Habit #5 – Think Interdependently

Being able to work and learn from others in reciprocal situations, team- work.

“Take care of each other. Share your energies with the group. No one must feel alone, cut off, for that is when you do not make it.” – Willie Unsoeld

Human beings are social beings. We congregate in groups, find it therapeutic to be listened to, draw energy from one another, and seek reciprocity. In groups we contribute our time and energy to tasks that we would quickly tire of when working alone.

When the children we teach realise that all of us together are more powerful intellectually and physically, than any one individual, we are using this vital habit of Mind. Problem solving has become so complex that no one person can go it alone. No one has access to all the data needed to make critical decisions; no one person can consider as many alternatives as several people can.

Working in groups requires the ability to justify ideas and to test the feasibility of solution strategies on others. It also requires the development of a willingness and openness to accept the feedback from a critical friend. Through this interaction the group and the individual continue to grow. Listening, consensus seeking, giving up an idea to work with someone else’s, empathy, compassion, group leadership, knowing how to support group efforts, altruism – all are behaviors indicative of cooperative human beings.

Brigitte Theunissen / Deputy Head Academics