Collaboration: Flourishing Together
As you read this, I am wrapping up my time in the Philippines, where my sabbatical has been a time of listening, learning, and paying close attention to how people and communities function together. One thing is certain: we flourish best not in isolation, but through collaboration.
True collaboration is not simply cooperation or dividing up tasks. It is a commitment to interdependence—to shared leadership, shared responsibility, and shared purpose. It asks us to move beyond the idea that any one person is essential to everything working well.
One of the reasons I chose to take this sabbatical was to intentionally counter "founder syndrome." My stepping away for a time is not an act of disengagement; it is an act of trust. It is a clear statement that the Momentum Center does not require my constant presence to succeed.
We have a resilient organizational structure. We have a phenomenal team of employees and volunteers. We have shared values, shared decision-making, and a deep bench of wisdom and care. Everything is truly in good hands— exactly as it should be.
In the TED Talk below, Lorna Davis shares "A Guide to Collaborative Leadership." Davis challenges the idea of the “hero leader” and instead lifts up a model where leadership is distributed, relational, and rooted in trust. In this view, collaboration isn’t something leaders allow—it’s something organizations are intentionally built to sustain.
That idea resonates deeply with me and it challenges me to reframe resilience not as an individual trait but as a collective one. To cultivate a culture where people speak naturally about shared responsibility, mutual care, and communal problem-solving. Where leadership is fluid, strength is shared, and progress belongs to everyone.
At the Momentum Center, collaboration shows up every day in ways that may not always be visible but are deeply powerful. When staff support one another through hard conversations. When volunteers bring their skills and ideas and then share them freely. When people experiencing barriers support each other's growth and accomplishments. This is what collaborative care looks like in practice.
My hope is that this time away continues to strengthen our shared work. That it reinforces what we already know to be true: sustainable impact is never built around one person. It is built through relationships, systems, and trust.
In a world that often celebrates individual achievement, choosing collaboration is a powerful, hopeful, and deeply human alternative. I invite you to notice where collaboration is already alive in your own life and work. Where leadership is shared. Where letting go might actually allow something stronger to emerge.
Thank you for being part of a community that believes in doing this work—together.
Namaste,
Barbara Lee Experi-Mentor Barbara@MomentumCenterGH.org |
