Strategy:
Insights and perspectives
This page is work in progress.
The intention is to synthesize publications and their implications on collaborative strategy in a regenerative era.
The case for trust and collaboration
Besides the fundamental ethical and spiritual reasons for collaboration, sharing, generosity and love, game theory can provide us with arguments as to why and how it’s valuable to trust each other and collaborate.
‘The evolution of trust - an interactive guide to the game theory of why & how we trust each other’, provides playful and interactive insights into 3 enablers of trust and collaborative strategy1. Here are some additional reflections and prompts.
Start with love. Ideally, transactional thinking isn’t at the core and necessary at all. However, if some actors have different value systems:
Build trust with small and repeated interactions
The more interactions, the more it pays off to be collaborative. If we face an extractive, uncollaborative actor, we only get exploited once while enjoying abundant fruits of win-win situations with collaborative actors over extended times. In well-connected communities with good information flow, we also learn about the extractive actors more quickly and can avoid them.
Suggestions:
- Be extra mindful with whom you build mycorrhizal relationships. Choose the actors that also share generously. Identify signals of collaborative spirit. Understand track records and past actions.
- Prototype. Start small with experiments and explorations before deepening the collaboration and commitment with ‘the right’ collaborative actors.
- Prioritise long-term relationships with the outlook of mutual flourishing.
Create (bigger) win-wins
Trust and collaboration benefit from interactions that are synergistic (not zero-sum). The higher the synergy and win-win created by two collaborative actors, the bigger the incentive for collaboration, even when there are only few interactions. In the creative and innovation sector, where collaboration leads to better ideas, solutions that are better adapted to complex ecosystems and faster evolution, it is especially important to be a collaborative actor. You don’t want to be the isolated stakeholder that’s cut off from information and nutritious flows.
Suggestions:
- Play in the areas where there is a big potential. Focus on interactions that are highly synergistic and that create something far greater together.
- Lead with being a generous actor (until the other actor is exploitative)
- Focus on learning and evolving quickly: The value of what we can create in a future collaborative relationship is bigger than the value you can extract from me today if you are exploitative.
Forgive miscommunications and create a favourable context for a collaborative spirit
Sometimes, we make a mistake without any bad intention, or we experience a breakdown in communication. It might appear as if we are an uncollaborative party that’s selfish, steals or extracts from the larger good. However, all that happened was a breakdown of communication or the fact that we faced unfortunate circumstances that inhibited collaborative behaviour. As long as the ‘rate of mistakes’ is low and there is good intent and collaborative spirit, it makes sense to be forgiving - rather than ending up in a cycle of vengeance that hurts all collaborative actors in the long term.
Suggestions:
- Forgive the rare mistake of an actor while keeping the incentives for a collaborative spirit intact.
- Reduce the risk of miscommunications.
- Join ecosystems and communities that favour collaboration and that help identify the true intentions.
1 Building on ‘The Evolution of Trust’ by Nicky Case, game theory and personal reflections.
What is strategy?
Quotes
The essence of strategy is choosing to perform activities differently than rivals do.
Trade-offs are essential to strategy. They create the need for choice and purposefully limit what a company offers.
Competitive advantage grows out of the entire system of activities.
the competitive value of individual activities—or the associated skills, competencies, or resources—cannot be decoupled from the system or the strategy.
Insights for collaborative strategy
To thrive in the regenerative paradigm, we see each other as valuable co-inhabitants and lifeforms within a shared ecosystem. We understand ‘value’ in a broader sense. We do not aim at extracting the maximum profit but creating conditions conducive to life. We understand that only if the ecosystem thrives, we can thrive.
Our source of abundance comes from living our unique role and being a vibrant node in the network: Embracing our specific purpose in the ecosystem, bringing in our respective strengths, and continuously adapting our contributions.
We are a vibrant node in the ecosystem that circulates information and nutrients. We get more than enough resources (including financial resources) from being a valuable contributing force - always adapting, learning and being of service.
We are aware of trade-offs and the need to make choices. We choose activities that are synergistic and centre around our unique role. Our overall map of activities is complemented by the activities of co-inhabitants of our ecosystem, and is leading towards our vision.
We are aware of trade-offs and the need to make choices. We choose activities that are synergistic and centre around our unique role. Our overall map of activities is complemented by the activities of co-inhabitants of our ecosystem, and is leading towards our vision.
Like the tree in the forest, we absorb nutrients for our thriving. We ensure these nutrients enable life in and around our organism and that fruits are given back to the ecosystem. We only absorb as many nutrients as necessary and sufficient for our thriving - not getting into a mode of greed and endless growth (that’s cancer, which destroys its ecosystem).
We also understand that good things take time. The beech tree that grows slower, lives longer and flourishes for centuries1.
1 Netflix documentary: The Hidden Life of Trees", Peter Wohlleben