‘Business’ networking seems to have stalled somewhat in this part of the world at least.<\/p>\n
The referral networks like BNI merrily do their stuff and, judging by the sheer number of imitations that spring up, must be making money and providing value. \u00a0But there is more to business development than referrals and sales.<\/p>\n
Then there are the publicly funded networks that seem to be ever more reliant on celebrity entrepreneurs telling their story to large groups, usually with limited Q&A sessions where perhaps 5% of the\u00a0audience\u00a0get involved. \u00a0The audience is usually entertained, sometimes informed and often well fed by the taxpayer. \u00a0The host organisation collects lots of ticks in the ‘business assists’ box and we move on. \u00a0Personally I enjoy them – but from a business development perspective I am not convinced about\u00a0their\u00a0practical value.<\/p>\n
Last night at the Elsie Whiteley Innovation Centre<\/a> in Halifax (a superb facility with PLENTY of space for new or growing businesses – no surprise that occupancy seems to be an issue) I’d guess over 100 people gathered to hear\u00a0local\u00a0girl ‘done good’ Linda Barker<\/a> (Changing Rooms, I’m a Celebrity…) tell her story. \u00a0She was fine. It made a pleasant change to have someone spontaneous and not ‘over rehearsed’ in her delivery. \u00a0Linda was. I\u00a0thought, natural, engaging and\u00a0clearly\u00a0pleased to be on home turf. \u00a0The room was full. \u00a0Vernon, our Business Link host, managed proceedings well and the sandwiches were excellent. \u00a0He never missed a chance to promote Business Link. \u00a0I did notice that Linda got her business advice from a ‘full blown Harvard MBA’ with a solid background in venture capital – rather than Business Link London.<\/p>\n This was the 10th<\/strong> event in the region in 10 days to mark ‘Creative, Digital and Cultural Week’ or something like that! \u00a0That could be seen as a wonderful boost of knowledge and opportunities to a key sector, or (but only an old cynic would\u00a0think\u00a0this way) a push to get the numbers up and on track with targets. \u00a0Either way it does feel a bit like the London Bus syndrome…<\/p>\n Personally, I think the time is right to move networking to the next level. \u00a0As Henry Ford once said ‘Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.<\/p>\n Instead of passive ‘learning’ from celebrity anecdote, followed by polite but generally superficial conversations over sandwiches and cake we should invoke more powerful and inclusive methodologies for learning and building commitment to real business\u00a0change. \u00a0I have some partly formed ideas of how this might be done…<\/p>\n We should use ‘networking’ to start getting\u00a0local\u00a0businesses\u00a0to ‘showcase’ themselves and their challenges and to seek support, advice and guidance from their peers. \u00a0Perhaps in the course of an evening a 2 or 3 businesses could make a brief presentation on the ‘who, what, how and why’ of their\u00a0business. \u00a0But they should also have to present a challenge or opportunity that they are currently facing and their analysis of the way forward. \u00a0Perhaps a live or recently completed\u00a0assignment\u00a0that presented challenges? \u00a0Other\u00a0networkers\u00a0could then be asked (perhaps in small groups) to review the issue from different perspectives, to ask what else might be done, how else might the challenge be\u00a0addressed?<\/p>\n From a diverse group are bound to come diverse solutions. \u00a0But diversity is another challenge I would throw down to event organisers. \u00a0We need to get the digital, cultural \u00a0and creative types working with the money people, the marketers and manufacturers – instead of hiving off networking tribes by Standard Industrial Classification codes. \u00a0The Law of Requisite Variety<\/a> is one of my favourites! \u00a0But I know the Regional Economic Strategy<\/a> wants ‘clusters’….<\/p>\n