One of the biggest barriers to collaboration I’ve seen is holding to a mindset of "I've done my part" instead of "I'll do what it takes." It reminds me of the story of a cobbler who agreed to repair one side of a customer's shoe but noticed the other side was about to fail. Although he wouldn't be paid for the extra work, he faced a choice that every leader encounters: Do I do only what I'm compensated for, or do I do what's right? That same choice determines whether organizations thrive or become trapped in silos.

I have seen this dynamic play out repeatedly in organizations. One memorable example involved employees arguing over who should wash shared spoons in a laboratory. Every attempt to solve the problem with rules and schedules failed because the issue wasn't the process. It was the mindset. Everything changed when people stopped asking, "Is this my job?" and instead started asking, "What needs to be done?" When everyone takes ownership, collaboration becomes automatic.

This principle applies at every level of leadership. I've coached senior executives who felt they were doing more than their peers and wanted the other person to make the first move. My advice is always the same: be the one who breaks the cycle. Waiting for someone else to change only guarantees that nothing changes. Transformative Leaders role-model the behavior they want to see rather than demanding it from others first.

Real transformation begins when we stop measuring whether we're doing our fair share and start measuring whether we're making the difference that needs to be made. Going beyond the call of duty may not always bring immediate recognition, but it builds trust, inspires others, and creates a culture of proactive, enthusiastic collaboration.

Key Points

The story of the cobbler illustrates the choice between doing only what you're paid for and doing what’s right.
A 50-50 commitment focuses on completing assigned responsibilities, while 100% commitment focuses on achieving the desired outcome.
Silo mentality often begins when people define their responsibilities too narrowly.
Processes and rules cannot replace a culture of personal ownership.
Leaders must role-model the behaviors they expect from others instead of waiting for others to change first.
Collaboration improves when people ask, "What needs to be done?" rather than, "Whose job is this?"
Taking the first step often encourages others to follow.
Intrinsic satisfaction from doing the right thing ultimately outweighs external rewards.

Quotes

"The difference between success and failure is often the willingness to do what you won't be acknowledged or compensated for."
"Fifty-fifty commitment says, 'I'll do my part.' One hundred percent commitment says, 'I'll make sure the job gets done.'"
"The fastest way to change a culture is to role-model the behavior you want to see instead of waiting for someone else to go first."
"Stop asking, 'Is this my job?' and start asking, 'What needs to be done?'"
"Every organization has people waiting for someone else to take the first step. Transformative Leaders break that cycle."
"Go ahead and sew the fourth and fifth stitch, even when no one is paying you for them."

