Business: Build Compassionate Bridges to the City of the Future

Build Bridges to Wider Community

Integral City Business Developers depend on building bridges to a wider community even in developing the concept designs for their visions of the city of the future. By building bridges early, Developers install the nodes from which to grow significant meshworks through to project completion and beyond.

Here are some guidelines for partnering that build development bridges.

1. Define the Criteria for Partners/Meshworkers

   For example: Are they organizations that can offer leverage of any or all of: funds, resources, expertise, relationships and recognition.

2. Define Opportunities for Partnership

   • Proactive: Business Developer takes the lead to initiate. Will you help Business Developer?
   • Responsive: Other organization initiates request to participate. Will Business Developer help us?
   • Mutual: More than one organization originates. “How can we help each other?”
   • Combination of the above (in more complex opportunities with multiple stages.)

3. Explore Meaning of Business Developer Leadership in Partnering

• Share the Business Developer Vision of “building bridges for the City of the Future”.
• Connect Business Developer Vision to Partnership Opportunity in a meaningful way.
• Focus on Business Developer’s capacity to develop partnerships for fund raising for worthy projects.
• Utilize Business Developer’s infrastructure for attracting, managing and allocating funds.

4. Be Aware of Expectations for Partnership in each of these Opportunities:

   • Partner’s Values-Vision-Mission (VVM) /Intentions are aligned to Business Developer’s VVM.
   • Partner’s VVM/Intentions give significant contra-indications to Business Developer VVM.
   • A complementarity exists between mutual Partners’ VVM’s/Intentions.
   • Combination of above.

5. Consider Time and Scope of Partnerships

   • Experiment with shorter term partnerships to gain experience of collaboration.
   • Take responsibility for demonstrating small gains through defined stages and/or do-able goals for larger projects.
   • Dare to dream big for the long term benefit of the city/community.
   • Use “12 Questions Re Meshwork Partnering” to review Partnership implications.

6. Connect to Other Business Developer Goals

   • Look at the connection to other Business Developer goals — how might other organizations share mutual interests around research, and other knowledge generations? How can we identify potential meshwork partners?
   • Invite potential partners to explore mutual interests?
   • Look at existing Business Developer Projects to see if current partnerships offer potential for future projects.

Click here to find out more about how Business Developers can:

• Mesh Design, Creativity & Knowledge
• Develop and Manage Technology Systems
• Structure, Pattern and Process for the Future