Newsletter - September 07
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There are three GBPA Special Interest Forums (SIFs) in London
during October. All these events are morning sessions (09:00 to
11:30):
To
register for any of these SIFs, contact Sue O'Connor soconnor@gbpalliance.com
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GBPA's evening event in London on 22 November will explore how
language affects business relationships.
In
the current global business environment, communicating in different
languages is a necessity and respecting other languages is essential.
However, different national languages are only one element of the language
issue; what about local language variation, jargon and in-company
expressions? And how do we express ourselves in 'partnership friendly'
language, instead of using terminology which prompts a negative and
defensive response?
To
register for this event, contact Sue O'Connor soconnor@gbpalliance.com |
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Having today's vast 'toolbox' of communication methods does not
seem to be helping to improve understanding between people. When GBPA
members got together in the summer, they recognised that effective
communications is fundamental to building relationships and the mutual
desire to collaborate, but the use and proliferation of new technologies
is not necessarily easing effective communications. During the evening
some preconditions for effective communications were explored with the
help of Michael Schluter, Executive Director of the Relationships
Foundation.
Some of the fundamentals about communications and relationships
that were noted were:
During the session many insights emerged. Such as:
Coming back to the 'tool box' analogy - do we know what the tools
are for and are we trained to use them? And what about our
people?
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GBPA aims to be involved in developing thinking on collaborative
relationships. One such event attended by GBPA chairman Philip Anderson
was on The Culture of Collaboration: Foundations for Success (a Financial Times executive dinner debate in association with BT).
Top executives from 25 large global players contributed some strong views
and here are some highlights:
Tim Smart, CEO BT Global Services UK, kicked off the debate saying
that the ability to collaborate and form new alliances is the defining
feature of the enterprise of the future. Technology in the form of the
digital networked economy enables companies to create new business models,
to utilise global resources and work in real time with people anywhere in
the world. The erosion of the traditional barriers of time and distance
provides the opportunity to partner and work more effectively. But
ultimately, successful collaboration relies more on people skills than
anything else.
Miles Flint, President Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, shared
his experience of leading the Sony Ericsson joint venture. Miles's view is
that it is not so much cultures, but personalities, which drive the way
people interact. However, cultural diversity is a leadership challenge. He
believes that cross cultural collaboration is a great element in
innovation, but collaboration between different organisations externally
is one of the keys. You cannot always innovate internally, it needs some
external stimulus. He referred to Sony Ericsson as a 'joint adventure'
rather than a joint venture.
Professor Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice London
Business School and author of Hot Spots, described a number of
things that are happening in the world which are changing our view about
how value is created and bringing collaboration to the fore including:
Members can read more about the latest thinking on collaborative
relationships in the next issue of Connects. |
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GBPA is presenting at several conferences in the next couple of
months, including:
Members interested in participating in these conferences should
register through the above links. |
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We look forward to the participation of members and their colleagues in the GBPA programme during the coming months. As always, please contact Sue O'Connor to feedback any comments on this eNews, for more information or to register for an event. soconnor@gbpalliance.com With best wishes from the GBPA team
 Global Business Partnership Alliance
email: soconnor@gbpalliance.com
phone: +
44 (0)207 194 8111
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