The Collaboration Conundrum in the Circular Economy

The Collaboration Conundrum in the Circular Economy 🧩 ♻️
"Collaboration!" echoing through conference halls, panel discussions, and seminars on the circular economy often seems to be declared as the magic bullet which will push us towards a more sustainable future.

But do we really know what we mean by collaboration? 🤔

Is it just that we work together? Or is it the outcome of that? Is it that simple?

We can probably agree that true collaboration, especially in the complex world of the circular economy, is not as straight forward as it might seem. It's not just about putting a group of people together and getting them to work on a problem.

True collaboration emerges from the diversity of individuals, their unique knowledge, and varied industry experience coming together.

And here lies the challenge. There's a common assumption that putting together a team and setting a goal automatically leads to collaboration. The reality is often quite different. Power dynamics, conflicting interests, and differing visions often paint a different picture of the process.

Every member in a collaborative effort brings with them not just their expertise but also their biases, preferences, and personal goals. So, how do you navigate these waters? How do you harness the potential of collective brainpower while sidestepping the potential issues of group dynamics?

Here is a misconception though: With collaboration, we somehow picture a fun, democratic process, where a team unanimously arrives at the ideal solution.

Reality check – that's often not the case. And more importantly, it also doesn’t have to be. In the end, collaboration is about the results and not about a therapeutic group hug… Well, in the best case, it can include that, too 😉

Collaboration often means that participants share their ideas with the others, have their voices heard, and participate in solution-building, but also understand through this exchange why certain decisions are preferred over others. Because in the end, decision-makers must still make challenging calls and set the course.

It is this process that interested me for the topic of my MBA thesis, which gave me the opportunity to deep dive into the topic of decision-making for a circular economy in the AEC and real estate sector and come up with a process that guides it along so we can get the best out of our collaboration efforts.

Do you want to learn more about this subject? Follow me and join me on a series of posts to untangle the intricacies of collaboration in the circular economy and hear about some of the tricks I learned about it so we can pursue the true potential of collaboration in our journey toward a circular economy. ✨🔄