Collaboration needs to be rooted in possibilities, not fear

Writing a weekly blog has its ups and downs. The downs include at times struggling to find inspiring content and dealing with the sometimes-empty comment areas.

Sitting at my desk mulling over what to write about this week, I decided to cast about the Internet.  Sure enough, I found a nugget that connected with my thoughts.

The nugget is a comment posted on a September 2010 Chronicle of Philanthropy blog written by Garvester Kelley, entitled Finding Incentives for Nonprofit Collaboration. Kelley has written a very insightful piece, and I plan to write about it in a separate blog.

stevenbert posted the comment.  I don’t know stevenbert, and I sliced the following excerpt from his full statement, which you can read on the link above.

….There is also the issue of why collaboration is important in the first place. When collaboration is rooted in what is possible rather than a place of fear and scarcity, success is more likely. When the motivation is not “We could save so much money!” but instead, “We can accomplish so much more together than separately,” change happens smoothly and gracefully and logically…….

Here!  Here!  stevenbert wherever you are!!!

What caught my eye was “We can accomplish so much more together…..”

My thoughts exactly.

My meditative thinking around this question began around two months ago—at a foundation convening, hosted by La Piana Consulting, the Tides Center and the Foundation Center.

The final session focused on taking a fresh look at challenges that face us all and create a dream initiative. My team’s strategy was around this question:  What can we all do together that we can’t do alone?  

We came up with a goal — a healthy baby — symbolic of lifting out of poverty. To get there, government, foundations, the community, business, and nonprofits must all work together. We acknowledged that to change outcomes, there will be significant roadblocks and that risk-taking would be necessary to transform the status quo. The reward, however, is beyond words — a healthy baby — who has every opportunity in the world to grow into the best person he/she can be.  This is why collaboration is important.

"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

What do you think?  Do stevenbert’s words inspire you?  Do the children in the photo inspire you?  Let the words flow and fill up the comment area!