So what does unity have to do with how well we can assist others in building their capacity?
Can there be unity without equality?
Can a leader be equal to his team members?
Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to be in a design project team where we decided to choose me to serve as a leader (or at least that's how I saw it, hehe). This design project team had to compete with some other design teams in the same time frame but there were no restrictions into the manner our team had to operate.
So I had suggested that in our team, we only decide on a design where everyone is agreeable to it, where there would be no one member to agree to disagree. I've read somewhere that this is called 'unity in thought'. And the reason for this move is to ensure that when we go on to design further, everyone would be functioning at full capacity because when people do things in which they are not in agreeance with, the capacity of the group is significantly lowered.
And hence, we went through the entire project with this same unity of thought which really served us well when we faced problems and everyone was able to contribute to decision making at their highest levels.
The learning which I gained the most in this experience was the need of the elected leader to maintain unity by certain actions or inactions. They are:-
a. To not feel the need to dominate decision making.
b. To have utmost faith in the members to step up when they need to.
c. To not dwell on the shortcomings of others.
d. To maintain a consultative atmosphere amongst members.
e. To allow prejudice no place to reside
f. To make every effort to take out any threats to the unity of its members.
Is it not just beautiful yet ironic that the best way to build capacity is in doing it together rather than just teaching what you know to others?
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