Collaboration!

"Walk this Way" revolutionized the new hybrid sub-musical genre of "rock and rap", or the molding of rock and hip hop music when it was covered by rappers Run-D.M.C. This collaboration between Run DMC and Aerosmith turned out to be amazing as it made the billboard hot 100 list and was an international hit!

As you can see in the first 20 seconds of the video, there seemed to be some annoyance by both parties about what the other was doing. Run DMC pounded on the wall because they didn't like the rock sound Aerosmith was producing. Same with any collaboration - individuals find it challenging to collaborate with others due to differences in opinion. Leaders are leaders, meaning they most likely want their opinions and ideas to rank higher over others' (well, not good leaders I guess!). The elements of collaboration that are most difficult to engage in are the planning stages and communicating with others, in my opinion.

When one member doesn't want to work collaboratively, it creates tension and conflict for everyone. Each member must come together and understand the importance of and reason for collaboration. Often times, if not all, it leads to successful events (or songs, in my example) and happiness from both parties (if done correctly!). This is the reason why everyone in a group should want to collaborate, not be forced to do so.

Diversity is great for an organization as it represents collaboration at the micro-level. With a more diverse body more opinions, ideas, suggestions, comments and concerns are being voiced. Ultimately the event becomes a collboration between a group of people - the organization - and when it expands between two groups we see the larger, macro-level example of collaboration.

I love collaboration; sure it's hard at first, but with the Greek community it allows us to have more attendance at events, networking opportunities and leadership experiences by working together, gaining interpersonal communication skills and simply having fun!