Cross Sector Collaboration
Rob Lorimer (GAICD)
Collaboration | Innovation | Deep Tech | Facilitator | Advisor | Mentor
Why are cross-sector collaboration negotiations difficult?
Bringing together organisations with different cultures, operating models and purposes to reach a negotiated agreement is a challenge. However, ultimately negotiations are about human behavior and so this article will focus on the “soft-skills” aspects of cross-sector collaboration.
It is natural for some of the representatives to have limited exposure to negotiating cross-sector collaborations. Inexperience takes several forms including; underestimating the cultural and structural differences between parties; a tendency to “reinvent the wheel” i.e. seeking to create new solutions where adequate negotiated solutions already exist, and; a desire to “dive into the detail” with the outcome that the simple and complex issues become entangled.
If these behaviors go unchecked the negotiation process will take longer and require more effort than necessary. They can also lead to a style of conflated, confused and protracted negotiating which erodes goodwill among the parties and in the worst case causes damages reputation.
What is a good approach?
Using design thinking* helps unpack and re-frame challenges to successful collaboration and involves:
1.?????Respectfully acknowledging the different levels of experience among the parties;
2.?????Clearly articulating the purpose of the collaboration and the supporting purposes at both organisational and individual level.
3.?????Recognizing there are many known challenges (and solutions) repeatedly found in establishing large scale collaborations;
4.?????Engaging in early discovery of additional challenges or barriers to the negotiations;
5.?????Allocating appropriate resources to explore solutions within agreed time-frames.
What are some of the common challenges?
Cultural challenges are inherent in the different operating models and expectations of public, not-for-profit, private and university sectors. These include language - the differences between industry speak, government speak and research speak; Intellectual property (IP) ownership - the university model v’s corporate model; moral rights - which are not well understood outside the science/arts space; and how the respective sectors understand and manage risk/reward.
Structural challenges are often non-negotiable within organisations. Examples of this include organisational decision making process and timelines; financial governance and reporting requirements and individual representatives delegation of authority;
Technical challenges usually require subject matter expert (e.g. lawyers) involvement and their resolution is typically incorporated in the collaboration contract, these include: defining ownership of project IP, background IP, improvements to background IP as well as liabilities and indemnities.
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How does this approach work in practice?
Many of the cultural and structural challenges are not referenced in the final contract documents but socializing them early (e.g. kick-off workshop) is essential to understanding parties negotiating stances before starting the technical contractual discussions.
Further, by dealing with cultural and structural challenges up front, the parties build rapport and trust, correctly set expectations within their respective organisations and reduce the risk of “surprises”. A simple example is one party might be surprised to learn how long it can take another to go through their decision making process, which, if the parties are working to a deadline, may significantly shorten the available negotiating window.
Finally, it is desirable for the instigators of the collaboration (e.g. C-Suite execs) to stay involved through the kick-off phase to reinforce purpose and collaborative behaviors.
With careful practice, the method described reduces the complexity and confusion inherent in bringing together organisations with very different cultures, operating models and purposes, and results in an amicable and timely negotiated agreement.
* Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that collaborators can use to understand stakeholders, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to test and implement.
About the author
Rob Lorimer's experience includes hundreds of large complex negotiations in science and technology. This approach was developed for research collaborations involving public sector, private sector and university sector organisations, but will work for any cross-sector discussions.
For a full profile visit https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/deeptechexec/
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I assist people to achieve at interviews, expert panels, presentations & stakeholder meetings | Communication | Policy, public engagement & service transformation |
1 年Agree. I worked in public & population health for many years. It is one field that has years of research into collaboration and partnerships. I find it interesting that other sectors are now being called to act in this way. It’s not new, but new to some. There are plenty of lessons learned over many years about everything from leadership, joint ventures and capacity building. Of course, power and participation is another interesting area of evidence. Rob Lorimer (GAICD)
International Business and Innovation Strategy and Delivery Leader
1 年Nicely put Rob, some great principles to always front load your negotiations with.
Director at PiqueGlobal
1 年Really enjoyed the ‘cut through’ of your post Rob Lorimer (GAICD). You have articulated with clarity a great approach to making the complex of collaboration elegantly simple. Thanks for sharing your ideas
Decarbonisation | Technology | Leadership
1 年Thanks for writing this article Rob. Great practical advice about establishing cross-sectoral collaboration that's often overlooked.
Non-Executive Director, Chair and Advisor in mining, metals, manufacturing & industry research
1 年Thanks for this Rob. It also applies to collaboration between orgs within a sector especially if they are different sizes or ages. Working with value or supply chains over the years I found an additional factor that can be really helpful to achieving collaboration is to introduce the end customer, or a couple of them, to the collaborating parties as early as possible. I have been amazed at how hearing from the end customer focuses all parties on delivering value and collaborating to achieve that. It shortened negotiations significantly.