Hi,
When I was younger, my parents insisted I take ballroom dancing lessons.
At the time, I was not exactly thrilled. It felt like one of those “you’ll thank us later” experiences that teenagers rarely believe in.
The funny part? Years later, my parents organised a big anniversary celebration. Plenty of music, plenty of people, and almost no dancing.
But that early dance lesson stuck with me in a surprising way.
Not on the dancefloor.
In innovation partnerships.
Good leadership is not about control
The basic rule you learn in dancing turns out to be surprisingly relevant for collaboration as well.
In ballroom dancing, one partner leads and the other follows.
But good dancing is not about control. It is about responsiveness. The lead adjusts constantly to the situation, the music, and the partner.
Innovation partnerships work in a similar way.
Many collaborations assume leadership is fixed. One organisation leads and the others support.
The strongest partnerships I have seen work differently.
Leadership moves with the work.
Sometimes the university leads. Sometimes the SME. Sometimes the corporate partner.
A simple question can already change the dynamic:
Who is best positioned to lead this part of the project?
When partnerships allow leadership to shift, collaboration often becomes much more natural.
I recently wrote a short blog about this idea and how the metaphor of dancing applies to innovation partnerships.
If you are working with partners across organisations, you might recognise some of the dynamics.
Warm regards,
Piet V.
P.S. I still dance occasionally. But the lesson seems to keep returning in unexpected places.
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