is hard to come by, fundraising is tough. Getting hold of grants, commissions, and all that side of things, is really crucial. Collaborating is the best way to attract that funding.
How do we move collaboration forward and what pitfalls do we need to avoid?
TS: Start by doing something. Anything is better than nothing, and these things tend to build momentum as you go. This is not a short-term thing. You’re not going to get instant wins from the collaborations that we’re talking about.
Zak Khan Sharon Myers
It’s having the buy-in across the business that this is a long-term strategy. The benefits might not be immediately visible. They might not be visible at all. Don’t get bogged down in the financial aspect because that’s not necessarily what this is about.
RH: Don’t collaborate with people who you don’t get, because it can be a one- way street. Do your research, meet people and then these opportunities will start to come. Also send out collaborative signals yourself. It starts with the people.
NB: It starts with conversations, doesn’t it? You might realise that maybe it’s not for you but it might be for somebody else and it’s passing that down the chain.
Tom Smith
NB: On the back of Lancashire Business View’s Net Zero conference, we have spoken to five of the organisations that attended and from that we are launching a sustainability advisory group for the Lancashire Colleges.
We’re running a COP28 event for students where they will grill businesses about their sustainability journey and net zero.
ZK: Over the last number of years, Hyndburn Council has been really poor at engaging with businesses. We’ve been working to recover relationships and the only way you can do that is by getting in front of people and talking.
We launched the first Hyndburn Economic Policy Forum in collaboration with the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, getting the big companies in Hyndburn around the table. And we’ve brought in a new economic development manager.
I see our role as an enabler. We cannot do everything on our own. We have to work with people. So, I’ve met my counterpart in Rossendale, who is from a different political party, which never usually happens in Lancashire, to talk about how we can do more sustainability and net zero work.
Because our housing stock’s the same, it’s really poor, we may as well do it together. It’s about going across those political divides, those personal divides and starting to work together. We’ve got a long way to go, but we will get there.
JH: I was at an event on the south coast recently. The area has four separate councils and there was no collaboration at all, with the economy stagnating and areas of deprivation not being addressed.
The Central South Business Organisation has pulled them all together, it’s led by some
William Lancaster
fantastic people. In that room you had the great and the good of the local business community, politicians, the universities, finance, charities, all these vested interests.
They’ve gone from a completely uncollaborative area to one making progress and with great positivity, by doing exactly the sorts of things Zak’s talking about.
There are some real great examples of that. It is about engaging all the different corners of the business and the wider community including education and then pulling together to influence central government policy.
WL: We get people coming to us and asking if we do a certain product and we don’t, and really, instead of saying, ‘We don’t,’ I should say, ‘We don’t, but so-and-so does.’ That’s the big thing that we need to build upon, being able to pass on to other people.
HB: Measuring the success of collaboration is not always about the financial side. It is seeing people that have been introduced to each other working with each other and that success.
RH: We’ve been one of five organisations collaborating this year on a project for the NHS around child mental health and anxiety, which is a massive problem. We all worked together with this campaign and it’s been absolutely phenomenal.
It’s gone bananas
on social media and YouTube. The NHS has said it has never seen anything like it.
SM: We need to shout about hospitality as a really good sector for young people to grow in and to build a career in. And we need to work collaboratively when it comes to training and also work together so our young people want to keep working in the sector and in our region.
DD: Good charities do collaboration well. Money
WL: Always have good intentions. You’ll find that you get good intentions back.
ZK: Be prepared to go and compromise and be prepared to give. If you go out there with good intentions then a lot of time you get that back.
Constantly review what the collaboration’s doing because often you can lose focus. Be willing to give, be willing to compromise, and then keep reviewing why you started it in the first place.
DD: Consider how you story tell, how you help other people to understand what you are about and why working with you and other people is beneficial. That relatability piece is core to good collaboration.
SM: For me it is momentum, following through and having support around it.
JH: Just get out there in your business network. Get out of your comfort zone and get there and talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to.
You might be in manufacturing. Go and talk to your local charity, your local politician, your local colleges, and you will suddenly find you might get something you didn’t expect out of the interaction. If you’re going to get involved with something, you get out what you put in, so commit to it, keep going.
HB: You start by talking to people. Find out what they want, what’s going on. You have to evolve with it as well, things change. You need to listen to what people want because that’s the way it’s going to work.
DW: Just start the conversation. Pluck up courage. Often starting is the hardest part, so you’ve really got to dig deep and make that conversation happen.
When you’re collaborating you must put some structure into it and you must have a clear vision of what the goals and the outcomes are.
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
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