Core Session: Creating Cross-Sectoral Collaboration - A Panel

New year, more #DiversityFellows insight for you.??

On January 10th, I had the privilege of being in the presence of a powerhouse panel with Laurie Payne, Daniele Zanotti, and Sevaun Palvetzian. Not only that, but I got to witness my fellow book club collaborator and DiverseCity Fellow Azreen Sikder moderate the panel. You go Azreen (she was AH-mazing)!?

The focus: Creating Cross-Sectoral Collaboration

I must admit, I have a bit of a negative opinion about how collaboration, especially between different sectors can take place. I’ve long been exposed to this mindset and perception that people are collaborating, or motivated by the wrong things, whether that be profit, personal gain or the demise of others. Super negative right??

Well, that negative mindset was challenged, and also validated throughout the panel. The common theme that was exposed in the panel was that collaboration is centered around our humanness, and that includes the selfish reasons to collaborate. No matter what sector or space we find ourselves working in, humanity is common across all of them.

Although there may be selfish, ego-driven reasons to collaborate, it’s important that we acknowledge that it plays a part in any cross-collaboration efforts. So although these tend to be perceived as negative or "wrong" reasons to collaborate, they can also be positioned positively. Sometimes more profit means more resources for good, personal gain means more power to bring and raise others up with you, and the demise of others...well, let's just eliminate that.

More importantly, it's about how we hold ourselves accountable. It means identifying our values, and letting them drive us towards decisions that are authentic to ourselves. "Values are our guardrails" as Sevaun said, but she also shared that "acting with consistency is important, because that build trust".

Cross-collaboration is the intertwining of the motivations, risk and rewards with our values and consistency.

Though as the panel continued, something that was nagging me about the role privilege plays in cross-collaboration, especially as an external force. There is a lot of privilege when it comes to economic status, title/position, and racial background which can work as an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to connecting and collaborating. With that said, I sometimes struggled with some of the advice from our panels shared because they were coming from a place of privilege. They had roles, experience and power to leverage opportunities for connection. (In fairness to the panelists they openly acknowledged the privilege and power they held, and how it’s helped them.)?

The question is then: How do you encourage cross-collaborative efforts with humanness and external privilege?

I don’t think I have the best answer, but what I landed on was storytelling and how you make people feel.

When it comes to working with people, I’ve heard that people don’t always remember what was said to them, but how you made them feel. Storytelling is a great avenue for relaying a point with humility and aligning with your values while ultimately appealing to the emotions and feelings of the listener.? In that same vein, it’s also about actively listening, being open to feeling uncomfortable and acknowledging that all humans have needs and wants, and for the most part people want the best.

True collaboration is a balancing act. It’s about navigating the external environment, and internal desires to get to the best outcomes. It’s a skill that constantly needs to be developed and exercised because, in our hyper-diverse world, it’s one of the ways we can succeed in creating change.

#DiverseCitywithBG