Why you need a Fedora hat to build collaboration...

My job is about building collaboration between organisations. It's about getting organisations and people to work together on a project that they all believe in. Not because they have to, but because they want to.

The first feeling I get when I engage in a new project is not the feeling I got when I was an engineer starting a new design. It's not the blanc sheet feeling. It's not like the artist looking at a brand new canvas waiting for the first lines.

The fundament of collaboration is not built in an engineering way.

The first feeling I get is that of an explorer that discovers a new archaeological site. There's the surface, the obvious observations. However, the real value and understanding is hidden beneath layers of dust and soil. The people on the surface are not thinking of the hidden treasures. But just like the underground structures provide the foundations of the top layer, they shape their current behaviour.

My first job in building a fruitful collaboration environment is to discover the underlying structures. It's a careful process of dusting of layers of earth. It's about surfacing hidden walls and pathways. And when these structures are visible we need to figure out the story of them. That is the preparation that is needed to find the connections between people and organisations. Building up collaborative networks is, in most cases, not about creating new connections. It's about surfacing existing bonds that are forgotten on a conscious level.

Once the old connections are visible and the story that connects history to the current business situation, people recognise the common ground they have. This is were the building can begin, not a single moment earlier. The common history is a strong glue that provides the initial seed of trust needed to start building together.

This careful process of digging and dusting without damaging or changing the historical site requires a calm and observing state of mind. Once, a wise man said 'If you don't see beauty in another person, you didn't look long enough'. It's the same in digging for the roots of collaboration: 'If you didn't find roots for collaboration, you didn't look long enough'. The development of people, organisations and society evolved through interaction and collaboration and co-creation. Growth doesn't exist in isolation but in relations.

It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.

So, when I engage in a new project, I feel a bit like Indiana Jones. That's what it's about, I just needed a reason to wear that Fedora hat when walking in the board room of a brand new customer.

So long fellows!

Koen 'Indy' Vriesacker