That’s right. Teamwork.

 

I recognize that without a little explanation, this will be a rather short and unhelpful blog. So here we go.

 

In 2009, I left a great role as global alumni relations manager for a major law firm. I had been tasked with jump-starting a stagnant initiative, to get the program back-on-track and to engage not only the outside alumni community but internal stakeholders as well (2500+ attorneys in 37 offices as well as management and administrative staff).

 

The role required a lot of cross-office, silo-busting, cajoling, influencing and reasoning—in short, “team-building” skills. Why all the silo-busting, cajoling and influencing? First, it is my belief that to have a successful global alumni relations program, the entire firm, from mailroom to managing partner, has to be invested in the initiative. Second, I was tasked with a role with no direct reports and no formal budget.

 

When the recession hit,  the role became even more challenging. I started in the role in early 2008, 6+ months before the economy caused massive lay-offs in law firms. Once the heads started to roll, the willingness to help a colleague in another department, to reach beyond the four corners of a job description or department mandate, went too. “I” and “My” was the focus as roles, staffing numbers and budgets were defended from further cuts. As the economy darkened, the silos became stronger and teamwork went out the window.

 

Which brings me to now: August 2011.

 

I’ve been consulting since I left the law firm, and looking back over the last 22 months, I’ve been drawn to engagements and opportunities, both professionally and personally, that involve collaboration, mutually beneficial exchanges of ideas and outcomes and contributions to a shared outcome—in short, teamwork.

 

One example:

I’m part of the inaugural group of Pipeline Fellows—10 professional women who applied to The Pipeline Fund to take part in a 6-month “angel investor” training program. As part of the program, we each committed to invest $5,000 in an investment that “we” as a group, would decide upon. The group, a.k.a. the team, is vetting applications and narrowing the pool of possible investments through a pitch-summit and due diligence process, supplemented by conference calls, emails etc. etc., in order for the team to come to the final choice. We all voluntarily opted into a program that requires us to work together—to work as a team, sharing the burdens of application review and due diligence—in order to reach a decision that we are all invested in. Togetherness. Teamwork.

 

Which brings me around to why I think innovation now means teamwork.

 

The women who are Pipeline Fellows are all strong, independent thinkers, each more than capable of analyzing a start-up and making an investment decision solo. Yet, we’ve willingly joined a group and made the choice to work together to come-up with one investment opportunity, to actively engage in the ongoing dynamic of team-building—compromise, give and take, analysis and argument, scheduling, rescheduling and discussion—in order to reach consensus. Wouldn’t it be easier to just go it alone?

 

Then there’s personal politics, lifestyles and choice of pets. We all bring our viewpoints, biases, and life-experience into the Pipeline meetings. Sometimes (at least initially) these clashed or irritated; however, recognizing that we have chosen to work together, all the different and varied contributions have been valued and led us to better insights, an improved understanding of perspectives (even if I still don’t agree sometimes) and a richer, though more involved, process of reaching an investment decision. A team does involve work.

 

The recession, entrepreneurship, job insecurity: are these factors continuing to drive us to “go it alone,” “protect our turf” or “keep our stance” when really what’s needed to be successful right now is more innovation. Innovation are those opportunities to collaborate, to actively exchange ideas, to reach consensus or compromise willingly together.