Collaboration is one of the great forces of progress. It’s how ideas grow legs, how projects scale beyond any one person’s capacity, and how innovation finds its footing. But like any good rhythm, collaboration ebbs and flows. People join in, bring their energy and perspective, and when the timing’s right, step back so others can take the lead.
And that’s not a breakdown of collaboration. It’s the natural beat.
Too often, we treat stepping away from a project as an ending, when really, it’s a renewal. Change in who’s around the table can open space for fresh ideas, new directions, and a bit of creative oxygen. The healthiest collaborations aren’t static; they evolve as people, priorities, and circumstances change.
At FFS, we’re exploring that rhythm more intentionally. Through our innovation ecosystems, we’re studying how shifts in leadership and membership can accelerate progress and, when handled well, can act as a push-off rather than a slowdown. Change brings new energy, and some of the most exciting innovations emerge when fresh voices and perspectives join the mix.
We’re also looking closely at what drives that change, what are the most common triggers of transition, and which drivers lead to the most meaningful transformation within an ecosystem? We know that diversity builds stability, adaptability, and resilience. But we also recognise that the most rapid growth often occurs when an ecosystem is tightly united in its purpose, with shared goals and aspirations pulling everyone forward.
And of course, we can’t talk about collaboration without talking about funding. When a funding source is exhausted, the practical reason for collaborating can sometimes seem to vanish. But as leaders, our job is to find new reasons and new value for collaboration beyond the financial. These non-financial metrics, trust, shared learning, community impact, and mutual capability, are often the hardest to measure, yet they’re the true indicators of long-term success.
It’s important to recognise that a change in funding or structure doesn’t mean a change in intent or mission; more often, it’s simply a change in delivery. Our challenge is to see those shifts not as endings, but as opportunities to rediscover what collaboration is really for.
At FFS, we’re working to understand how leadership transitions, membership changes, and evolving priorities influence the growth, rhythm, and resilience of innovation ecosystems and how these transitions can lead to innovations and unexpected outcomes.
If that resonates with you, we’d love to connect. We’re bringing together researchers, practitioners, and industry partners who share our curiosity about the evolving rhythm of collaboration and who see change not as disruption, but as creative renewal.
Because in the end, collaboration isn’t defined by how long we stay, it’s defined by how gracefully we help it continue. The best collaborations don’t slow down when people move on; they gather momentum, fuelled by new ideas, new energy, and a shared belief that the work matters more than the individual.