Today during a lecture that I was facilitating I witnessed the beginning of a truly “collaborative spirit” in respect of one group of students whose turn it was to present their determinations in relation to a “real world” exercise that I had set for the class. This particular group comprised a multitude of nationalities (from German to Asian to Kiwi).
The scene that unfolded in front of me involved the group’s spokesperson struggling a little at times with their verbal delivery of the group’s collective work. At those moments I signaled to the spoke person’s colleagues to help-out their speaker. Reaction ? Help was immediately provided by the balance of the group members.
This situation reminded me of a chapter that I wrote in my first book, in which I talk about the measure/ evidence of a first class organisation culture. In my view such a culture is indeed in place when colleagues freely help one-another as/ when the need for help arises. This situation of providing “unasked for help” actually used to be an integral part of the Kiwi way of life – both in and out of the workplace. It is my view that the ongoing onslaught of central government legislation (particularly in respect of the Employment Relations Act) is a major contributor to the decline in people’s desire to help-out other people simply because they want to and/ or they can clearly see that their mate/ work mate is unable to do what is needed, and/ or they feel that helping is the right thing to do and/ or it means that collectively the job can be completed more quickly – still at the required standard/ still achieving the expected outputs.
I would love to see New Zealand remember its extensive history of helping one another – and other people around the world (both during war times and during the era of peace that we are fortunate to be living in currently). In the case of my generation (and older), we didn’t (and still don’t) need our every movement/ action prescribed or governed by legislation…we knew (and still know) what is fundamentally right and wrong, we knew (and still know) what it means to take personal responsibility for our own actions, we knew (and still know) how to make practical commonsense decisions, and we knew (and still know) what it means to help-out a fellow human being simply because it was/ is the right thing to do.
Remember your past New Zealand…the values and ethics borne out of our past still very much have relevancy for life today. It only relies on us having the will to want to re-vitalise and bring to the surface these admirable natural traits that once were the very essence of our Kiwi culture. Make the choice to help others around you as/ when you can clearly see they need your help.
As I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, I sincerely believe that the way forward for New Zealand as a business community in order to remain competitive on the world stage is to encourage and practice collaboration far more so than what is presently the case. The student group that I witnessed today helping their colleague from time to time, showed clear signs of understanding the importance of helping-out as help was needed…the importance of collaborating.