Collaborating on Challenges

I believe the most imminent and critical issue that we as professionals must face is to live and work more sustainably. Sustainability encapsulates a range of areas that need to be improved through innovation, critical thinking, and leadership in the public and private sectors. Advancements in renewable energies, performance buildings, sustainable urbanism and infrastructure, biodiversity and community-based economies are just some areas in the greatest need of leadership, collaboration, and ingenuity. Recent trends in capitalism have lead some institutions to become possessed with a robber baron mentality that has manipulated industries and dictated economic direction. As stated in Ethics in Business: Is the balance of Personal Values with Capitalistic Business Principals Possible?, corporations are not socially conscious and have “minimalist interpretations of corporate responsibility” externalizing damages to people and planet. Disregard for external consequences has resulted in alterations to the planets climate that will likely have detrimental effects for all of Earths’ species.

In addition to the enormity of the environmental concerns that must be addressed, social issues are equally as dire. Labor exploitation, wealth inequality and dismal economic mobility can be attributed to the wealthiest class orchestrating self-prosperous policies that have created an imbalanced economic landscape. A vigilant, versatile, and interdisciplinary force is required to combat these critical and impending issues. As world citizens and strategic communicators we are obligated to reeducate and reform these systems to enhance our quality of life and avoid catastrophe.

The abundance of economic, social, and environmental problems will necessitate actions of varying scale. As communicators we must conduct a cycle of comprehensive analysis, planning, and implementation to find the most effective solutions. In the pursuit of solutions to these complex problems professionals must first fully comprehend the problem by investigating all data and perspectives. A communication professionals’ role is to reach out for expert knowledge, and facilitate the collaboration of diverse expert perspectives in a to crusade to find solutions. Dr. Harold Nelson expressed that professionals can use systems thinking to navigate the complexity of a problem and discover insights. Applying new insights to the expertise of the collaborating professionals can result in innovative new methods of action. Communicators must facilitate these diverse professional networks to foster and catalyze designed action.

As communicators, designers, and strategic thinkers it is our responsibility to participate and coordinate these collaborative teams who can design collective action. Incorporating multiple disciplines to address a problem, communication professionals must serve as the catalyst for synergy. These collaborative teams often lead to experts synthesizing their knowledge, enabling them to more widely share their enlightened perspective. According to the report, Collaboration and Generations within Organizations, “Some, who hold collaboration as a top priority define it as “harnessing human skill, ingenuity, and intelligence more efficiently and effectively”. It is imperative to acknowledge how collaboration fosters organizational development and ingenuity. Acting as the idea and action catalyst, strategic communicators must coordinate these mission-based teams to proactively generate solutions. The multitude of current issues requires a variety of individuals to take action, as strategic communicators we are uniquely positioned to design and coordinate these necessary initiatives. As stated by Meg Wheatley, “Change must start with the individual, not society” . Her statement verifies that as strategic thinkers we have the potential to ignite major change through our ideas and organized actions.

-Dean Simms-Elias