Written by: Vickie Sullivan  |  June 13, 2013

The Takedown of the Takers

I’ve always rooted for the nice person to finish first.  In Corporate America, I lost hope of that happening.  Until I read this Spring article from Strategy + Business about how teams and collaboration are changing in favor of the “givers”.

It makes sense; in a silo-based bureaucracy, the takers could take unfair advantage without suffering any real consequence.  Not anymore.  Collaboration has forced the harsh spotlight on taker behavior.  The result:  those who don’t help out get blocked on the ladder to success.

I see  a lot of interesting possibilities here for soft-skill thought leaders.  Think about it:  how about an online quiz that measures if your actions make you a taker?  Or a game with role playing that shows the consequences of common behavior?  Go beyond the typical training.  (Who would go to a reformed taker class?)  Think about diagnosis and behavior change.

Takers not necessarily evil people.  They’ve just done what drives results (until now).  There are a lot of adjustments they need to make.  And folks like us can help them do just that.