The Focus of True Partnership
It would have never crossed my mind that working in Dr. Ballhorn’s lab where we study bacteria and plants that I would be able to withdraw principles to be applied into leadership. Let me explain what I mean: Symbiotic relationships such as that of rhizobia and legumes is something that has always drawn my attention. The principle of symbiotic mutualism is applied in these two dissimilar organisms in such a beautiful way that we can learn from them. This relationship that rhizobia and legumes offer is a true partnership, regardless of pre set expectations. In that, the legume is enriched with nitrogen and amino acids by the rhizobia, because terrestrial environment is nitrogen limited, while the rhizobia is given the important organic molecules which act as an energy source for the bacteria (Kiers et. Al., 2003).
In analyzing the trade off between these two dissimilar organisms we can withdraw that mutualism is optional, meaning the relationship is not imperative to the existence of one or both species.
When we talk about mutualism among humans, oftentimes our ideas of pre existing expectations are what we focus on and therefor negate the potential for true partnership in which both parties benefit. Mutualism can be simple. It is up to the leaders within their organizations to identify what people are innately good at in order to pair them with the appropriate tasks for them to really benefit and grow the ecosystem of the work environment.
How many times have we heard the words, “that is not my responsibility,” or “that’s not my job”? More often than not this does not come from a place of what is required from each person, but more of what each person thinks they should be doing. Instead, we should focus on the individual talents and put them in a position where they can thrive, just like the rhizobia and the legumes do. Obviously there is no cognitive level of understanding that rhizobia and legumes have, however they are beautifully synced creating this tradeoff where the ecosystem, and in our case the work environment, is organically benefitted.
There is another interesting factor that we have not touched on, which is the diversity of the ecosystem of a work environment. If we refer back to the plant and the bacteria, we can see that they are two completely different organisms, and yet benefit from each other by doing what they are naturally existing to do. Oftentimes leaders will pair people up in their organizations because of their similarities and relatability, and while this is a good factor, it should not be at the expense of the mutual benefit for the work that they are doing.
As mentioned before, mutualism is optional. In other words, legumes can grow and survive by themselves, but yet there is a significant amount of obstacles, which they need to overcome to thrive (lack of terrestrial nitrogen, herbivore attacks, etc).
Within work environments people can survive and work their way up by themselves, but when leaders pair the talent applying the mutual symbiotic concept, the growth will happen exponentially and the synchronicity of the work will be greater, meanwhile the ecosystem is directly benefitted from those tradeoffs. Mutualism can be applied simply by changing the way we hire our workforce, from the inside out. Looking at each team member and how they can benefit from each other will fit the bigger picture of the environment rather than only looking at job requirements.
Considering the natural abilities of the legume and the rhizobia to do their innate function is what any organization should look for at the time of hiring and placement.
-Fidel Ferrer