Mutual reciprocity and collaboration
Pay it forward.
‘Mutual reciprocity’ is the formal term given to the behaviour where people or animals do things for others with an expectation that the favour will be returned in some way in the future.
Sometimes it’s an expectation and sometimes it’s just a hope.
Often we have clear expectations of an appropriate return and in other cases we are just enhancing the general social capital.
Sometimes, quite rightly, this kind of behaviour is seen as tacky, underhand or self-serving however Robert Cialdini writes in his book The Psychology of Persuasion that:
“to engage in this sort of arrangement with another is not to be exploited …but to participate fairly in the ‘honored network of obligation’ that has served us so well from the dawn of humanity”
Don Mayer (October 2005 Harvard Business Review) adds:
“So do what you can for whom you can: superiors, employees and peers alike. And remember reciprocity cuts both ways. Stab someone in the back and you’ll need lots of friends to help keep an eye on yours.
