The word collaboration, when combined with educational perspectives, is tossed around more than a ball in all children's and sports games combined.
The question is how much do we truly practice and believe in it.
My thinking is that to be truly collaborative, whether it is within our own context, or with others outside of our workplace, there must be the absence of ego. This is where it gets complicated, complex and sometimes down right nasty!
Many, in the pursuit of their own fame and glory and their need to leave a mark in the world, knowingly exclude, omit, hide and avoid including notables in their field of work in order to keep their own position as top dog.
I've met only a few people who have little need to be placed upon a pedestal because they are leaders in their fields. A true leader seeks to shed light on all those who are part of a journey of learning. No one person invented the wheel. As children scaffold their learning, so to do adults whose research and work is based on the ones who came before them.
Children are the greatest example of what it means to be truly collaborative. They work in unison, learning with and from one another. There is no ego, no need to stomp on others to get to the front of the line.
The true collaborator stands back and allows the team that surrounds him/her to shine brightly.
The footprint we leave behind, similar to the footprint made in the soft ocean sand, will be forgotten when the wave rushes in to wash it away.
What we will endure is what we brought to the light through our work with and in unison with others.
There is no me in we my friends!
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