Cutting Through the Complexity: A Roadmap for Effective Collaboration

“The Five Cs” for successful collaborations, which are key to addressing the complex social and environmental challenges we’re up against, include: 1) clarifying purpose, 2) convening the right people, 3) cultivating trust, 4) coordinating existing activities, and 5) collaborating for systems impact.  These process points are remarkably consistent across collaborations, even if the focus and activities of collaborations differ. And this is largely because they help collaborators navigate the personal, political, cultural, and organizational dynamics inherent in working in collectives. A few additional items are also critical for successful collaborations, including formal governance (e.g. for timely decision making) and structures that operationalize collaboration (e.g. RE-AMP’s Action Network).  Also key to healthy collaborations are strong coordination, including roles responsible for constantly sensing and responding to the emerging needs of the collaborative as it evolves, and – wait for it – funding that supports collaboration without restricting or controlling its path