Cooperation is not easy. It often seems to us that alone we would have managed better: "If you want to do well - do it yourself." But this is a myth. Without teamwork, we would not have survived the evolutionary process, we could not have succeeded in our work, we could have built family and friendly relations.
The famous choreographer Twyla Tharp has worked with thousands of dancers and almost 100 troupes for forty years of her career, as well as with lawyers, designers, composers and sponsoring companies. In the book "The habit of working together" she tells how to make any cooperation pleasant and productive.
1. Start with yourself
Cooperation is a practical thing, it is a way to work in harmony with others. But it starts from a point of view. Before organizing a team work, think about yourself. Do you feel sincere affection for your friends, relatives and loved ones? Can you apply ways of communicating with them in teamwork with partners? Do not you push people away with honesty? Do you support a common goal?
If you are inclined not to trust people and do not believe in a common goal, in the conditions of joint work the problem will be you. Try to change your attitude.
2. Choose partners above the level
Teamwork is like tennis: you can improve your skills by just playing with a partner above the level. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to choose, keep smart and sociable people. Watch them and learn. Perhaps at first it will be difficult for you, but soon you will feel that you no longer perceive the team as an imposed evil, and you will gain new opportunities and a new vision.
3. Accept partners as they are
In the early 70's, a female choreographer was a rarity in classical dance. It's no wonder that some male dancers doubted whether to respond or not to my orders. I would say that they did not understand me.
How did I get out of this impasse? I announced that I was not going to impose my style on dancers. She said that I need a contrast: every artist will do what he or she is used to doing.
Cooperation guarantees changes, because it forces us to accept the partner's point of view - and to accept everything in him that he differs from us. Our differences are very important. If you want your partners to be and remain themselves, you need to accept them as they are.
4. Prepare for negotiations in advance
When I had an idea to create a dance performance for the music of Billy Joel, I needed to show him myself from the right side. So I gathered six dancers and made a twenty-minute video. Only after that I invited Billy to my home and demonstrated how his songs can become the main decoration of the dance Broadway musical. After examining my presentation, he immediately agreed.
If you want the first negotiations to be successful, prepare for them in advance. Think over all the arguments in your favor before the meeting and imagine them in the most favorable light.
5. Communicate face to face
Cooperation is often carried out via e-mail - with attached documents, video or audio. Unfortunately, technologies establish their own rules and make decisions faster than you are ready to accept. For any compromise with them, a concession on the part of a person is required. Therefore, whenever you have the opportunity, communicate face to face.
And if there is no such possibility, do not forget to put in communication - even by e-mail - even a small part of heart. You are addressing a living person. You do not need to suppress your humanity.
And still do not forget that even the warmest letter will not replace a personal meeting.
6. Immerse yourself in the world of the partner
The best choice is to meet the artist in his studio, with the scientist - in his laboratory, with the administrator - in his office. Having received at least once the idea of the world in which a potential partner lives and works, it is easier to project the emotional component on the process of cooperation.
If I did not visit Donald Knaak, known as "junkman" (in English, "junk" + man - "man"), in his workshop, where he builds the structures he plays, from garbage, I could not understand, or appreciate his records, which FedEx delivered daily from Vermont to my New York studio where I was working on the ballet "Surfing on the River Styx".
7. Do not take on more than you should
Let the partner do his work. The desire to delve into his problems almost always leads away from the decision of his own. Temptation can be strong. But if he succumbs, it will bring only additional complications.
Do not charge yourself more than you should. Resist the temptation to climb onto someone else's field of activity or responsibility. Keep track of difficult situations, if necessary, but take personal part only if time is pressing, and the desired solution is not expected. Strangle your inner maniac-controller.
8. Try the new
One person gives an idea to another, and he beats her back, like in tennis. And now we are already looking at our idea from the other side. This happens for one simple reason - a partner will always present your idea in his own words, never repeating the wording literally.
Thanks to this you can see new opportunities, methods and means of achieving the goal. Our common ideas merge and appear in a new quality. You need to be ready to turn to new ways and tools that you would not have used before. Willingness to try something new can become the basis of a strong connection.
9. Think three times before working with friends
It's hard to resist the temptation to work with people you know and love. It seems that if we cooperate with those who share our ideas and values, the project will go smoothly. Do not have time to look back, how to get rich / become famous / self-fulfilling.
Do not hurry. Short-term obligations are one thing. A long business is completely different. The first is a game, an adventure, the second is closer to marriage or, rather, a prison term in one cell.
A good partner is easier to find than a good friend. If you value friendship, you will want to keep it. A joint project will put your relationship at risk.
10. Say "Thank you"
At any opportunity, a dozen times a day, "thank you" is never superfluous.
Based on the book "The habit of working together"