Collaborating with the Enemy

Posted on May 9, 2017
By Mark Cabaj

In his book, Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell, argues that the successful adoption of new ideas – and the beginning of social movements – depends on three things: the quality of the message, the credibility of the messenger, and the timing of the message. 

Adam Kahane Book Cover

In Collaborating with the Enemy: Working with People You Don’t Agree With, Like or Trust, author Adam Kahane may have fulfilled all three conditions for the countless people, organizations and networks working together to solve tough and complex challenges.

The timing of the book is impeccable. In a world of where many people prefer the simple world of polarized camps – where people meet only with those who share the same values, interests and opinions; demonize others; and, are willing to tolerate “alternative facts” – we all need a reminder that it is necessary and possible to work with very different values, interests and perspectives.

The messenger – Adam Kahane – is the right messenger.  There are few people in the world so intimately involved in trying to solve such a broad variety of tough problems, ranging from apartheid, drug wars, separatism, etc.  There are fewer still that share their insights and struggles, successes and failures, with such clarity and humility.

The implications of the message – that to find more effective ways of making progress on tough problems, we must seek to create stretch rather than conventional collaboration – are compelling. Drawing on his experiences in familiar and new change efforts across the globe, Kahane skillfully lays out three key features of stretch collaboration:

  1. While conventional collaboration tends to be organized around like-minded people trying to find ways to work in harmony, stretch collaboration requires us to engage with people who see the world differently and embrace – and creatively use – the inevitable conflict of perspectives and power that arise;

  2. While conventional collaboration typically seeks a single and elegant definition of the problem and one best solution, stretch collaboration encourages us to experiment our way forward with multiple options or possibilities; and,

  3. While conventional collaboration often emphasizes an arms-length to direct and/or change others, stretch collaboration requires us to “step into the game”, participate fully in the work, and be prepared to change ourselves. As Kahane has noted before, “Its tough to be part of the solution if you are not part of the problem,” and making progress on tough issues often requires us to adjust – sometimes radically our own views and behaviours. 

While Kahane’s exploration of stretch collaboration is compelling, he is careful to point out it is not always possible or even desirable. To this end, he explores three alternative strategies:

  1. Trying to change a tough situation unilaterally, without working with others, often by forcing others to “lose” and/or be changed

  2. Trying to adapt to a situation where the conditions for change appear too dim for the possibility of change

  3. Simply exiting a situation that we feel we can no longer cope

Would-be change makers that feel that they have too little power to collaborative effectively, or that collaboration requires too much compromise or is apt to yield too little progress over too long a period, should consider these options before they deeply commit to the difficult road of stretch collaboration.

In his earlier book, Solving Tough Problems, Kahane recounts a popular joke in South Africa that described two options - a practical option and a miraculous option - on how the country’s citizens might proceed with their difficult transition from apartheid:

  • The practical option was that everyone would get down on their knees and pray for a group of angels to descend from heaven and fix the situation; or,
  • The miraculous option was that people elect to talk with and work with each other until they found a way forward together.

In Collaborating with the Enemy, Kahane offers a miraculous framework for approaching collaboration that participants in the thousands of coalitions, collaborations, networks, collective impact initiatives in Canada – and the many more across the world – will find practical and inspiring.

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Topics:
Collective Impact, Mark Cabaj


Mark Cabaj

By Mark Cabaj

Mark is President of the consulting company From Here to There and an Associate of Tamarack. Mark has first-hand knowledge of using evaluation as a policy maker, philanthropist, and activist, and has played a big role in promoting the merging practice of developmental evaluation in Canada. Mark is currently focused on how diverse organizations and communities work together to tackle complex issues, on social innovation as a "sub-scene" of community change work, and on strategic learning and evaluation.

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