Myers University is host to I-Open Midtown Wednesdays forums. Dr. Banjac is unable to attend the June 28th meeting and has sent this letter to meeting attendees:

Date: June 16, 2006

To: Innovation Zone Participants

From: Joyce A. Banjac, Ph.D. Dean of the McDonald School of Business, Myers University

Re: Polycentric Partnerships: What? Why?

Myers University and I-Open began an open, almost serendipitous, conversation that led to an innovative partnership model, a framework poised to make a difference in the lives of individuals, organizations and the community we call home. Intuitively, we understood the power of collaboration and strove to leverage the dense social capital networks fostered by I-Open with our brand new university facility to yield innovation in our Mid-town zone.

A partnership pitch sounds like motherhood and apple pie. Collaboration and partnerships are good for business, and, when implemented correctly, can take you where no amount of competitive posturing can. However, despite these obvious partnership platitudes, most of us relish control and are reluctant to relinquish even a morsel of it. Control feels good and brings results. Control lets us flaunt our stuff. Even the knowledge is power stance is nothing more than a control freak dressed in fancier verbiage. The opposite condition is one of being out-of-control, a decidedly unappealing option, an image of a berserk boss or a violent act of nature coming to mind. But there is a third way—something between total control and a complete loss of control that may actually be the path toward productive partnership collaborations. And it is the third way that allowed Myers University and I-Open to cooperate and to leapfrog the hurdles and barriers that stand as roadblocks to any fledgling partnership. These roadblocks include conceptual and pragmatic misunderstandings, as purposes, processes and desired outcomes may be initially at odds.

To succeed in any cooperative endeavor, the notion of control must be reframed and reconsidered. A polycentric partnership model transforms the locus of control. It is based on the premise that any cooperative agreement or partnership will have multiple centers of authority or control, and that each actor and agent will have a central, albeit, overlapping role. This means that mutual respect and trust must be developed and reciprocated by both parties at the onset in order for the partnership tree to bear fruit.

The knowledge is power mantra is still true today, only if our knowledge is shared freely and widely, acting as a force or catalyst for change. We now know that knowledge resides in networks of social relationships, and strong interpersonal ties promote the transfer of complex, tacit knowledge, and even weak connections can engender straightforward knowledge transfers. These social connections foster collaborative action, one of the important aspects of post-modern capitalism, increasingly relevant as we struggle with complex social problems that transcend nations.

The paradox is this: In a highly technological world that operates on warp-speed, polycentric partnership building takes time to build. Trust is the ingredient that fosters collaborative knowledge transfer, and building it cannot be rushed, nor squeezed into our 24x7 day. Trust takes a very long time to build, but can be destroyed in just a moment, so as you learn to loosen the reins on control and unilateral authority, you will need to refine the fine art of listening and acting with integrity and concern for your partner. A polycentric partnership model rewards those who are patient, and for those who wish to rush to collaborate, it is better to simply wait.

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