Cooperation Is the Greatest Competitive Advantage (Part 2)

(Minghui.org) Part 1 ended with my understanding that cooperation is absolutely essential for the success of our efforts and projects. I think most practitioners know the Fa mentioned, and we all want an environment worthy of Dafa disciples working together to validate the Fa – an environment of trust, using everyone’s strong points and best ideas, open and direct discussion, accountability, swift execution, and more.

So what kind of approach should we adopt?

Validating the Fa

Master said in “Fa Teaching at the 2013 Greater New York Fa Conference”:

“By leading you all in doing Shen Yun, Master is in fact giving you a model.”

And in “Fa Teaching on World Falun Dafa Day” (2014) Master said:

“In terms of management and the way of doing things, since these were cultivators and at the same time it was a performing arts company, as for how to run it well and balance those considerations well, and what would be more suitable from a management standpoint, I gave it a great deal of thought before finally settling on an approach.

With regard to the whole process of doing this, I’ve in fact also wanted to show other Dafa-disciple-run projects: you can’t do things in a half-hearted way. I told them long ago that they should develop talent in-house. If you always need to be pushed to do things, then that’s no good, and you won’t do them well. At present, Fei Tian Academy is developing a limitless number of performers—a huge supply of talent. Just look at these couple of years: each year we establish a new [Shen Yun] company. And in terms of how things are managed, as you know, the cultivation states of Shen Yun Performing Arts’ members are excellent, except for those who were recently recruited from society and who don’t quite understand yet. Many have an excellent cultivation state. These are all things I’ve wanted other projects to see. Of course, the show requires a high level of skill, but in a short span of time we were able to quickly raise its profile, making it a world-class show. No other performing arts company can compare. And that’s because these are cultivators. But as it now stands, I can’t free myself from it and it keeps me very busy. Yet nobody would be able to take my place anytime soon.”

I believe that Master does not go into further detail so as to allow us, with regard to other projects, to enlighten to them ourselves. We can’t skip this step. We have to enlighten to and implement our understandings. In other words, we need to validate the Fa in this regard.

Otherwise, there may be a disconnect between a “theoretical” nebulous understanding of the need for cooperation, and our actual actions which still go against it. We would be knowingly, and repeatedly, making mistakes.

Master said in “Lecture at the First Conference in North America” (1998):

“Question: If someone enlightened to something but didn’t act accordingly, is that person still considered unenlightened on the matter?

Teacher: If someone enlightened to something but didn’t act well, he “does what’s wrong while fully aware.” It’s not that he didn’t enlighten to it. […]

Now you’re a cultivator, so you can’t knowingly do what is wrong all the time. You must pass the test sooner or later.”

So the heart of the matter is that it’s our responsibility to both:1. Understand the Fa: Truly recognize how important genuine cooperation is to our “bottom line.”2. Validate the Fa: Then figure out what it means in practice regarding our management approach, and then deliver.

We should conduct ourselves, and structure and run our business activities, in ways that intrinsically foster cooperation. Luckily, as indicated before, at the surface level there are already many relevant management practices and tools available in society for us to choose from, learn, use, and surpass. It comes down to really understanding the importance, and then it’s just hard, persistent work.

Focus

In a business-like project, it is important for the person in charge to know enough about everything, so as to be able to make informed decisions. It is an added value if he/she is also a consummate professional in sales, marketing, journalism, etc.

But to make his/her vision and direction a reality, he/she needs to build and grow a “winning team” (whose members should each be better qualified than the coordinator in the various disciplines of the business). The key ingredient to a winning team is cooperation.

So let’s become consummate professionals in fostering cooperation, and validate the Fa in this respect completely in our daily actions. We can do this by figuring out what fostering cooperation means in the way we conduct ourselves, in what skills we choose to master, in the structures and processes we build and maintain, in the way we set goals and measure progress, in the way we give feedback, in the way we run meetings, in our hiring, and in the way we promote or demote people, etc.

What’s Most Sacred

Master said in “Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art”:

“A perfect work of art with the presence of a God is what's most sacred.”

So a group of practitioners in a project who want to fully play their part, including the coordinator, need to cultivate diligently, as well as learn well all the earthly skills needed for their roles, and use both to create an environment of unconditional cooperation.

This environment would manifest at high levels, as well as down here in our earthly management methods and structures chosen and perfected by us. Thus we would be in accordance with the Fa in all realms from top to bottom.

The above are my limited understandings at my level. Please kindly point out anything that does not align with the Fa.