Why Radical Collaboration is needed in the Global Mobility industry.
In a world confronted by multiple global challenges, organisations are being pressured to demonstrate how they will generate value beyond profit and reduce their externalities. For meaningful change we need to step outside our bubble and get radical.
But how?
Rene’ Stegmann from Relocation Africa travelled to Rwanda in December 2021 and she felt it was best to share the story of the Gorillas in Rwanda as one of high tensions and conflict between the community and the animals to demonstrate the concept of Radical Collaboration. The human – animal relationships were adversarial in nature, and no-one really understood the problem, so finding solutions was limited and unproductive. There was no mutual understanding between the stakeholders, conflicts flared when crops were destroyed and managing differences was difficult. It was a problem that required radical collaboration to make a positive change.
The concept of Radical Collaboration for us as an industry to be able to think very broadly to build high-trust relationships to improve efficiency, productivity, innovation, and agility for resolution. We are part of an “eco-system” and are each dependent on the health of the wider global mobility system: The healthier we are, the more we can rise together, in the same way if we are not healthy this will have a direct negative impact on the whole the eco-system. It’s obvious but hard to orchestrate.
Through radical collaboration, we can accept the risks that come with dependence on other entities with different agendas, while also recognising that diverse resources lead to innovation. You can make the most impact acting as the matchmaker at both the strategic and operational levels. It’s crucial to work with the partners to identify all the numerous parts of the possible solutions — assigning the management and ownership activities, the technical activities and the activities led jointly.
In Global Mobility, we need to explore the effect of purely focusing on narrow discussions such as “low pricing” and how this could negatively impact important topics such as sustainable development. Can we start moving towards a value creation mindset instead of a cost reduction one? It is more expensive to visit the Gorillas in Rwanda than other nations such as Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, in Rwanda, the community is lifted through the collaboration of shared resources. In Uganda and the D.R.C, the Gorillas are still being poached and the communities still suffer the impact.
Ultimately, we all want to be resilient, profitable businesses into the future and if we hold “Value for All” as a guiding star, our businesses can serve the well-being of both people and planet. Value is the key to the conversation. Value means not entering a price war and a race to the bottom, but rather asserting what our businesses offer to corporates and assignees that lift and
link up.
If we make the time and offer to engage with each other with a willingness to listen to all parties, however different our positions, we create opportunities for diverse conversations which could inspire creative solutions.
When referring to all parties and diverse conversations we need to think broader as when we talk about diversity it is often from perspectives such as a race, abled vs. Less-abled persons, age, or gender. Other areas of diversity could be Life experiences, the continent we live and work on, the size of the business we operate or work for, the ownership vs employment status can all be diverse opinions and considerations when listening to solve problems – the key is the willingness to engage and listen.
To embrace radical collaboration is going to take input from diverse people, business, and other sectors who are willing to create a structure which is open and transparent, to understand what value we can collectively offer the world and more specifically the Global Mobility industry.
Take the Gorilla story as a case study: It was multi stakeholders that effected change through radical collaboration. Where there are tough societal problems, citizens, social enterprises and even business, are relying less and less on government-only solutions. It is more likely, that crowdfunding, ride-sharing, app-developing, or impact-investing are going to be lightweight solutions for seemingly intractable problems. No problem or challenge is too daunting, from Malaria in Africa to traffic congestion in California.
If we consider the different roles of stakeholders such as large corporates with big resources, skilled and motivated teams with global reach, government with convening power, funding, and ability to shift policy and regulations. Then the collective force of these new problem solvers is creating dynamic and rapidly evolving markets for social good. They trade solutions instead of dollars to fill the gap between what government can provide and what citizens need. By erasing public-private sector boundaries, they are unlocking trillions of dollars in social benefit and commercial value.
The best collaborative partnerships work to tackle entrenched social and environmental challenges by assessing each of the parties’ key strengths and contributions and actively taking the best approach to address the challenge as a collective.
Let us move beyond the exploitative mindset that late capitalism encouraged, towards an economy based on healthy relationships that link up and lift up.
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.” Jane Goodall.
It’s time for radical collaboration.
See our YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Tnwk4Xyvg
