in focus: Better together Why GIZ’s success depends on good internal cooperation 4 GIZ GIZ staff staff magazine | | <strong>wir</strong>: <strong>03</strong>_<strong>2012</strong>
There it lies in the sun, a big green heap of organic material – much bigger than the workers that are about to start tackling it. Leaf-cutter ants are experts in transporting vegetation over long distances to their underground nests. To ensure their survival, they have developed a perfect system: each ant does the job it does best, be it cutting, carrying, reconnaissance or defence. There are many such examples of cooperation in nature. Sometimes even predators join forces to hunt because it increases their chances of survival. Economists and business consultants have learned quite a few tricks of this kind from nature. Rather than propagating competition and the survival of the fittest, they are increasingly putting forward theories that highlight the importance of working together. In his book on successful cooperation, business consultant Frank Schäfer writes about the impact the global economic crisis is having on the business world. ‘The companies that will survive are those that succeed in channelling all their strengths and using all the potential they have to master future challenges,’ he writes. The more complex the environment and the stronger the competition, the more important a well functioning internal system of cooperation that allows organisations to respond quickly and flexibly to change. Teamwork is what makes innovation happen. Knowledge can flourish in places where people with different qualifications and different kinds of experience work together. Collaboration, then, leads to growth and improved quality, both of which are vital when competing internationally for the best ideas and concepts. In addition, it secures jobs, both in Germany and elsewhere. GIZ, with approximately 17,000 staff and hence an immense amount of knowledge and experience when it comes to sustainability, is excellently positioned to succeed in this competitive environment. And our full name, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, emphasises that cooperation (‘Zusammenarbeit’) is part of our company’s DNA. According to the Guiding Principles for GIZ Employees and Managers, ‘We foster a culture of cooperation’, but what exactly does that mean and how far have we progressed on that point? This issue of <strong>wir</strong>: seeks to answer these questions. Collaboration means joint action on the part of two or more people in order to reach common goals – that’s the minimum consensus that researchers from various disciplines have reached. The quality of cooperation, they say, rises proportionately to the ability to look beyond your own horizons and work towards the goals of your cooperation partner, too. In fact, GIZ’s Guiding Principles actively encourage managers to foster collaboration between the business units. Cooperation across organisational units requires, first and foremost, defined structures, processes, roles and responsibilities, all the way from acquisition to the final invoice. For several processes, GIZ has clearly defined who should work with whom and when, for instance when it comes to commissioning procedures, commission management and commercial processes. This is laid down in the Orientation and Rules (O+R). Over and beyond that, employees are encouraged to identify and make use of cooperation potential where this makes sense. This is something that a company cannot completely impose on its staff, as organisational psychologist Wolfgang Scholl says (page 10). People have to want to cooperate. Cooperation is already strong throughout GIZ, as the examples on pages 6 and 7 show. In an interview with our editorial team, staff discuss where there is still room for improvement (page 8). There is no place for egos in the ant world, but in organisations individuals can sometimes unwittingly be an obstacle to working together. Prejudices, a lack of confidence in other people’s abilities, a silo mentality, profile raising, and the refusal to give up existing rights and privileges all hamper cooperation and prevent the organisation as a whole from developing positively. To promote a good culture of cooperation, an organisation has to have the right structures and value communication, transparency, trust, commitment and a solutionfocused approach. And last but definitely not least, the organisation has to deal constructively with conflict. According to Wolfgang Scholl, the overarching aim should be a culture that reflects the philosophy of Ernst Jandl: that our thoughts may diverge, but they are still friends. One final glance at the origins of the word shows that cooperation means more than just working together. The Latin cooperatio means ‘participation’. ‘Our work is about producing results’, as our Mission Statement says. We work together and produce results together, inspired by what nature teaches us to do.
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