The power of partnerships and the need for structured collaboration

On 26 February 2026, “The Collaboration Playbook”, co-authored by The Institute for Collaborative Working, Leeds University Business School and partners, was launched at the “Ideas in Practice: Supply Chain Summit 2026”. 

In addition to launching “The Collaboration Playbook”, the event featured presentations, panel discussions, and breakout sessions on topics including: why collaboration is essential, how to respond to and navigate the Public Procurement Act 2023, and how structured collaboration can deliver social value.

Here are some key insights shared on the day: 

Gareth Scargill, Director, Nexus (University of Leeds) - The role of universities as connectors 

The challenges we face - economic, societal, environmental, technological - are too complex, too interconnected, and too urgent for any single organisation, sector, or discipline to solve alone. Collaboration isn’t a “nice to have”. It’s essential. 

Leeds is, at its heart, a collaborative city. It has a long tradition of partnership - between public and private sectors, between large organisations and SMEs, between academia, industry and communities. That collaborative spirit doesn’t stop at the city boundary either. Across the wider region, we benefit from a strong, trusted network of relationships that consistently demonstrate the very real benefits of working together: better ideas, better outcomes, and greater impact for all involved. 

At the University of Leeds, collaboration is absolutely central to who we are and how we work. Universities play a unique role in society. We are places of discovery, of learning, of challenge and debate. But our impact is greatest when knowledge doesn’t stay within our walls - when it moves, connects, and is shaped through partnership with others. Collaboration allows universities to translate research into real-world solutions, to co-create with business and government, and to contribute meaningfully to economic growth and societal wellbeing. 

That’s where Nexus comes in. Nexus is the University of Leeds’ innovation hub - but more than that, it’s a connector. Our role is to bring people together: businesses, entrepreneurs, academics, investors, public sector partners. We work across the whole university to help ideas flow in both directions - from research into application, and from industry challenges back into academic insight. 

Our partnership with Leeds University Business School is a brilliant example of that in action. Working closely with the School, Nexus helps facilitate meaningful collaboration between the university and business - whether that’s through co-located innovation space, collaborative research, executive education, student engagement, or long-term strategic partnerships. What really matters to us is not just making introductions but enabling relationships to thrive -relationships built on trust, shared purpose, and mutual benefit. 

We care deeply about collaboration because we see, every day, what happens when it’s done well. 

Shirley Cooper OBE, Small Businesses Crown Representative – Empowering SMEs through collaboration 

There are 5.5 million SMEs in the UK - that's 99.8% of our entire business population. They support 16m jobs - 60% of all private sector employment. They generate £3 trillion in turnover - more than half of all private sector output. And they export £108 billion worth of goods every year. 

Construction. Professional services. Health. Digital. Education. Agriculture. SMEs are the backbone of every single one of them. 

Just one percentage point of additional growth per year - that is the prize on the table. And the route to it runs directly through collaboration. That’s £320bn in added value to the UK economy by 2030 from acceleration SME growth by just 1% per annum.  

The conditions for collaboration have never been more favourable: The government's Modern Industrial Strategy - Invest 2035 - puts SMEs at the centre of eight high-growth sectors. The new Public Procurement Act 2023, which went live in Feb 2025, requires all buyers to “have regard” for SME and reshapes how public money flows through supply chains. There's the Fair Payment Code, a new Board of Trade dedicated to helping smaller businesses export, a reformed Growth and Skills Levy….  This list goes on. 

We are a nation of small businesses, who have entrepreneurial energy, innovation, creativity and agility who are keen to engage with you. The question is: how do we harness that energy? How do we connect it to the supply chains and contracts where it can make the greatest difference? 

The answer - the only answer - is structured, intentional, committed collaboration. The Collaboration Playbook is not just a document; it is a declaration of intent. A shared commitment that taps into the potential of small and medium-sized businesses. 

We have the businesses, the talent, the policy landscape, the tools… What we need now is the continued will to act together – to go to the next level. 

Simon Reid, Managing Director, Babcock International – Collaboration with intent 

In today’s environment, where time and budget are increasingly scarce, genuine collaboration has never been more important - or more challenging. When resources feel limited, organisations often slip into short‑term thinking. Yet, the work that truly moves missions forward depends on stepping back, picturing the long‑term outcome, and then working backwards to understand what needs to be true for that outcome to be delivered. 

One framework we use at Babcock International is the “head, heart, and hands” model: head – how we think, heart – how we feel, and hands – how we act. When these three elements are aligned, collaborative intent becomes authentic rather than performative. And authenticity is essential; collaboration can’t be faked. It requires deliberate time, space, and attention - things that are easy to overlook if we don’t consciously value them. 

Effective collaboration is ultimately a leadership challenge. Great leaders connect people to a shared mission and help them understand their unique contribution to it. When this is done well, teams feel focused and unified. When it’s done poorly, work becomes fragmented and siloed. 

Leading with purpose ensures that collaboration isn’t just encouraged - it’s enabled. One of the most practical enablers of collaboration is having clear, shared principles. In our organisation, we created a booklet outlining our cooperative and collaborative practices. But the value isn’t in the document, it’s in how we use it - we open meetings by referring to it, we use it in real time to anchor discussions; we hold ourselves accountable to it every day. Only through this kind of relentless application do principles become culture. 

Just as important is the practice of calling out both sides of behaviour: recognising when collaboration falls short, and celebrating when it’s done well. Measuring collaboration can be difficult - outputs are far easier to quantify than behaviours - but investing time in understanding how work gets done is essential. 

Finally, structure matters. Effective governance ensures collaboration isn’t left to chance or dependent on individual personalities. Standards such as ISO 44000 help organisations systematise collaborative practices so they can be sustained, repeated, and improved over time. 

Every contract or project may be unique, but the underlying principles shouldn’t be reinvented each time. When collaboration is built into the system rather than the goodwill of individuals, it becomes part of the organisation’s DNA.