Page 105 - Harnessing the Strengths

88 ■ Servant-Leadership in the Intercultural Practice

regard to the practical applicability. The Coordinator has to
ensure that their ideas reach the team and that diverse areas
of knowledge are integrated. Considering their contrasting
objectives, the relationship between the Coordinator and
the Specialist(s) can often be stressful.
As mentioned earlier, the challenge for the servant-
leader is to bring all the different orientations in line with
each other in order to use the strong aspects of each side and
reach convergences, without frustrating the individual team
members. It is very important that he or she keeps the lines
of communication open between the different disciplines,
particularly because the biggest breakthroughs are often
those made at the interface between border areas. Convinc-
ing the Specialists to stay attuned to other Specialists, and
also to the people who want to make the product profi table,
is critical. Furthermore, the Coordinator has to have the
room to be able to adapt or shape the concept to the market,
so that the fi nal product can claim a worthy place in the
company’s offerings or product line.
It takes some creativity to be able to deal with the
tensions between the Specialist’s tunnel vision and the
commercial motivation of the Coordinator. It is up to the
servant-leader to get people to think beyond their old ideas
and be open to the new ideas and input of their colleagues.
When the Coordinator and the Specialists are able to suc-
ceed in joining forces with the intention of creating a new
synthesis, the stage is set for breakthroughs. A nice example
of this is NASA’s space voyage to the moon, a project that
required more than 100 technical specialists, and where the
coordinator’s role was obviously successfully fi lled.
However, if we assume that a Coordinator upsets the
Specialists by threatening to disregard their professional
input, then it is up to the servant-leader to reassure them by