The phrase "strength in numbers" is often used as a cliche or as jargon, yet we realize there is quite a bit of truth to that expression.
Each situation we face, especially in our respective professional settings, presents unique circumstances, but these situations are often similar to those faced by our colleagues at various times in their careers. The choices they made, combined with the outcomes from those choices, can prove extremely beneficial to us.
This reason alone may substantiate a cause for collaboration. However, additional reasons exist in regard to various issues facing higher education today.
Collaboration fosters an approach to accomplishing goals larger than a single person. This notion may be foreign in some cultures, and may even be an afterthought in various parts of our country, but a collaborative approach to accomplishing goals seems to come naturally for those in southwest Missouri.
My career path has taken me to six states in the past 15 years, and I quickly noticed peopleís willingness to work together since arriving in Springfield. In this region, there seems to be a natural understanding of community and a heart to help each other.
Iíve heard numerous education and health care colleagues comment on how surprised University of Missouri officials were when they realized CoxHealth and Mercy welcomed the opportunity to collaborate and bring a medical school program to Springfield. Such an approach reminds me of a quote from Thomas Stallkamp, former president of DaimlerChrysler Corp., who said, "The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other."
Collaboration can improve us by having contact with those possessing a different perspective. Competition can refine and sharpen us, but it also can cause us to lose sight of organizational goals or best interests. Conversely, collaboration may serve to increase oneís empathy, which often creates a far better understanding.
The late Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc., said, "A lot of people in our industry havenít had very diverse experiences. So they donít have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader oneís understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have."
Collaboration can fill in gaps or weaknesses. Most members of any higher education workforce have earned advanced degrees.
Graduate school has more benefits than can be listed in this article, but a shortcoming of graduate education is its specificity - we become experts at one little corner of the world but sometimes at the expense of becoming weaker in other areas.
Collaboration with those not in our field of expertise usually creates a stronger, more prepared group. Indeed, we all have strengths, and our strengths may cover the weaknesses of those in our collaboration; similarly, their strengths may cover our weaknesses. Legendary basketball coach Phil Jackson said, "The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team."
Collaboration can help us achieve successes we may not have been able to achieve on our own. While each of us is often capable of far greater than we realize, there are certain tasks with which we struggle mightily to complete alone.
Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Co. said, "Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success." Ford seemed to understand that collaboration can be difficult, but the rewards can be incredible.
In today's education world, collaboration is often recommended, sometimes even required, by external grant agencies. Simply stated, collaboration can result in monetary awards.
Collaboration does not require anyone compromise principles. Sometimes working together leads to compromise of roles, responsibilities or expected outcomes, but it does not mean anyone has to compromise on principles. In some instances, sacrificing ethics or values may actually disrupt the collaborative effort.
True collaboration should not require we change the foundations on which we live. As steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie stated, "Principles should never be compromised."
Lance Ratcliff is president of Cox College. He can be reached at Lance.Ratcliff@coxcollege.edu.
