Finding and building a network
You can use many of the tools in this guide on your own or with colleagues. But you will sometimes need to collaborate with people outside your organisation.
If you already have an established network to call on, then great. If you don’t, you will have to do some work to find and build one. It will be well worth your time.
Understanding who’s out there
The first step is to look around you and see which local organisations exist who might be able to help you.
- Start with your local councils or unitary authorities. They can be useful in themselves, but can also help you find other people and organisations to talk to
- Find policies and reports that are relevant to your industry. As well as being useful background information, they will often mention, be sponsored by or co-written by organisations you can get in touch with
- Look for bodies who fund schemes related to your industry, and find out which organisations they are funding
- Organisations like Connected Places Catapult exist to bring others together and promote collaboration. If you have a similar organisation working in your area, ask them for help
- Go to events. Even if the topic of the event is not 100% relevant to your work, they are great opportunities to network and make new connections
- Get yourself in the room where it happens. Spread the word that you are interested and available. Invite yourself to policy discussions as early as possible. You might have to dig around a bit. Often preliminary discussions happen some time before things are discussed openly in public
Organisations to try
- Your local city, county and district councils or unitary authorities
- Local enterprise partnerships
- Chambers of commerce
- Industry leading businesses
- Individual universities or colleges
Pinpointing who to talk to
Try to find a specific person to talk to at an organisation. There is usually someone who is keen to make connections and champion collaboration.
It might not be obvious from their job title who that is. Unless an organisation has a role dedicated to networking, it might just be a passion project of someone with an unrelated role.
Aim as high as you can in an organisation. You’ll be more successful if you find someone whose job it is to think strategically and who has time to give.
Demonstrate your value
People will be more keen to give you their time if you can show them what you will give back and how they will benefit. The more value you bring to a collaboration, the more you will be able to get out of it.
If you can show that you’re pushing to collaborate because collaboration is in everyone’s interests, you’ll be surprised how keen to co-operate people can be. Clearly state your case and your aims, and you’ll bring people along with you. When the economic case is clear, people will put their fears of working with competitors aside.