For us, collaboration is more than just working together for a specific purpose. It means overcoming institutional boundaries to work together towards greater goals. In a world characterised by complexity and polarisation, collaboration is a source of strength, learning and shared resilience.
But collaboration is also challenging: expectations need to be calibrated, tensions between individual and collective needs need to be navigated and workable agreements need to be made. Good collaboration is built on trust, communication and a shared set of values - while remaining flexible enough to meet the needs of everyone involved.
Collaboration is the art of making diversity productive. It makes it possible to develop solutions across borders for social challenges that no one could achieve alone. But this requires courage and the will to engage with the dynamics between people and organisations.
A collaborative attitude means letting go of competitive thinking and instead focussing on mutual learning and growing together. It requires openness and clarity - both in the organisation of relationships and in the structures and processes that support collaboration. Collaboration thus becomes a source of innovation, resilience and social change.