Why Collaboration Fails: The Rat Park Effect

Everyone talks about collaboration. Management consultants worship synergy. Leaders preach teamwork.

But genuine collaboration remains elusive—and it's getting rarer.

It's not about skill or will. It's about trust.

The Cage We've Built

In the 1970s, researchers got lab rats addicted to morphine. Isolated in tiny cages, these rodents would press the drug button obsessively, ignoring food and water until they died.

Psychologist Bruce Alexander suspected the environment, not the drug, was the real problem.

He created "Rat Park"—a rodent paradise with toys, friends, and space. Two water sources: one laced with morphine, one clean.

The rats in paradise barely touched the drugs.

Are We Building Cages or Rat Parks?

According to my friend Morag Barrett, 79% of white-collar employees feel lonely at work. 20% have zero meaningful relationships with colleagues.

We've created organizational cages—environments where isolation breeds dysfunction and collaboration becomes impossible.

Collaboration requires vulnerability. It means making yourself dependent on others, reducing your control. In a cage-like culture, that feels too risky.

What Rat Park Workplaces Look Like

• Distributed leadership, not bottlenecked authority

• Democratic governance, not performative suggestion boxes

• Mission-driven culture, with profits as means, not ends

• Assumed coherence—everyone's perspective has value

• Systems thinking—multiple viewpoints are essential

• Leaders who address undiscussables, not dodge them for comfort

The Bottom Line

Want to win the decade of disruption?

Stop building cages.

Create a Rat Park culture that enables human connection and invites co-creation. Only then will you find team members willing to rise above their personal fears to build something amazing.

#collaboration #leadership #psychologicalsafety #futureofwork