Are We Collaborating or Just Cooperating?

We Can Take the Easy Way or the Messy Way

Author

Stephen Carter
February 10, 2025

Last Saturday night, my family was sequestered in the basement following the strict mandates of our 13-year-old daughter who had created a game in which we each had to design and build an art project in the space of 15 minutes using a limited array of materials. After a slight attitude adjustment on my part (it was, after all, nearing my 8:30 PM bedtime), I started having a blast and threw myself into full creative force.

This continued for three rounds until my 10-year-old son, Ethan, announced a variation on the game: “We’re going to work in teams! I’ll be on Daddy’s team and we’ll compete against Mommy and Alyssa!” 

I’m going to be honest here: my first thought was that we were going to get crushed. We didn’t stand a chance against my wife who is a creative genius when it comes to art projects and coupled with my daughter, they would be unbeatable.

So I decided to just let Ethan run the show and I would take a backseat, having already accepted defeat. Ethan, sensing my resignation, forged ahead and announced that we would draw a volcano on paper and cut out some colored paper to glue on it. He assigned me to a particular role (cut out rocks) and that was that. 

But then, after a few minutes, something interesting happened. I suggested that the volcano might be better if it was 3D and standing up, and Ethan got excited, and then the two of us started experimenting with the paper. Soon we had a pile of 3D rocks, and Ethan began cutting out lava flows that he could glue to the mountain we were forming out of cardstock.

The timer went off at some point but we were so absorbed in the project that we continued and built not only a magnificent replica of a volcano but also took home the grand prize (take that, creative genius wife!).

Later that night, as I was reflecting on the events of the evening, I was reminded of a previous conversation with my friend Dr. Joel Hazard, the Head of Academic Collaboration and Culture at Fellowship Christian School in Georgia.

Dr. Hazard explained that, as schools, what we often call collaboration is really just cooperation. He went on to say, “We cooperate well, but we just don’t collaborate well.”

Cooperation is often seen as individuals working side by side, often independently, toward a shared goal - much as Ethan and I started our art project. We were, by all accounts, getting along and cooperating well (there was, after all, no arguing). Collaboration, on the other hand, is about individuals working together in a deeply integrated way, co-creating together. Collaboration is how Ethan and I ended the project (and yes, there was some arguing, and differences of opinion, and frustration, but ultimately, a much, much better end result).

Sometimes, in schools, we shy away from true collaboration because it is messy (cooperation, after all, looks nice and is easy to show off). True collaboration, according to Dr. Hazard, is “self-sacrificial” at times as we begin to understand that we need others and that often the best course of action may be someone else’s idea.

Yet, in the end, it is collaboration that has been identified as one of the primary skills our students will need as they navigate the world of tomorrow. If we, through entrepreneurial education and a mindset of transformed teaching, can help them discover the true power of collaboration, we will be setting them up for success both now and in the future. 

Want to dig deeper? Let’s connect on bringing the transforming power of entrepreneurial mindset education to your school…

Standing out as a Christian school while staying true to your values is more challenging than ever. At Seed Tree Group, we help schools implement a proven entrepreneurship program that empowers students to take ownership of their education, equipping them with life-ready skills and creating a distinguished school with engaged students, inspired parents, and energized donors.

❝

Imagine your culture infused with growth mindset, grit, redefining failure, and opportunity seeking. Imagine your team acting and thinking like entrepreneurs.

Stephen Carter