The tragedy of the commons.

In the southern part of Poland one finds the Tatra Mountains National Park – a picturesque stretch of nature with astonishing mountain views and numerous hiking tracks. When the weather is nice, and especially on weekends, many tourists and hikers find their way to this place. Sometimes, however, it becomes so crowded that it stops bringing any joy.

But there is a life hack – to enjoy the nature in silence and avoid the queues on the trails one needs to start early in the morning. Seven years ago it was good to start at 7am. And indeed – while coming to the park you could park the car without rush and enjoy your hiking route.

This hack, however, became known to everybody, and last summer, in order to experience some quiet time, one needed to start at 5am. By 7am it would already feel as the most crowded place on Earth.

What is the “Tragedy of the Commons”?

The Tragedy of the Commons describes what happens when many individuals, acting in their own self-interest, overuse a shared resource, eventually leading to its depletion or destruction. It is the case when everyone tries to maximize their own gain from something that belongs to everyone. In the end, however, nobody wins.

This pattern isn’t just a theoretical concept, it can be easily observed in our daily lives, within our teams, across entire organizations, and on world-scale.

Let’s see how the “Tragedy of the Commons” appears in various contexts.

One can easily imagine the situation of having a shared bathroom with a hot water boiler for ones whole family. If everyone uses the hot water for lengthy showers without considering others, the last person may end up with a cold shower. In this everyday example, the “common” resource is hot water supply. If the resource is used without considering others, someone ends up with a cold shower, and there may be a potential argument as a result.

Another example is from work life. Consider a team with a shared documentation repository. If everyone adds files and information without structuring it properly or updating it, the knowledge base becomes hard to navigate. Each person might add their piece of information quickly without considering others (well, what I can say… I sometimes do this too, especially when in a hurry and forgetting to make a clean-up later), making it harder for everyone else to find what they need. The “common” resource, the team’s knowledge base, when used chaotically without considering the bigger picture and further impact, leads to ineffective knowledge repository where one can hardly find anything quickly.

From a Tragedy of the Commons-perpsective, a shared bathroom or a shared repository are indeed very similar cases.

Are you familiar with any of these examples?

I assume that you give a “yes” answer to at least two of the three examples and it just proves that we tend to fall into such a pattern.

So, how do we avoid these “tragedies”?

There are a couple of actions one could consider:

• Define either strict rules and responsibilities or just make an agreement clearly outlining who is responsible for maintaining the shared resource.
• Promote shared ownership by encouraging everyone to think about the collective good, not just their individual gain.
• Communication and awareness: make sure everyone understands the potential consequences of their actions on the shared resource.

This pattern isn’t limited to our immediate surroundings. It’s crucial to recognize the “Tragedy of the Commons” playing out on a larger scale in our cities, countries, and the world.

Think about fishing in international waters. Each fishing fleet has an incentive to maximize its catch. Without effective global agreements and enforcement, this can lead to overfishing and the collapse of fish populations, harming the entire marine ecosystem and the long-term sustainability of the fishing industry.

Or consider climate change. A lot has been said about it, right? Every individual and every nation contributes to greenhouse gas emissions through various activities. While one person’s or one country’s emissions might seem insignificant, the collective impact is causing significant and potentially irreversible damage to our shared atmosphere.

It is not only about gas emissions, population growth, or depletion of resources – all of it impacts climate change while we continue thinking “ah, my impact is not meaningful.” And exactly this causes the problems.

The system is more than just the sum of its elements.

If we put all those small impacts together, they become an enormous force.

When we over-utilize common resources (natural, digital, or organizational), the individual choices we make have a cumulative effect. What seems like a small, harmless action on its own can contribute to a larger problem when many others act similarly.

In general, coping with the “Tragedy of the Commons” requires:

1. Defining and understanding the “commons”: what shared resource are we using?
2. Establishing rules and boundaries: what are acceptable levels of use?
3. Implementing monitoring and feedback mechanisms: how can we track the health of the resource and the impact of our actions?
4. Fostering communication and collaboration: how can we work together to manage the resource sustainably?
5. Considering incentives and disincentives: are there ways to reward responsible use and discourage overuse?

By recognizing this pattern in our personal lives, our teams, and our organizations, any leader can support moving beyond a purely individualistic mindset and support embracing a greater sense of collective responsibility.

For leaders, I have the following questions:

1. What was the last time you’ve witnessed the Tragedy of the Commons in action in a project or team?
2. What happened, and what was the fall-out of the event?
3. What could have been done differently to avoid the event from happening?

Please share your experiences and thoughts on this.