Ambassadors of Trust

The Illusory Ideal of Collaboration

Years ago I worked with a CEO who would bemoan the inability of his staff to see beyond their own function, project, or individual need. Exasperated, he'd say, "I'd give anything to have people who could work together for the greater good of the company." And yet, despite his best efforts, his team members continued to bicker, maneuver and manipulate, gossip, and protect their own turf.

Thanks to research conducted by Lynda Gratton (2014) and other scholars, the barriers to collaboration are well known. In a nutshell, most organizations operate in a state of perpetual change and uncertainty.

Through a Wider Lens: Democracy

That got me thinking. If the conventional argument for collaboration isn't compelling, maybe we should look at it through a wider lens. From this angle, using the widest lens possible, the most daunting challenge to collaboration comes into focus: the task of bringing diverse stakeholders together to solve the issues that plague our communities, nations, and planet. This is the challenge of democracy.

First, democracy is only as good as its institutions. It's the way we interact each day within our families, schools, churches, and organizations that determines the quality of a democracy.

Second, many believe the future of democracy is in question. A stable democracy "requires a degree of trust" in its institutions, and the turbulence, inequities, and conflict associated with our globalized world have begun to erode this "heritage of trust."

Reframing Democracy: "Respectful Struggle"

Sociologist Cynthia Cockburn studied several women's groups who were working to build collaborative relationships across ethnic boundaries. As Cockburn discovered, each group realized that no progress would be made without first taking the extraordinary effort to understand each other, which meant tackling difficult topics, confronting differences, exposing assumptions, and considering other perspectives.

Respectful struggle - two words that capture the dynamic essence of democratic practice.

A Call to Action - Collaborate!

I'd like to invite you to put your collective shoulders to the real work of collaboration. By this I don't mean the sanitized, corporate-sanctioned version of collaboration, but the courageous, roll up your sleeves, get in the ring, respectful struggle kind of collaboration.

In the grander scheme, collaboration may help us become what Czech philosopher and president Václav Havel called "ambassadors of trust in a fearful world."