Cooperation
The ability to work effectively with others in order to achieve a shared goal - even when the object at stake is of no direct personal interest.
has a proper self-perception
knows his/her preferences for certain team roles
is able to let the group's interests prevail over his/her own
is willing to share knowledge and experience
is open to other people's opinions and ideas
notices when others need help and takes over their tasks when necessary
clearly demonstrates the importance of a joint result
celebrates success and commiserates on failure together
acknowledges the contribution from other disciplines and uses them by inviting representatives
discusses plans and ideas with others and invites them to contribute
emphasizes common denominators in a team to reinforce team spirit and the importance of a shared result
is able to compromise; lets a group's interest prevail over his/her own
makes others see their contribution is vital for achieving a shared goal
finds opportunities to set up shared projects with other organizations
turns enemies into friends (finds opportunities to work together with competitors)
understands the organization's strengths and weaknesses and finds partners to help correcting the latter and enhancing the first
thinks in terms of win-win situations instead of us-against-them
puts the interests of the organization ahead of his own
Cooperation can be easily developed if the candidate has a more than average score (7,8,9) on the drives Helpfulness and Sociability & contact.
Were you ever part of a team that failed to reach its targets due to a lack of cooperation? What was your role?
What do you think of the way people cooperate in your department? How do you contribute to this cooperation? What problems have occurred in the past?
How did you deal in the past with “opponents” in your organization, in other words with people who did not agree with you? Could you give an example?
What have you done recently in order to improve cooperation within your team?
Let other people express their opinion. Everyone has a right to an opinion.
Be open to other people’s ideas, try not to reject them straight away.
Listen carefully to other people’s ideas and make them compliments.
Show involvement to your colleagues even if it does not affect your work directly.
Encourage your candidate to ask employees or colleagues for 360º feedback. How do they assess his ability to cooperate? What are they optimistic about and what do they think could be improved? Discuss the report with your candidate.
Investigate with your candidate what is keeping him from working with others effectively.
Encourage your candidate to practise in a role play communicating with the ‘type’ of a person he does not like.
Create certain difficulties for your candidate in a role play (“this cannot happen; you cannot do this; this does not work like this”) and encourage him to deal with these problems strategically.
Evaluate with your candidate what is keeping him from being flexible when working with others.
FAQs
The ability to work effectively with others in order to achieve a shared goal - even when the object at stake is of no direct personal interest.
- Were you ever part of a team that failed to reach its targets due to a lack of cooperation? What was your role?
- What do you think of the way people cooperate in your department? How do you contribute to this cooperation? What problems have occurred in the past?
- How did you deal in the past with “opponents” in your organization, in other words with people who did not agree with you? Could you give an example?
- What have you done recently in order to improve cooperation within your team?
- has a proper self-perception
- knows his/her preferences for certain team roles
- is able to let the group's interests prevail over his/her own
