Workplace collaboration and stress is an important workplace factor. Stress can be reduced when people collaborate in the workplace — rather than compete. Unfortunately people in the workplace often compete. This inefficiency can prompt stress.
Since I developed my without stress tips approach—primarily from my teaching experiences—an example from my teaching can best help you understand the point.
Picture this:
A teacher is administering an examination, and each student is expected to come up with the right solutions to the problems. In this setting, some will succeed and some will fail, but few will solve all the problems.
Those who do find the right answers will not share them with others because that would be cheating.
In contrast to this traditional approach of students competing to obtain a good score, suppose the teacher were to say, “I’m not testing you as individuals; I’m testing you as a class. Put your heads together and come up with the answers.”
In most probability, no individual would possess all the knowledge needed to solve the problems or all the aptitude needed to apply the knowledge. But the class as a whole would have the knowledge and aptitude.
Communications and cooperation would spread the knowledge throughout the group and the problems would be solved. Instead of some people succeeding and some failing, everyone would succeed.
What is traditionally known as cheating in the typical classroom is known as collaborative problem solving in the workplace.
Collaboration is the key to success in today’s economy.
Tip: When you can, collaborate for better results.
