William Buist

When a child is born it starts an independent life, but is wholly dependent on its parents for many years, until it reaches the teenage years, where it seeks to shake off dependency and demonstrate its own independence. Soon enough though teenagers see the need for others and start to build relationships and interdependence with (rather than on) others by creating families, joining communities etc. This in an example of the human ecosystem.

When we talk about corporations (derived from a latin word – ‘Corpus’ meaning body) we allow through our laws for businesses to enter into contracts on the same basis as we would with an individual. Perhaps we should not be surprised that businesses too start life as highly dependent on others, and that they find independence as they grow, and then, in their own ecosystems, find the fellow businesses that will support them. They form synergistic groups and businesses become interdependent in an ecosystem comprising the markets, staff, suppliers, customers, associates, shareholders and partners with common fellowship, travelling on a shared journey.

The importance of the ecosystem for businesses.

No business can be an expert in all areas of its chosen markets. Expertise is earned over years of experience and the application of skills learned throughout our working lives. That then becomes complicated because the markets themselves, suppliers products and services and customers needs, all change around you. One way for businesses to meet these changing needs is to be large, and employ experts in many areas whilst learning and adapting to the changes through experience gained by servicing multiple clients. Being large enough and successful enough, means being an ecosystem in your own right.

Systems are introduced in organisations to support a common way of working and there is control over entry to, and exit from the organisation. Those are features of any ‘ecosystem’.

Most big businesses weren’t always big, they came to be that way by working hard and using expertise in the right places at the right time. When small, the areas of expertise that a single business can cover is limited by the expertise that exist within it, unless, of course, they exist with a collaborative group who can support each other and provide the expertise required at the right time.

Moving from independence to interdependence.

It’s worth thinking about the things that facilitate interdependence and then consider what lubricates the movement towards interdependence. Interdependence in the context of collaborating businesses means that each business is stronger because of the collaborations. The relationships that exist between the businesses allow all of them to act as if they were one, rather than many. In my own business, Abelard Management Services Limited, a number of interdependent partners collaborate to deliver to our clients.

As a group of independent businesses we could just compete with each other to deliver the same outcomes for each client. Each business would bring its expertise to bear and deliver to the best of its abilities, but by collaborating each task has the best expert from the group focused on delivery. That’s a better result for all the clients and that means more referrals and more repeat business in the group as a whole.

Building awareness.

Before any business would be prepared to partner with another and entrust their brand to others who are not subject to the stringencies of employment contracts, it’s almost inevitable that a relationship between the people involved will need to developed in order for them to deeply trust each other.

Nothing can happen until people are aware of you. Only by building awareness can we hope that others will get to know us and start the journey to trust, and partnership and trading. Most won’t stay with us for the whole journey, but none of the people who fail to start will be there at the end!

Building awareness is about being visible, within your chosen spheres, in your market and in the network of people that you know. Awareness of you attracts potential collaborators to get in touch and start conversations. Here is where you find the synergies, the overlaps and common ground, in the products and services that you have.

In my business a client who needed to tender for a supplier (as part of a project) where we could easily support them with elements of it led us to partner with another business for other elements of it. Their skills were a great complement to ours, neither of us could have supported the whole project as well individually as we did together, although either of us could have done it alone. As a result of our collaboration, we were awarded two other larger projects from that same client.

Developing community.

There is a point in the development of any business when it trusts its environment, and is prepared to reach out to others to start to form the relationships. Demonstrating a desire to work with others who may distrust your motives is hard, but being true to the end goal of mutual support and seeking the opportunities to work as a team will soon bring the rewards. The ecosystem evolves into existence, it doesn’t suddenly appear. Some will lead the way, others will follow looking for tried and tested results before they join in, and some will lag behind. That too is human nature.

The need for care and preparation.

All of that sounds like it’s a wonderful world where there is less need to undertake the usual checks that you would do in business, and over time that may be true, when trust is really strong. Until them, though, it’s worth retaining all the usual business controls such as due diligence, contractual agreements and clear financial structures.

When businesses work together the financial arrangements are often less clear. In our group we consider not just the costs of delivering the product, but the costs of Marketing and sales and the costs of operating the businesses themselves, where the costs of credit lie and who carries the risks. These aren’t simple questions and shouldn’t be left on trust. They need agreement and understanding if the ecosystem is to blossom, for without that level of understanding distrust can soon grow.

Government has developed the environment that allows these ecosystems to blossom, although that may be inadvertent. Changes in legislation to protect employees is pushing microbusinesses to learn to work in supportive, collaborative ecosystems without the need to employ others.

The Small business ecosystem is growing up

Now, our business could not survive in its current form without the ecosystem in which it operates, we’d fail to develop and grow as fast as we are and we’d fail to deliver the service we now can. Small dependent businesses have learned their skills and gained experience as independent organisations are now seeking others and collaborating in new ways. Their interdependence, whilst still adolescent, hides the truth of 21^st century organisations, not one or few, but many working with each other as one.

These changes are fundamental and radical, embracing it is critical and yet this new business ecosystem will evolve further and faster than most are prepared for. Looking back, in just a few short years I suspect most will wonder how we managed to survive today.

William Buist is director of Abelard Management Services, a consultancy specialising in improving team dynamics and performance. For more information visit www.abelard-uk.com

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