Collaboration starts when you shift from asking what you can get to what you can give. When Jen offers to help Kyle, he helps her back; when she refuses, he refuses too. A giving mindset creates trust and reveals win-win opportunities everywhere.
Why am I collaborating with the people that I care about most? But when I shift my mindset from a what can I get perspective to a what can I give perspective, I create that psychological safety. I create that trust. Because when Jen goes, actually, Kyle, help me, I'll come over and meet your needs. What's your first reaction to her doing that? Well, actually, let me— Let me go. I'll go over and meet your needs. But if Jen's like, uh-uh, Kyle, I'm not going over to help you. What's Kyle's reaction going to be? I ain't helping you. I ain't helping you either. Yeah, that's right. So when we look through life of the lens of competition, we see everything as a competition. When we look through the lens— life through the lens of collaboration, we see opportunities for collaboration. The win-win, the yes-yes, it's there the whole time. Are we willing to find it? And when we talk about being on a team of people who all have needs, but if we're all collaborating with one another, can we get our needs met?
