Saskia is a neighbour and collaborator - she was the first person to say 'yes' to my very confused and confusing request to work with her team re: growing innovation capability. I love Saskia's optimism and insistence that change is possible, that hope is not foolish. As someone who is often despairing, she reminds me that we can dream differently...in fact, that we must.
Collaboration over competition: Shifting mindsets to promote collective decision making.
In this interview, Baruk Jacob sits down with Saskia Verraes, Director of Impact at Sustainable Consultancy, Proxima and member of multiple impact-focused NGOs, to discuss her experiences in how collaboration creates change.
Article written by Jennifer Susanto
Saskia Verraes describes herself as a radical collaborator and optimist; she is a transformative leader and advocate for systemic change. Through her roles at Proxima and various NGOs, Verraes mentors and guides organisations towards embracing collaborative models and sustainable practices. She actively promotes a shift from competitive to abundance-based mindsets, emphasising the interconnectedness and holistic impacts of decisions. Her commitment to redefining traditional decision-making frameworks empowers her to develop more equitable and thriving futures together..
What is it that you are trying to shift/change in the world?
Saskia has held (and continued to hold) an incredibly diverse portfolio of social impact work. The core of everything that she is involved in is about, “enabling people and organisations to make more conscious and more well-rounded decisions.” Although most people may say that they want a thriving world or society, Saskia highlights that our decisions do not always reflect this belief. As part of her work, she seeks to bring self-awareness to the power we have and move beyond the traditional binary decision-making processes, emphasising that collaborative approaches make better choices.
What kind of context do you do that work in?
Saskia works in diverse settings, ranging from her duties with NGOs, consultancy through Proxima, and various mentoring roles. She believes that no one person can encompass entire decisions and that instead, “the more you have collaboration with diverse minds, the more likelihood you will hear the different impacts of your decisions.” By “bringing in and being conscious,” people are able to see perspectives and factors that otherwise would have been overlooked. She sees this in her own work whether it be combining scientific knowledge from climate change with lived experiences or sparking curiosity by questioning our daily habits. She showcases this effect by explaining how our emails have a carbon footprint. This observation can help us realise the impact that our most mundane actions can have on the world around us. By bringing consciousness to our decisions we are able to create more informed actions and therefore outcomes.
What gets in the way of making that change?
To Saskia, the resistance to change often stems from entrenched educational and cultural norms. She points out, "we’ve gotten used to the way we are thinking, educating through the Western lens." Approaching a problem with the mindset that, “our resources are finite,” promotes the belief that we have to compete with each other to succeed. However, approaching a problem with the mindset that, “our resources are abundant,” shifts our approaches to more collaborative environments where everyone can succeed together.
“Rather than thinking we should compete, we should start thinking what are the things we have in common and how can we help each other? There are more than enough things for us thrive.”
Thinking of New Zealand, what are some opportunities to create more collaborative environments
New Zealand is known for our ability to step up to solving issues through the ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) mentality. Although Saskia has seen amazing work being done in the not-for-profit sector, she points out that our DIY attitude does not promote environments for joint success. She has observed that there are many not-for-profit organisations that are competing for the same funding and that, “if we could find ways of being more collaborative and finding more models or collaborating and sharing, then I think we could create more change." Saskia sees potential for increasing collaboration as approaching issues with the abundance mindset, can generate greater and more meaningful impact.
Have you seen any interesting business models to collaborate on your journey?
Creating collaborative models is at the crux of what Saskia does everyday. However, she notes that, “it can be scary to trust others not to take advantage of you.” Saskia’s work is trying to overcome this barrier such as through her work at CrowdDoing where they launched a collaborative called ‘Doppelgangers’ which aimed to bring together people and organisations who worked in similar fields to encourage knowledge sharing and collaboration. Saskia believes that these kinds of collaborations are integral to building more sustainable and equitable features and create, “the acceleration of change we actually need.”
Connect with Sakia on LinkedIn.
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