Crash course in collaboration: How to collaborate for systems change

Philanthropic foundations are combining resources to tackle grand challenges and increase impact. Here are six simple learnings for all organizations looking to forge partnerships with others.

1. Embrace trial and error

Start without a strategy and allow yourself to evolve through experimentation and learning, rather than establishing a fixed, over-arching approach that might require significant effort to get underway or create tensions within the partnership.

2. Bring the decision-makers to the room

Make sure that people of similar rank are involved in the collaboration from the start, and throughout the project. If one partner sends a junior figure to attend meetings, it can give the impression that they are not taking the initiative seriously. It also risks making decisions that don’t get the approval from HQ, derailing the partnership, and undermining future decisions.

3. Choose like-minded partners

It’s key to partner with organizations who share the same big-picture goals and who have a positive attitude towards collaboration and collegiality.

4. Set clear boundaries

Parties need to be mindful of the boundaries in terms of what they contribute through collaboration versus what is managed within their own organizations. Establishing clear boundaries is essential to avoid creating overlaps or misunderstandings.

5. Trust your partners and take risks together

In successful collaborations, partners must trust and support each other, be willing to compromise and acknowledge that no one has all the answers.

6. Appoint a dedicated coordinator

Make sure to have a dedicated coordinator who is pulling everyone together, harmonizing things, and identifying where people have different opinions.

Peter Vogel

Professor of Family Business and Entrepreneurship and Director of the IMD Global Family Business Center

Peter Vogel is Professor of Family Business and Entrepreneurship, Director of the Global Family Business Center (GFBC), and Debiopharm Chair for Family Philanthropy at IMD, where he leads the Leading the Family Business, Leading the Family Office, and Lean Intrapreneurship programs. He is recognized globally as one of the foremost family business educators, advisors, and academics, and has received numerous awards and distinctions. He is the author of the award-winning books Family Philanthropy Navigator and Family Office Navigator.

Malgorzata Smulowitz

Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Debiopharm Chair for Family Philanthropy at IMD

Malgorzata Smulowitz is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Debiopharm Chair for Family Philanthropy at IMD. She has published work on numerous topics including family philanthropy, cohesive giving, the use of blockchain in philanthropy, and impact data management. She holds a PhD in economics, management and organization from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.