Session 4: Cross-sector Collaboration
This was a back up session for me. I had wanted to go to a design thinking workshop put on by the folks at IDEO, but it filled up quickly and did not get a seat. I saw this one on the schedule and thought ‘I did not know anything about cross sector collaboration.’ I am glad I did because this turned out to one of the most engaging panels that I saw at the conference.
Cross sector collaborations are alliances between corporations, non-profits and governments. They can involve any two or more of the three types of organizations. According to Harvard, cross sector collaborations are increasingly becoming more long-term and strategic for both parties, moving away from pure philanthropy.
The three panelists in this session concentrated their comments on the softer side of managing cross sector collaborations. When asked what skills one would need to do well at cross sector collaborations, Nora Silver, professor at the Haas School of Business, offered that one “needs to be conversant in the language of all three sectors.” Then, she quickly elaborated: negotiation skills, ability to develop and maintain trust, listening, ability to work with different people, and manage change.
Paul Gerrand with Humana, Inc., an insurance company, agreed and added a few more skills of his own: humility, patience, thoughtfulness, and ability to hold yourself accountable for your actions. Maureen Sedonaen, executive director of the Youth Leadership Institute, followed Paul’s comments with her own list of must-haves for the aspiring leader in this area: ability to understand the motives or intents of others (empathy) and willingness to give genuine praise. In addition, the manager of cross sector collaborations should value differences and seek small victories along the way. The theme was clear to me. To succeed at managing cross sector collaborations, you had to be high in emotional intelligence.
While we know that management education has never done a great job at training their graduates in the field of emotional intelligence, Silver suggested that business schools may undermine students’ so called ‘soft’ skills. In case studies, for example, your job is to solve the problem as soon as possible with little context or history. Such a pedagogical approach might actually teach students indirectly to be impatient because cases appear to contain all the information you need to solve them on the spot.
In the context of the discussion of the need for trust, Gerrand cited data from the Trust Barometer that showed how in the wake of the recent recession, public trust fell for all three sectors—government, corporate, and nonprofit. (Trust levels have since returned in the latest survey.) Cross sector collaborations were offered as a way to rebuild that trust, but must be done carefully.
Finally, in terms of building your sense of empathy, Gerrand recommended Conscious of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater. In Goldwater’s master work of political nonfiction, he sets out what is widely considered the best case for American conservatism. Liberals often dismiss the right as misguided, but Gerrand believes that such an attitude would undermine one’s ability to work with partners from different sectors.
