Reunited

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By John R. Nocero & Jennifer L. Kennedy
JenniferKennedy@barberinstitute.org

The band is back together.

Thank you to everyone who read our piece last week, Through Rose-Colored Glasses. It was the first thing we had written together in a little over a year. Since the piece was published, I have been asked multiple times, you both are so good on your own, why do you need a partner?

That’s easy. Because as Aristotle once stated, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” There is nothing better than a tag team, especially when they capture the imagination and form that special bond with one another. The world of sports entertainment was changed forever when Shawn Michaels and Triple H brought their backstage friendship in front of the cameras and formed D-Generation X in 1997 and again to bigger success in 2006. But to them, it was never about gold, it was about two pals, having a blast, dominating competition and revolutionizing what they did in an industry (WWE, 2012).

As professional collaborators, we are connected in everything we do. Our common foundation is professional, but our collaboration goes far beyond that. At our core, we are friends. We have an undeniable chemistry in both shared values and compatible personalities that makes our bond special. Our relationship is best characterized by trust, reciprocity and support. Trust is crucial professionally because our reputations are at stake for what we produce. However, at the end of the day, the support we provide to one another is important because of the imprint it makes on our professional and personal lives.

When it comes to compliance, the right team is everything. According to Gottschalk (2013), talent alone does not ensure that an individual will excel to their fullest ability within a specific team and you need to pay close attention to the dynamics within the group that could derail motivation and eventual success. Compliance relies on teamwork.  It has to.  No one person could or should shoulder that much responsibility for an organization.  You can put talented people on your team, but if they’re not working toward a common goal and enhancing and utilizing each other’s unique skill sets the team, and compliance, will fail.  In the world of compliance, I’m always on the lookout for people who can add to the work my team does.  These are talented people, but more importantly, they need to enhance, not detract from, the work of the team.

Happy collaborations between talented individuals are a two-way street. Although a team relationship may prove successful — talented individuals still opt to leave, both physically and emotionally. But there are those rare people throughout your career who you will remain connected to regardless of distance. These are the professional relationships to invest in. We hope you find your tribe.

As for us, we acknowledged that the work is better together; because we see our relationship as a collaborative work of art (Catron, 2015).

As we stated, the band is back together. But in retrospect, we never really split.

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References
Catron ML. (2015). A Better Way To Talk About Love. TED Talk. Retrieved January 11, 2017 from http://www.ted.com/talks/mandy_len_catron
_a_better_way_to_talk_about_love/transcript?language=en
Gottschalk, M. (2013). When It Comes to Talent, the Right Team is Everything. Retrieved January 28, 2017 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20131025131455-128811924-when-it-comes-to-talent-the-right-team-is-everything?trk=v-feed&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ap_flagship3_feed%3BQOrpTQ6qzFD%2BWKCqL6THgQ%3D%3D
Re-ranking WWE’s 50 greatest tag teams (2012). Retrieved January 28, 2017 from
http://www.wwe.com/classics/top-50-tag-teams-in-wwe-history/page-42