Just as teamwork, discipline, and passion create musical harmony, building a successful innovation ecosystem requires coalition leadership to unite different organizations around shared goals. This collaborative approach, based on trust and alignment, creates bigger impact and sustainable growth, as seen with Startup Atlantic on Canada's East Coast.
I have spent my life immersed in music. From an early age, Mom would have us singing in the car to pass the time. At school it was clarinet lessons, playing in the concert band and singing in the choir. These days my musical efforts are focused on learning to play the ukulele and jamming with the neighbours. What I love about music is that being in harmony puts me in a state of flow and alignment with others and with my surroundings. In the same way I love the harmony of music, I also love helping communities and companies to build consensus around things they find exciting.
Music takes teamwork, discipline and passion. I believe the same principles ring true when we consider ecosystem building. Building something greater than the sum of its parts is about building team trust, working toward shared goals, and coming together for the good of the whole. It’s about harmony.
To create a high-functioning ecosystem with shared priorities, we need what we call ‘coalition leadership.’ Let’s take a look at the essentials and success factors of coalition leadership, along with an example of successful coalition leadership worth singing about.
Benefits of a coalition
In the context of ecosystem building, a coalition is a group made up of two or more organizations who agree to act together to achieve a shared economic development vision. The coalition offers its members several advantages over performing as a solo act.
Coalitions can:
Coalitions are most effective when they play the long game, planning and accomplishing wins that will help them achieve success far into the future, rather than only thinking about present or near future gains. The result: incremental and sustainable innovation, the kind of innovation that sticks.
Defining and creating success
Success can be defined in many ways when it comes to ecosystem building. A country looking to build a vibrant innovation ecosystem may measure success using economic growth metrics such as GDP or job growth, for example, while a company enhancing its internal innovation ecosystem may look to patent applications or internal culture metrics. We typically see the metrics iterate as the ecosystem matures, circumstances change and new priorities emerge.
Regardless of the success metrics, there are four universal factors that predict success:
Ecosystems are highly dynamic and require constant renewal. Just as bands rehearse, coalitions need consistent practice as well. Convening regularly (ideally face to face when feasible) for collaborative planning builds relationships that serve as the glue that holds the coalition together.
Why coalitions fracture
Coalition members must be clear about their desired role and level of commitment out of the gate. If they approach the coalition exercise as a competition (even when traditional “competitors” are part of the coalition) they have doomed the partnership from the outset. As with any relationship, transparency is crucial. Duplication of effort, mixed messaging, and public disagreements will derail a coalition.
Coalition leadership requires an abundance mindset. A scarcity mindset focuses on what's lacking, seeing resources and opportunities as limited and presuming a win/loss outcome amongst the partners. An abundance outlook emphasizes growth and opportunity for everyone. Coalitions that stumble often see members looking to gain individual advantage versus create mutual and community advantage.
This work is not easy. It requires all players to park egos at the door, join sometimes uncomfortable conversations, and believe in the coalition’s potential even when there are challenges. Collaboration can be messy, but is essential to the growth process. To prevent an off-key moment, all parties must:
Strong coalitions seek to find common ground. This means actively identifying solutions that can accommodate the needs and interests of all members as well as celebrating and advocating for the coalition’s goals publicly and within each member organization. A framework, such as the NorthGuide Coalition Leadership model, can help set coalitions up for success.
StartUp Atlantic: Boosting economic growth on Canada’s East Coast
Canada’s Atlantic provinces have a proven track record of using collaboration and cooperative models to drive economic development in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, and manufacturing. In March 2023, looking to tackle a coordinated start-up ecosystem strategy as their next challenge, a broad group of organizations in Atlantic Canada’s four provinces gathered with NorthGuide experts to build a 5-year vision. The new collective worked to identify key gaps and opportunities within the region, build a brand, and surface shared priorities in the form of innovation projects. Startup Atlantic became the vehicle for this ongoing collaboration.
With its vision to create a well-coordinated ecosystem that supports founders and to be known globally as a great place to start and grow businesses, Startup Atlantic exemplifies the importance of teamwork in coalition building. Building a cohesive and collaborative community is more than a great tagline. It took - and continues to take - hard work. “Frank conversations” and “honesty and trust” were embraced in the group’s Guiding Principles and are practiced in reality. With diverse players generating a shared vision, set of priority actions, and a path to collaborative pilot project work took diligence and open mindedness. In its own words: “It takes a village to raise a start-up.” (It takes one to build an ecosystem too).
Infamous for their kitchen parties - celebratory gatherings that emphasize storytelling, music, and heartfelt communion - our Atlantic provinces serve as a beacon in what can feel like a divisive time in our global history. This cooperative spirit is showcased in collaborations such as Startup Atlantic, where a multi-province team effort took cooperation from good intentions to a results-driven ecosystem worthy of celebration.
NorthGuide specializes in building economic strategies that create lasting growth and resilience. Our experience runs deep — we've helped build thriving innovation and tech ecosystems across Canada, and beyond, with strong economic results, working with governments, industry leaders, and community organizations to turn vision into reality. Reach out to NorthGuide for guidance on how to set your coalition up for success. Our Coalition Leadership Model is tested and true, and our ecosystem experts are ready to help you navigate the process.
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