Collaboration makes us grow tall – Lessons from the Giant Redwoods of California
The Giant Redwoods of California are gigantic. Each tree is over 100 metres tall and there is a forest of them. These are ancient trees, some over 1500 years old which makes them the oldest living things on this planet. It was truly humbling to stand under their shade. Crane your neck and you cannot even see the tops of the trees. How did nature create these wonders?
The Redwoods endured forest fires, earthquakes and high velocity storms, and yet they survived and thrived for hundreds and hundreds of years. How do trees that grow to heights of 100 metres plus and weigh over 700 tonnes, manage to keep themselves stable and steady in a storm?
That’s the burning question.
It must be because of the deep roots; that’s the obvious answer. Our mighty Indian Banyan tree which lives for hundreds of years grows to a height of 24 metres and its roots go down 3.50 metres. And we know that tall buildings need deep foundations. The taller the building, the lower you go. Logical. The statue of Liberty is 95 metres high and has a foundation of 16 metres. And my civil engineering friends tell me that for a building of 100 metres height – 30 stories – the foundation could go down to anything between 10 to 18 metres.
So the Redwoods must have deep roots? Nope. My assumption was wrong.
The roots of a Redwood tree go down just shy of 3 metres. That’s all. That’s nothing when you think of the height and weight (100 metres – 700 tonnes) that the roots need to support. Where does the tree’s stability come from?
The secret of the Redwoods is that their roots reach out sideways; they intertwine and interlock with the roots of the other Redwood trees in the vicinity. Can you imagine a huge network of roots lining the underside of the forest, each giant tree linked in some way or the other to every other giant tree! Some are linked directly and others indirectly, but the result is that they are inseparable. The intertwined roots create a system that supports each tree and enables it to stay stable, even in a storm. The tree gets the opportunity to grow to its full potential. Which is why you will never find a Redwood growing alone. It will always exist in a forest of Redwoods.
A perfect example of collaboration.
Aren’t organisations similar? We all talk about getting better at collaboration. Even the ICs (individual contributors) need to collaborate. The better the collaboration between people the higher the energy and synergy generated, and this enables the organisation to grow, to handle difficult situations better, whether it is predatory competition or external turbulence.
Are there great examples of organizational collaboration? Now that’s another story!
First published November 2022