In these times where it seems that everyone is only looking out for their own interests, new patterns are emerging that encourage us to rethink our relationships with others. One of the essential areas where we establish relationships with others is the work environment. In that field, in the world of entrepreneurship, a new paradigm is emerging – collaboration.
Imagine a company where each employee does what they are most passionate about in life and what they excel at, with joy, and everyone is satisfied, creating a harmonious work environment. It seems like a fairytale, doesn’t it? But it seems that a form of work based on this concept is starting to emerge. In fact, for many people, it is already a reality called – collaboration.
In the current crisis we find ourselves in, many people are changing work environments, either due to deteriorating working conditions or numerous layoffs. People with specialized and stable careers – perhaps not so much others – feel obligated to seek alternatives, finding new ideas for earning a living and engaging in entrepreneurial activities. With the increasing demand, agencies for business start-up assistance have significantly expanded their offer of training and counseling, with support in implementing new projects. There is no doubt that many have experienced their efforts failing in unsuccessful attempts, due to lack of experience or simply realizing that entrepreneurial reality is not what they imagined.
“Sticking together” – a way out of the crisis
From the root of this situation, a new perspective is emerging in the corporate world. The concept of co-working originated in the USA at the beginning of the 21st century and is rapidly spreading to other parts of the world. The movement brings together people with different professional abilities, reviving innovative, creative, and multidisciplinary projects with the ability to adapt and respond to market demand.
Undoubtedly, collaboration does not only involve sharing space. Collaboration is a way of working in which we share knowledge by bringing in different perspectives on the project, which means seeing other collaborators as companions who They may have a completely different perspective than ours, but that doesn’t prevent them from becoming our collaborators and partners. As independent and autonomous individuals, every professional has the opportunity to choose the projects they will participate in and collaborate on, thereby generating growth and gaining experience according to their own will and needs.
Collaboration is the collective work of skilled individuals with different abilities, who have the ability to adapt in order to promote innovative, creative, multidisciplinary projects and provide an appropriate response to market demands or community needs. If each of us does what we do best, what is our true nature, we can harmoniously fit into the community, creating synergies, being complementary, and happy in the execution of our tasks.
Practicing collaboration also has the advantage of creating ecosystems in which each participant requires their own space, learns self-evaluation, becomes aware of their limitations, and establishes relationships that enable them to work with emotional maturity. It is different from the corporate environment where a paternalistic hierarchy tends to create a climate in which we adopt infantile and irresponsible attitudes or, on the other extreme, repressive and dictatorial views.
Therefore, the philosophy of collaboration breaks down old concepts of entrepreneurship and competence. For Cesare Llorentea Lopez, a psychologist, professor, and author of the book “Collaboration: The Art of Sharing to Grow,” an entrepreneur is someone who, after careful reflection, knows how they can contribute to society because they recognize their value and skills. This is very different from the old concept of entrepreneurship, where it meant seeking financial support, renting a space, taking long-term risks, borrowing money, and living in uncertainty. As explained in an interview with the newspaper Dnevnik from Mallorca, collaboration is an attitude that implies seeing others not as potential competitors but recognizing their additional value and what we can achieve together. The challenge for an entrepreneur is to materialize what they enjoy doing in a concrete way. business idea. Considering that each of us can contribute something unique, perhaps we should stop seeing others as competitors and start seeing them as potential collaborators, striving to “stick together” in order to grow together.
Plato: the ideal of collaboration
2400 years ago, Plato wrote in his work “The Republic” that in an ideal state, every person should do what they are born to do, what is in their nature. For example, those who are capable of trading should engage in commerce; those who are capable of being doctors should practice medicine… Finally, the ideal ruler should be a wise person, someone who possesses a comprehensive perspective in order to govern based on correct criteria, thus ensuring justice.
Such a concept of collaboration allows us to come closer to Plato’s idea, according to which each of us, if we do what comes naturally to us, can fit into the community. By creating synergy and being complementary, we happily fulfill our role, contributing to the process of development of a harmonious community. Oh, powerful and harmonious unity.
In that case, we can consider a crisis as an opportunity that offers us an exit from our comfort zone, which motivates us to look within ourselves and search for an internal connection with what we feel and what we think.
We should strive to recognize our values, explore them, and live them fully. In doing so, we can become better, transforming ourselves through the change we want to see in the world.