Hi,
Halloween seems like the perfect moment to talk about something scary.
How to kill collaboration. π»
You might imagine it takes something dramatic.
A partner suddenly walking away.
A major conflict.
Someone breaking an important agreement.
Those things happen.
But over the years, in partnerships, consortia and innovation ecosystems, I have noticed something else.
Most collaborations are not killed by one spectacular mistake. They are weakened slowly.
A decision that keeps being postponed.
An assumption nobody checks.
Information that stays with one partner.
A meeting where everyone reports what they did, but nobody really works together.
A small frustration that everyone politely ignores.
None of these looks particularly frightening on its own.
That is exactly what makes them dangerous.
The behaviours that undermine collaboration often look perfectly reasonable while they are happening.
And when they accumulate, trust starts to erode. Decisions become slower. People protect their own interests a little more. Partners gradually shift from creating something together to simply coordinating their individual work.
By the time someone says, "This collaboration isn't working," the real damage may have started months earlier.
So I started collecting these patterns.
I ended up with 31 ways to kill collaboration, based on behaviours I have repeatedly encountered in partnerships, innovation projects and ecosystems. For each, I also explain how to recognise the pattern and what you can do to counter it.
Some are obvious.
Others might make you think: "Wait... we do that."
And those are probably the most interesting ones.
Because recognising these patterns is not about blaming people. It is about understanding what weakens collaboration and strengthening trust before real damage is done.
So here is a small Halloween challenge:
Think about one collaboration you are involved in right now.
- Which seemingly harmless behaviour could slowly be weakening it?
- And what could you change before it becomes a bigger problem?
If nothing immediately comes to mind, have a look at the full list. I suspect at least one title will feel slightly uncomfortable.
And if it does, that may be exactly the one worth opening first.
π Read all 31 ways to kill collaboration, and how to counter them
Warm regards,
Piet V.
P.S. No collaborations were harmed in the making of this newsletter. At least not intentionally. π
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