Investing in relationships and professionalism.

We know that collaboration is essential for organizations to respond quickly to change. And yet it is barren. Research shows that 70 to 80 percent of collaborations fail or do not lead to the desired results. According to Patrick Kenis, professor of public governance at Tilburg, there are three reasons for these failures: 1) there is no clear goal for the collaboration; 2) the people or organizations that are supposed to collaborate hold on to their own context and are unwilling to see the collaboration as a new structure; 3) sometimes there is actually no reason to collaborate at all.

Collaboration in nature

We humans find cooperation complicated, but animals have much less trouble with it. Look at birds flying through the air as a flock. They move seemingly effortlessly with each other in gigantic numbers. As soon as a bird of prey appears, the first bird to signal the bird of prey deflects. Without hesitation, the rest follow. There is close cooperation to outwit the danger, the bird of prey.

There are many examples in nature. Consider the little bird, the honeyguide, which has no problem finding honeycombs, but cannot open them. So it lures the honey badger, which demolishes the honeycomb with its sharp claws. Together they feast on the honey. Or watch the chimpanzees work together to extract hazelnuts from a jar. Even the distribution is fair; the chimp who gave the boulder gets three of the five nuts.

What can we learn from the animals? A common goal is crucial. Whether it is honey, nuts or safety, in nature that is enough. On closer inspection, we see other elements as well. The honeyguide is a fantastic tracker in finding honeycombs, while the honey badger has large claws to demolish the honeycomb. The goal is clear and there is a fair distribution of the yield. Among chimpanzees, trust plays an important role. One chimpanzee gives the boulder to another knowing that he has no certainty of getting a nut. In fact, there is a shot between the two chimps. The swarm of birds shows that in addition to trust, clear agreements are also important. In the swarm, the agreement is that when a bird changes direction, everyone follows without hesitation. Only by reacting immediately can they maintain their safety.

Learning to cooperate between organizations

Collaboration can therefore go without saying, provided a number of conditions are met. In recent years, much research has been done on the success factors for cooperation. In 2013, Edwin Kaats and Wilfred Opheij wrote the management book of the year, “Learning to Collaborate Across Organizations.” This model lists five factors that are important for collaboration:

• Joint Ambition: Ambition is valuable and meaningful to all involved and contributes to the realization of one’s own ambitions.
• Sincere interest: Interest in each other’s interests and a willingness to discuss them. Different interests are okay, in conversation you look for common interests.
• Good relationship: A good relationship between collaborators determines success. A process facilitator who does not work for one of the parties can help.
• Professional organization: Collaboration must be professionally organized. Lack of clarity about form or resources can cause a collaboration to fail.
• Continuous attention: Continuous attention to the process of collaboration. Are we still on the right track or do we need to adjust the ambition?

Five pillars for team collaboration

Also known is Patrick Lencioni’s model for cooperation in teams. Lencioni names five pillars for cooperation in teams, summarized in a pyramid with result orientation at the top:

• Trust: The base of the pyramid. Trust that others have good intentions.
• Productive conflict: Room for dissent, leading to new insights.
• Commitment: Because the team has a common goal and makes clear decisions, commitment occurs.
• Accountability: Team members address each other and take responsibility because of trust, shared decision-making and commitment.
• Results orientation: Steering toward concrete goals.

A shared goal or ambition is crucial, but not always sufficient in practice. Sometimes an ambition remains meaningless.

Working together in practice

As Yolk, we are active in programs to improve collaboration between appropriate education and youth services. A wicked problem, a tough issue that cannot be solved by just one organization or individual. Sometimes as many as ten parties are involved in a child’s problems and often the family as well. All parties involved have the ambition “The child central.” They have even formulated an approach: a family or child, a problem, an approach, a direction. Yet sometimes things go wrong because “child centric” is not translated into action in the collaboration.

According to Patrick Kenis, in such cases, an organizational network is the solution. An organizational network consists of at least three organizations that individually are unable to address the issue. In the network, the organizations share information, resources and link activities and competencies. The network functions as if it were its own organization. This can also be the solution to complex issues such as problems of absenteeism and absenteeism in schools. Traditional cooperation is insufficient; an organizational network is needed.

Tough issues require new organizing

Collaboration is essential, and some scholars, such as Kenis, argue that today’s tough issues can no longer be solved without a new organizational model. They see salvation in organizational networks. Traditional organizations have no future in that thinking. Many organizations already have their hands full with more ordinary forms of cooperation. The vast majority of those collaborations fail, while cooperation is crucial for an agile and resilient organization. By learning from nature, understanding what makes collaboration successful and investing in good relationships and professional organization, we can increase the likelihood of successful collaboration.