Policymaker Mindsets: The Collaborator
The Collaborator archetype thrives in teamwork and inclusivity, bringing people together to solve problems and create policies that reflect diverse perspectives.
Collaborators prioritise fairness, equity, and collective input, making them invaluable in fostering trust and ensuring stakeholder engagement.
But what defines a Collaborator, and how do their traits shape their approach to policymaking?
The five traits
Policymaking is shaped by five core traits, each with its own strengths and challenges:
Vision is about creativity and ambition, while its inverse reflects rigidity and resistance to change.
Pragmatism focuses on actionable, results-driven solutions, in contrast to idealism or impracticality.
Collaboration values inclusivity and diverse perspectives, whereas its inverse leans towards isolation or a lack of stakeholder engagement.
Risk Tolerance indicates openness to calculated risks, while risk aversion often leads to overly cautious decision-making.
Altruism centres on fairness, equity, and societal benefit, with its inverse
prioritising self-interest or short-termism.
Every policymaker embodies a unique combination of these traits, which can shift depending on context and pressure. While individuals are rarely defined by a single trait profile, the five archetypes are typical examples of the most common overall mindsets we see.
The Collaborator archetype
Collaborators are defined by their high collaboration, high altruism, and low risk tolerance, shaping their equity-driven, consensus-building approach to policymaking.
Key traits:
Inclusive and fair: Collaborators excel at fostering teamwork and ensuring diverse voices are heard, making them champions of equity and inclusivity.
Stakeholder-focused: Their commitment to fairness ensures that stakeholder needs are prioritised throughout the policymaking process.
Trust builders: Collaborators create environments of trust, where shared goals and collective solutions are prioritised.
Challenges:
Risk aversion: Their cautious nature can lead to hesitancy in pursuing bold or innovative solutions, particularly when risks are involved.
Decision paralysis: A desire for consensus can sometimes delay decision-making or dilute the impact of policies.
Over-reliance on group input: Collaborators may struggle to take decisive, independent action when it conflicts with the broader group’s views.
Context in Action
All archetypes adapt their behaviours depending on the context, and understanding these shifts is crucial to effective collaboration. Changes in context—such as heightened political scrutiny, tight deadlines, or conflicting stakeholder demands—can significantly shape a Collaborator’s approach.
In collaborative settings: Collaborators thrive when there is space for stakeholder input and consensus-building, ensuring policies are inclusive and equitable.
Under pressure: In high-stakes or time-sensitive contexts, Collaborators’ risk aversion may intensify, leading to delays or reluctance to take bold, unilateral action.
For example, when designing a policy in response to a crisis, a Collaborator might focus on extensive stakeholder engagement, even if time constraints demand faster decision-making.
In our Connecting with Policymakers capability building, we explore how these contextual shifts affect traits, identifying secondary dominant traits that may emerge. We provide tools to maximise Collaborators’ strengths while addressing potential blind spots, such as managing risk aversion and streamlining decision-making under pressure.
Biases and Heuristics
Everyone relies on mental shortcuts to make decisions—archetypes and individuals alike. Which biases come into play often depends on inherent traits, shaping how decisions are made and how challenges are approached. For Collaborators, their high altruism and high collaboration mean they are particularly influenced by:
Groupthink: Overemphasising consensus and aligning with group opinions, even when alternative approaches may be more effective.
Sunk cost fallacy: Persisting with collaborative efforts or stakeholder engagements even when they no longer serve the policy’s goals.
Confirmation bias: Seeking information that aligns with the majority’s views while discounting dissenting perspectives.
Neglect of probability: Avoiding risks entirely due to perceived uncertainties, even when the likelihood of success is high.
Halo effect: Assuming that collective input will always produce the best outcomes, regardless of individual expertise.
These biases reflect the Collaborator’s equity-driven mindset but can create barriers to innovation and timely decision-making in fast-paced contexts.
Conclusion
The Collaborator archetype plays a vital role in policymaking, ensuring that inclusivity, fairness, and trust are at the centre of decisions. While their preference for consensus and caution can sometimes delay progress, their strengths in fostering equity and stakeholder engagement make them an invaluable part of policymaking teams.
In our Connecting with Policymakers training, you’ll not only gain insights into these archetypes but also receive your own tailored trait map, helping you understand the synergies and potential gaps in your approach to working with policymakers.
Sharing your trait map with colleagues can provide a valuable overview of your team’s make-up and balance, enabling better collaboration and a clearer understanding of how to approach policy challenges together.
Get in touch to find out how the training can help you and your team make a lasting impact.