There was a cobbler and a guy came to him with his pair of shoes. And the cobbler took a look at the shoe and it was damaged on one side. And he told the guy it's going to take three stitches because apparently in those days they charged by the number of stitches. So this guy says, okay, it's going to take three stitches over here. It'll be really great. So the guy leaves his shoes and he's going to come back the next day. So the cobbler goes to work and he puts those three stitches on. and yeah, sure enough, it looks really good. But then he notices that on the other side, the shoe is about to fall apart and he's going to need to put on a couple more stitches. And so this cobbler wasn't very rich, he wasn't doing very well, and those additional stitches were going to cost him, but he couldn't charge the guy anymore because he had already quoted the price. So at this point, he was faced with this challenge of,
Do I actually give the guy the shoe because I've done everything that I said I was going to do? I'm going to charge him what I said I was going to charge him. Or do I actually go out of my way and fix the other side of the shoe because I know it's going to fall apart? And so the moral of the story there is that that's the question that we are often faced with. Do I only do what I'm going to be acknowledged for or what I'm going to be compensated for? Or do I go above the call of duty and do some things that I may not be compensated or acknowledged for simply because it is the right thing to do. The cobbler could have stopped right there and said, look, it is not illegal nor is it immoral for me to just give the guy his pair of shoes back. He's going to pay me what I asked for and I have done what I said I was going to do. Now, I run into this all the time in
my practice, and certainly in the many years that was in the corporate world, I saw it all the time, where the difference between success and failure, the difference between working in silos within organizations or working together collaboratively was whether we were willing to go out of our way or we were just really careful to say, okay, wait a minute, that's not our job, it's their job. This is not something that I'm getting paid for. That's what they need to do and so on and so forth, right? So in real life, I've seen many examples of this and some of you may have heard the story. I was a plant manager at one point and we had this one problem that as the plant manager, I got tied up in many times. People would pull me into this one issue and the issue was this, that in the lab, we had a problem. We had a number of spoons
And nobody would wash them. They would use the spoons and then dump them in the sink. And then the problem was, wait a minute, you didn't wash your share of the spoons. Well, you need to use it. You wash it. Now I washed mine. And so this problems of people are not washing spoons always would bubble up to the plant manager and I would have to go play referee. So they tried all kinds of things, right? They said, okay. I tell you what, on Mondays, I'll wash the spoons, and on Tuesdays, you wash the spoons. So they tried to structure this collaboration. They tried to put some structure and rules around this, but it still wasn't working. And it wasn't until we got real clear about this notion of being on the court versus being in the stands, about not waiting for somebody else to do their part so that we can do our part. It wasn't until then that we got real clear
That was the solution. Instead of trying to structure everything to make sure I don't do any more than I have to, what we're going to do is I'm simply going to do what needs to be done. And guess what? If everybody does that, then there is no problem. Then there is no inequity. And if one person doesn't do it in an environment like that, then they stand out and we can deal with that. But you know what the problem is, though? You say, okay, in theory, that sounds good. If everybody just always did more than they could, Nobody actually is going to end up doing more than they should. However, the problem is, how do I know that if I go first, that you're going to follow? I'm going to wait to make sure you do your part before I do more than my fair share. Well, guess what? They're waiting for you to do the same thing. So somebody has to break the cycle.
Therein lies the problem because I think what happens is many times we are in that position of saying, okay, you know what? Technically, I've done my part, right? And we have justification saying, hey, you know what? I've done enough to where if this thing doesn't go well, I have plenty of evidence to say I've done my part. But does that actually do the job? And this is the difference between 100% commitment and 50-50 commitment. 50-50 commitment is partial and conditional. It says, I'll do my part. But 100% says, I am concerned about making sure the job is done. Now, I have to tell you, this problem is pervasive. It goes throughout the entire organization. I've had coaching clients who were at the president, CEO, COO level who weren't getting along, and I was coaching them. And literally,
Their concern was, wait a minute, this seems a bit one-sided because it seems like I'm doing everything to make this work. And you know what? My response to them was, yeah, I know it feels one-sided to you. But guess what? It also feels one-sided to the other person because you both are expecting the other person to take the step. And I don't care how it looks to you. I want this to be one-sided as far as you're concerned. You take the steps and don't worry about the other guy. Because many times what happens is when you take an extra step, then other people will as well. So in your situation, whether you are the leader within the organization or you're working with your peers, and if this shows up, one of the best ways to break that cycle, to change that cycle, is to literally role model what you wanna see in other people. I know you're gonna be tempted to say, well, what if they don't follow?
You're going to be tempted to ask whether they're going to take advantage of you. But all of those things are cop-outs. Those are ways in which we talk ourselves out of taking a step forward. And then when things don't go right, when things don't work out, we blame everybody else. So my encouragement to you would be, as our friend the cobbler shows us in that story, to go ahead and do that fourth and fifth stitch, even though you didn't get paid for it. And you'll see that sort of mentality will permeate through the organization and people will notice. And whether you get extrinsically rewarded for it or not, it will be rewarding to you intrinsically. And you will come to know yourself as a person who is willing to go above the call of duty, even when it doesn't seem like it is in your personal best interest. Role model that kind of behavior
and witness the kind of magic that it creates in your organization. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Have you experienced it one way or another? What are you willing to try? Let's engage with this dialogue and see what's going on within our community relative to this topic and what people are thinking. What's been your experience? If you want to push back on it and say, you know what, in this kind of situation, it doesn't work. Okay, let's get into a dialogue. So I wish you a wonderful week. and I will leave it with you right here.