APC WILL BE BOOTED OUT OF POWER FOR LACK OF CAUSE -BASED COLLABORATION AND HONEST / UNBIASED BROKERS. Cause based collaboration is no magic bullet. It still takes plenty of thoughtful research, creative insight, political savvy and hard work to craft workable solutions to the biggest problems facing Sierra Leone today and then to make them widely available. But am convinced that, when it comes to most of the major challenges we face, Multi-stakeholder partnerships are the key to achieving real progress. To make this happen, we need to: - Identify honest brokers who will bring stakeholders together around shared causes. They will spend their time on coordination, communication and ensuring a focus on a common measurable goal. Can we train people to be honest brokers? Could we create collaborative apprenticeships with mentors who can teach the art of brokering? There are many candidates waiting in the wings-lets put them to work! - Spend time with others who share our interest in a cause to thoughtfully define the cause, explore a specific solution and devise a system to measure results. Dont give in to the temptation to jump at a solution that sounds right or that some professor or politician is selling...... Take a deep breath and open up to other views. - Ask, early in our planning efforts for any new project, Who can we collaborate with to improve our odds of success? Dont assume that the partnership path is too hard to follow- there are models for collaboration that will smooth the way. Chances are you got in to politics not only to make a living but also to play a significant role by helping President Koroma change Sierra Leone tangibly by evolving and expressing more of our human potentials. If so, your aim is to create what we are calling a positive change a purpose driven politician that is about love and excellence, service and profit, spirit and money, authenticity and professionalism. Its about being a politician that express your soul and empowers the self actualization of all Sierra Leoneans. But so often when our politicians say they are motivated to change Sierra Leone and got an appointment from President Koroma they havent studied what makes a politician effective and powerful, nor how to integrate the best practices for truly enlightened relationship with party members, investors and even opposition members. They havent learned how to market heartfully and effectively, nor have their offerings and services aligned with their real purpose and targeted to the right cause. And this is whats currently lacking in our present day All Peoples Congress (APC). THE TAKE AWAYS. - No single individual, organisation, corporation or foundation can solve the significant problems of Sierra Leone. So lets stop looking for heroes to address the important issues of our day. Instead lets focus on the bringing together of the teams of Organisations and individuals that must collaborate to address problems. - Start by identifying an honest broker to coordinate the collaboration - a person whos widely trusted and highly skilled in building partnerships. He or she will gather the requisite resources needed to hold the collaboration together and measure its progress to common goals, the collaborative glue. - Next, put together a key influencer map to identify the people and Organisations that needed to be involved. Then meet with those influencers to launch a collaboration. If the problem doesnt have widely accepted solution, the discussions may be heated - which may force you to simplify your goal or accept a partial solution on the way to your ultimate objective. Meeting people periodically to share knowledge and measure progress can be useful. But deep collaboration is much more likely to produce fundamental / sustainable change. An old friend of mine once told me a story about his days in a musical band in his native country (UK). When I started playing in a jazz band back in the seventh grade, one of the first things I learned was the difference between being a good soloist and being part of a great ensembles. Its not enough to be skilled at playing your own instrument. You need to learn to listen to everybody elses sound, develop the flexibility to let your rhythms and harmonies mesh with theirs, and give others the freedom to improvise. Little by little you find yourself producing, as a group musical creations that soar above the capability of any single performer. Today, as a young politician under the APC with a number of problems in Sierra Leone am passionate about, I believe its time for us to learn the same lesson. In todays politics in Sierra Leone, its not enough to spend time picking the best politician. I am tired of the many egos that are rewarded at conferences by being featured as heroes and leaders for starting an organisation, looking good, and telling a moving story. Thats not whats needed to be truly successful in advancing the big cause of our day! The really big problems were wrestling with are too complex for that. Instead we need great ensembles that can archive much more than any single artist, no matter how gifted - bands that combine the gifts of many kind of stakeholders to produce a powerful and long lasting impact in support of the causes in which we believe. AN HONEST / UNBIASED BROKER: A person, group or entity that is widely trusted and capable of rallying the interested parties behind the unified effort. The honest broker typically has autonomy from party elders and related Organisations within the party structure. And is not the most knowledgeable expert on the key issues affecting the country or the party but rather he is able to bring people together and can find the common linkages among members of a disparate group. This leader must have a managed ego ( the ability to subordinate his or her reputation or image to the importance of the case); be a superb networker ( able to gather a wide array of people to share ideas and resources); be an- in- the moment, focused, and sensitive listener; have leadership experience; be seen not as a fundraising competitor but rather as a finder of new resources; and, of course, have a profound passion of the shared goal. The typical honest broker is a political leader who is skilled in collaboration, innovation, goal-setting and other relevant activities. Other crucial qualities include humility, empathy, audacity, flexibility and vision. He must open links to other key influencers- people or Organisations whose support is essential to forging a complete solution. He should set up an enabling group to provide the collaborative glue. A small group of focused individuals needs to come together to create and maintain the collaborative effort. This group is typically of limited duration (several years) and is tasked with convening meetings, sharing knowledge, gathering resources, tracking outcomes and holding the key stakeholders accountable for their commitments until the shared goal is achieved. Defining and practicing values like these helps to ensure that the collaborative partnership within the Party and the Government remains focused on the issues that really matter rather than falling prey to the weakness that derail so many well-intentioned efforts within the Government and the Party such as interpersonal squabbles, philosophical differences, tactical disagreement, ego battles, politics of grievance and irrelevant distractions. OBJECTION TO COLLABORATION. Self centered politicians within the Party and the Government are dubious about the feasibility of political collaboration. They raise plenty of questions about the collaborative model, which youll need to be prepared to answer. One objection is that collaboration sounds time-consuming, costly and hard. Those who have odd plans to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor dont want to slow down to listen to others; they have figured out their negative plans, and having to integrate their efforts with those of partners will create average or no result to their odd plans. Thats why theyre highly enthusiastic in political set ups against each other; rather than truly serving the people. What a shame! This solitary efforts are responsible for the problems we are currently facing in Sierra Leone. Solitary efforts always have a higher likelihood of failure,and having others challenge your assumptions is often a productive exercise. Many of our politicians, academics and business people in Sierra Leone worry they will lose their authority, independence and recognition if they work with others collaboratively....... Until they actually experience successful collaboration and discover the benefit it can bring.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 08:58:18 +0000