Why the Trapped Chilean Miners Know More About Collaboration and Partnering than We Ever Will

Everyone has been following the torturous and inspiring story of the trapped Chilean miners and the four-month challenge that awaits them. I remember when I first read that they had been found alive about a half-mile down. Each of the 33 miners had lived on two spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk, and a bite of a cracker. Every other day. The miners had stretched two days of rations out to over 17 days, and they still had some food reserves when they were found.

That's absolutely incredible.

How did 33 men, in the midst of panic, horror, and despair, come to such equitable agreement? How did 33 men actually organize a meeting in this disaster zone and calmly calculate the rationing model for all to follow? How did 33 men all commit to, and follow through on their plan so diligently and with such tremendous discipline?

These were not learned men, they were laborers with barely any education and certainly no facilitation, leadership, or convening skills training. Still, I doubt that a room full of the sharpest organizational thinkers, skilled professional facilitators, and teamwork specialists would have been half as successful. I'm sure some academic or consultant is going to write about how this mining story demonstrates the power and triumph of self-organizing groups. He will write this because he, like so many others, doesn't actually do anything himself, he just catalogs and ascribes theories to the actions of others. No doubt he'll come up with the five laws of self-organizing groups for long-term sustainability, or something equally annoying.

But if the miners decide to write their story, theirs is a book I would love to publish. It's not ridiculous to think this is possible. These men managed to reach consensus, understanding, and shared values and responsibilities while trapped in a collapsed mine. Writing a book together will be child's play by comparison.