Foundations for a Collaborative Culture

Imagine that you have started a new leadership position. You sponsor one of your company's most important transformation initiatives this year, and you know that collaboration is essential.

You know your organisation and stakeholders well. Still, you ask yourself as you get started, who are my stakeholders right now, and how important is each of them?

Who do I need to interact with to succeed, and who needs my help to succeed? Do I already interact with them or am I not interacting with them at this point?

You know it is critical to ask yourself these questions because it will, without a doubt, impact your efficiency and access to information.

Exploring Relationship Dynamics

There are many ways to explore your network and its relationships. The most important thing is to do it in a way that feels meaningful to you.

Here are some perspectives you can include as you map out your network;

• Who are your collaboration partners?
• Who are the contributors?
• Who are the influencers? 

To explore what kind of relationship dynamics exist, you can ask yourself these questions;

• Do you know who is asked for advice, news or support? And who asks who?
• Where in your network do you know that trust is strong?
• Who are your influencers and motivators that inspire and motivate?

Many theories, such as organisational network analysis, social network analysis, and the human element, encourage a conscious approach to your network and its relationship dynamics.

Success happens through collaboration, even if sometimes you might think that it is better to do things yourself.

After you explore the relationship dynamics in your network, you know where to put effort into building strong relationships. For this to happen it is essential that you establish a culture of transparency and courage.

Transparency and Courage

Transparency and courage start with knowing yourself. Awareness of yourself when leading an initiative, knowing what kind of roles you are comfortable with, what kind of roles you are less comfortable with, and where you are experienced or less experienced can help you navigate with more ease and flow.

We all have blindspots. To become aware of your blindspots, create a lifeline and observe your life in seven-year intervals. Use this perspective to identify patterns regarding the roles you prefer in different groups. It could be with your parents, siblings, extended family, friends, schoolmates or colleagues. Exploring this is taking a conscious approach to your own patterns and becoming more aware. An awareness that can help you navigate the relationship dynamics in your network more effectively.

Once we begin to understand our own roles and blind spots, we can also recognise how defensiveness plays into our team dynamics. This leads us to the next challenge: How do we create a culture that embraces openness instead of fear?

Defensiveness and Culture

Defensiveness is a natural way for us to protect ourselves. We might have fears of rejection, judgment or not being good enough. You might know by now where they come from. Knowing this is a natural human response helps us recognise that our responses will influence our culture, environment and effectiveness.

Cultural Zones

Let me ask you this… Have you ever been in a conversation where you felt like you couldn’t really be YOU? Where you were holding back—maybe just a little afraid of how you might be judged or whether your voice would even matter?

Pink Zone

That’s what we, in Radical Collaboration® call the Pink Zone… It’s like being stuck in the middle, unsure if you are truly safe to speak your mind. The Pink Zone is not a bad place to be.

It is fine. At least on the surface, you are getting by, making small talk, checking off your to-do list. The Pink Zone is super comfortable. But it is also limiting, because you are not fully engaged. You are not bringing your WHOLE self to the table, and neither is anyone else.

So, yes, you can collaborate here, but it is surface-level.

Red Zone

Now, let me tell you about the Red Zone. This is the place we ALL want to avoid. The Red Zone is when you feel the tension rise. Your body gets tight, your mind starts racing. There is conflict, defensiveness. People are on guard. Every word feels like a potential landmine. You know that feeling, don’t you? When you are in a meeting, and you just KNOW… this is not a place where I can speak freely.

I once worked with a team that struggled with trust. Meetings were filled with guarded responses, and employees hesitated to share concerns. This was a classic Red Zone environment. By introducing open communication and shifting behavior, they moved into the Green Zone—where people felt safe to speak up.

We have all been in the Red Zone at some point, and we all know it is exhausting.

Green Zone

But there is another place, a place we all want to be. That is the Green Zone. This is the space where you can breathe and feel heard and understood. It is where you are encouraged to show up as your full, authentic self. And when you do that. When you are in the Green Zone something incredible happens. Collaboration flows. Ideas come to life. Trust is built. In the Green Zone, people lean in. They support each other. They are not afraid to be open, vulnerable, and REAL.

This IS the place where the magic of collaboration really happens. And the important question you need to ask yourself is, where do you find yourself most of the time?

Do you want to stay stuck in the Pink Zone—where you are just getting by, where everything is ‘fine,’ but nothing truly grows? Or worse… Do you want to be trapped in the Red Zone, where communication breaks down, collaboration crumbles, and relationships feel like they are constantly on the edge? Or… Do you want to create a Green Zone. A place where YOU thrive, where your team thrives, and where your entire organisation reaches its fullest potential?

Pause for a moment and think about your last team interaction. Where were you? The Pink Zone—comfortable but surface-level? The Red Zone—defensive and guarded? Or the Green Zone—where openness fueled trust? Awareness is the first step. Your next step? Choose one small action today to stay in the Green Zone.

And I am sure you will agree if you have ever experienced the green zone. Once your organisation steps into the Green Zone, you will stay and put in that extra effort. This is not a place you will leave.

As a sponsor of the most important transformation initiative in your organisation this year, you know now, that this is where your power lies. It is not just in strategies and plans. It is in creating a culture where openness and trust is what gives collaboration that extra fuel.

How to create a green zone culture?

Now that you know the power of the Green Zone, you might ask yourself; How do I create this environment?

According to The Human Element and Radical Collaboration®, there is one key ingredient that makes this truly possible. That is truthfulness and openness. This is what creates trust, connection and deep relationships.

The challenge is that it is not easy to be open. You might have fears, insecurities, and barriers that hold you back. This is visible in your behavior and it influences how you behave with regards to inclusion control and openness. Three dimensions that helps us understand how people function individually, in relationships and within an organisation.

The importance of Self-Esteem

What we are really talking about when we are influenced by fears, insecurities and barriers is our self-esteem. It is also an assumption within the human element that poor teamwork does not come primarily from differences among members, but rather from rigidities, what happens when we get stuck on some opinion or behaviour because of an underlying fear.

Therefore, all organisations should see it as their main task to optimise self-esteem for their employees. As a minimum you could ask yourself, what would happen if I as a leader started to optimise the self-esteem of the people I interact with?

Because, when people have low self-esteem, are defensive or become fearful, they also become rigid. and to dissolve rigidities and improve teamwork we have to create a space where fears can be dealt with openly and truthfully.

If you want to dive deeper into how to create a Green Zone culture in your team, let’s connect—this is exactly what I help leaders develop in the coaching and training I do.

Sources: The Human Element and Radical Collaboration®