Topic: Tearing Down the Walls Between Sectors to Foster Collaboration
Moderated by Leonard Nimha
You might wonder what “Fishbowl Session” means. It’s a cool concept where the moderator, panelists, and guests (randomly chosen in between the session) are placed in the center stage while the audience is seated around them, making a full 360 degree circle view. Picture below tells ’em all.
The empty seat is purposely vacant so that any invited guests could just fill the seat later as the discussion goes on. AWESOME ey?
Ok, here is the list of panelists who were involved in this session:
Prof. Andreas Heinecke – Founder and CEO Dialogue Social Enterprise
Lamiya Morshed – Executive Director Yunus Centre
Prof. Muhammad Yunus – Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
The discussion mainly revolved around finding the best way to form a partnership with/without compromising your identity/value. The collaboration could be formed between a Social Business and corporate companies, or government bodies, or NGOs, or even another Social Businesses.
There were several questions given by the invited guests but I would like to highlight my two favourite ones:
#1 How can young people gain trust from companies?
My personal takeaways from question no 1 are:
– demonstrate CAPABILITIES that can contribute to your partner’s mileage
– TRUST not to be created, but to be built
– look for MUTUAL benefits
I can totally relate this question to my working environment where I am given the trust to choose any relevant partners for any projects that I am assigned to. Having said that, I will definitely keep these three tips in mind before approaching any partners in near future. 🙂
#2 Government, businesses, NGOs – all do not speak the same ‘language’. How to tackle this?
As for question no 2, these are some of my key points:
– look for TEAM MEMBERS who posses the expertise
– STICK TO YOUR LANGUAGE and try to translate into their language
– stay authentic, develop COMMON LANGUAGE based on common objectives
I was so engulfed by so many tips given by the panelists for this particular question. It somehow gave a sense of release to continue doing what you’re passionate about. By developing common language, ANYONE will be able to understand your cause and be empathic at the same time. This could then be transformed into a strong partnership in delivering shared values. It’s just the matter of how you craft and deliver your story. BRILLIANT!
What a refreshing session it was. Looking forward to the closing of GSBS 2014 and the announcement of next year’s host country! Stay tuned…