Collaborate: : to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor. That is what the dictionary said when I looked up this week's reflection topic. But for me, it doesn't fit at all. It is much more than simply 'working together.' Collaboration is a mutual investment, a combined effort from start to finish, an apex of teamwork and symmetry. Collaboration takes a lot of work to truly achieve. As a leader, to co-create, you must put aside your grand designs and pre-assummed visions in order to allow others to paint the overall group picture. Collaboration starts with a blank canvas: no sketches allowed; no assistant artists or directors; every has a paintbrush, and everyone must invest into the overall work in order to make the masterpiece. Out of everything that could possibly deter this from happening, it takes a great amount of communication and trust.
The hardest part for me as a leader is not to have my hands in everything. I like to check up on my officers' events, give them a 'suggestion' that I expect to be done, and follow up to make sure that the suggestion and the overall event will be fulfilled. I know I talk about my OCD a lot, but I would say I am somewhat of a perfectionist. You can bet that I never colored outside of the lines nor used anything less than a ruler to draw my straight lines in primary school. This has transferred into my life in the aspect of how I run events. Things are to be perfect, and when they're not, I make it a point to make sure that they get that way....regardless of a team effort or not. I know that I cannot do everything, and that is something that I have had to learn this past quarter...to just let things go. But there comes an intricate balance as to saving the day or letting things fail. Failure is something learned, in my opinion. Allowing failure is growing comfortable with failure. Why even allow that in? If good is good, but better is achievable, then why not go for the extra effort?
The diversity within my chapter is something that I am so thankful for. All of us come from diverse backgrounds with different issues and different experiences, but together we unite through our love for Lambda Chi Alpha. At times, it is difficult to control conversations and ultimately decide on one solution or answer, as many people have many different opinions, but this is a blessing in disguise. I would rather spend time debating what SOE to attend versus people being complacent with the events and thinking as one soul-less autonomous body. Our diversity is our life, and it is this that ultimately allows us to succeed. I would say we are competitive, but not in a negative aspect. We love to compete for highest GPA and have awards and recognition for those. But I don't have problems with competition in places of coming to meetings and other work in terms of doing activities or duties. Possible that it is seen as an expectation, but I feel as though people do what they are asked because they understand the intricacies of group work. I rely upon my officers just as much as they rely upon me to do my job. Without them, I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything: we all work together. Together, we invest our time and passion into improving our lives together and the lives of our community, through the passion we have for Lambda Chi Alpha. We've got collaboration...do you?
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