Rock, Paper, Scissors

There are often generational and ideological differences within a team that can make work feel more like an unpredictable succession of power struggles than a productive collaboration.

ROCK: The eldest of us grew up in times of relative hardship, lifted by our own bootstraps, trained in self-effacement, in search of elusive respect earned only by being steady as a rock, by exerting ourselves over and above the expected benchmarks by the sweat of our brow. Objects were built to last; jobs were for a lifetime; the arc was slow and steady and the road stretched out for miles. 

PAPER: The youngest of us have grown up in relative affluence and abundance, with disposable income and disposable possessions, with constant affirmations of our value and worth... ironically leading to a potentially fragile self-esteem, a sense of instability like a house of cards sheltered from a strong external gust of wind. Paradoxically, this instability can also become a strength: the ability to let go and rebuild, reshaping as often as required. This path is winding, crooked, erratic... and potentially full of possibility.

SCISSORS: The dividing line runs through the meeting ground—or lack thereof—between these generations or ideologies. The elders see the young'uns learning how to fold a paper airplane... and immediately assuming that they are ready to fly the space shuttle. The younger see the elders still chipping away at a Stone Age wheel day after day in hope of perfection... and hiding in caves from the changing weather.

I exaggerate, of course... but our perceptions are magnified by a defensive sense of our own relative worth, a focus on our own positive qualities with less emphasis on the ways in which we might be weaker; after all, it's much nicer to imagine that we're somehow more talented, more capable and more trained than the others around us.

Can we find the middle ground between confidence and humility? How do we arrive at a realistic assessment of our relative skills and abilities, accepting and valuing the relative skills and abilities of others? Can we give or accept constructive criticism, keep an open and co-operative attitude to learning, growing, sharing?

Let's turn our swords into ploughshares: instead of using our rock, paper or scissors as weapons to beat each other at the game, let's make something with them... together.