Collaboration

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

- Helen Keller

Collaboration involves many ideas, inputs and outlooks to be observed; which is why collaboration can also lead to controversy. We must learn about the controversies involved in collaboration in order to avoid them. First, when there are many diverse members of an organization there will be many ideas and opinions. Ideas are always helpful and welcome; however, many of them can often be overwhelming.

Everyone desires to have his or her voice heard and idea chosen as “the best”, after all competition is human nature. Although we can ask everyone to partake in brainstorming for events the monsoon of ideas that come is always extensive. Then there comes the point when those ideas must be compromised for the good of the chapter. Compromising is complicated because of competition. The compromising process may offend or sadden one or more members. They may feel as if their idea was not worthy enough of implementation, which is very often not the case. As a leader, this distresses me because I think everyone has great ideas they just aren’t always realistic or timely for certain situations, which I always make a point of explaining.

In order to fix this problem of competition amongst members, it is important to address the idea of competing from the beginning and stress that all ideas are great but in order to achieve the best outcome a combination of concepts is key. As members with a common purpose, everyone should be willing to compromise. We are here to support each other and have our voices heard. Therefore, through collaboration we will create the best organizations possible in which everyone’s voice is heard and accounted for.