How do you create cooperation when there is no personal motivation to do so?

<p>This conversation started out being about #cooperation but we ended up talking about #leadership. Anyone who gets a group of people to cooperate is a leader, whether they have a title or not.</p> <p> </p> <p>Simon Coles started us off by saying they you have to appeal to people’s self-interest. Asking for altruism isn’t going to get you far.</p> <p> </p> <p>If you’ve listened to Quick Hits for any length of time, you know I don’t think altruism is a thing.</p> <p> </p> <p>Beth Hill Poulin reminded us that even with school children, you have to find that common threat that pulls everyone together. And it has to be more carrots than sticks.</p> <p> </p> <p>As a community organizer, Dr Cole Galloway spends A LOT of his time trying to get people to cooperate who have more to gain personally by not doing so. Sometimes you have to find something adjacent you can work on together instead of the actual thing.</p> <p> </p> <p>Cooperation comes from understanding the mission and, as Beth pointed out, sometimes it’s just easier to do the thing by cooperating than by fighting about it (although sometimes I wonder if adults get that.)</p> <p> </p> <p>Do you have an tips or ideas for how to get people to work together if they don’t want to or are even motivated against doing so?</p> <p> </p> <p>We would love to hear it.</p> <p> </p> <p>Connect with the panelists:</p> <p>Simon Coles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjcoles/</p> <p>CEO at Amphora Research Systems where they free scientists from the tyranny of paper. He is also the founder of Better Conversations Foundation.</p> <p> </p> <p>Dr Cole Galloway: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cole-galloway-1ba715107/</p> <p>Recovering academic working in social justice and disability, primarily with babies as the Founder at Go Baby Go</p> <p> </p> <p>Beth Hill Poulin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-hill-poulin/</p> <p>Former school teacher now using her science brain to change lives with tactile patterns</p> <p> </p> <p>Dr Robyn Odegaard: <a href='https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodega