cooperation, which suggests that Action 1, developing the daily habits of cooperation, will be crucial, while learning the art of conversation in Action 2 will also be useful.
Profile Type C You are fairly cooperative but find yourself in a Big Freeze of limited cooperation, which suggests that you need to first concentrate on building your own cooperative skills, but then think seriously about taking Action 3, acting on the “smell of the place.”
Profile Type D You are not cooperative but find yourself surrounded by a relatively cooperative team and community, which presents a terrific opportunity for you to learn from others. Think about how Action 1, developing the daily habits of cooperation could make a real difference.
Profile Type E Neither you, your team, nor the larger community values cooperation—which gives you and your team a great opportunity to think about the effect this is having and together work on Actions 1, 2 and 3.