Now THIS is classic Sesame Street. Classic. In this video, the Henson crew not only lyrically describes the impacts of cooperation, they also describe its viral and emergent properties.  Note that the Fonz-muppet sees the other muppets building and cooperating and is moved to replicate that. Then other muppets are all like, “Hey, that’s interesting, how can we help?” Then they go off to do it again.

Simplistic? Very much so. But accurate nonetheless. Cooperation is viral and as it spreads it gains momentum.

It’s like that in companies, where policies create either cooperative or isolating cultures. Cultures that focus on the dissemination of information as a means of getting things done establish a foundation for sharing and cooperation.  Cultures that avoid rigid role definitions and distribute decision making set this foundation as well.

Simple “seed” policies and an air of distributed decision-making can make it happen.

Cooperation.

Dig it.

Life is filled with exceptions. Therefore, when people are presented with a new rule, they quickly spout all the ways in which that rule doesn’t make sense to them. We immediately see the exceptions.

This leads people to discount the need for strict rules. When confronted with a strict rule, people ask two questions: (1) How long do I have to do this? and (2) How can I avoid doing this?

When we are building a corporate culture, an on-line community, or setting up any group of people, we need to understand the positive and negative roles that rules play.

Photo of Spiral Stairwell at the Vatican by Christopher Chan