One of the most consistently underexplored sources of organisational strength is the relationship between organisations that nominally compete with one another. In most sectors, the dominant cultural norm is one of protective isolation: organisations guard their methods, their contacts and their knowledge from the peers they perceive as rivals for the same funding, clients or market share. This isolation is understandable from a narrow competitive logic, but it is profoundly self-limiting from the perspective of systemic sustainability.

Civic affinities offer a different logic entirely. They are the overlapping missions, shared geographic realities and common operating values that connect organisations which might, on the surface, appear to be in competition. When these affinities are recognised and acted upon, the organisations involved discover that what they share is often more strategically significant than what distinguishes them.

The cost of competitive isolation

The cost of competitive isolation is rarely visible in the short term, because isolation feels like a form of protection. An organisation that does not share its knowledge with competitors cannot have that knowledge used against it. But the logic of isolation also prevents the organisation from accessing the benefits of shared learning, collaborative problem-solving and the combined influence of organisations working toward similar goals from different positions. An organisation working alone on a challenge that five similar organisations are simultaneously addressing in isolation is investing five times the effort for a fraction of the possible result.

Identifying civic affinities

The first step in sourcing the strength of civic affinities is the honest mapping of what connects your organisation to others in your sector or geographic community. In many sectors, this mapping reveals that organisations which feel most like competitors are actually pursuing complementary aspects of the same broader goal. A housing charity and a mental health organisation operating in the same neighbourhood share a deep concern for the same vulnerable population. The affinities are real, and they provide a foundation for collaboration that the competitive frame makes invisible.

The cross-organisational working group

One of the most practical expressions of civic affinity is the cross-organisational working group: an informal gathering of leaders from different organisations who have recognised a shared challenge and are willing to bring their collective intelligence to bear on it, outside the framework of formal partnership or institutional accountability. These groups work best when they are small enough to allow genuine relationship, informal enough to permit honest conversation and focused enough on a specific shared challenge to produce practical outcomes.

Civic affinity as an organisational asset

When an organisation develops a genuine network of civic affinities, it acquires a form of social capital that is among its most durable assets. This network provides access to knowledge and experience beyond the organisation’s own walls, early warning of challenges emerging in the wider sector and collaborators who can join forces on initiatives that are beyond any single organisation’s reach. The organisation that is embedded in this kind of civic network is not only more effective; it is more resilient.

Questions for reflection

Who is a leader at a seemingly competing organisation or different team whom you deeply respect and with whom you have never had a genuinely honest conversation about what you share?

What is one specific shared challenge that you could reach out to discuss with that person this week, explicitly framing the conversation as a civic affinity rather than a competitive negotiation?

Map your organisation’s current network of relationships with peer organisations. How many involve genuine, mutual knowledge-sharing, and how many are purely formal or transactional?

What is one area of your sector’s shared challenge where three or four organisations working together through a civic affinity network could achieve something that none could achieve alone?

Inspired by: Puntenney, D.L. (cited in Russell, C. and McKnight, J. (2022) The connected community: