Three Insights from Richard Hawkes, CEO of British Asian Trust that made me rethink communication and team management. With over 25 years' experience in the non-profit sector, he certainly had some well marinated ideas worth sharing.From our conversation last week when he visited the Friendship NGO projects in northern Bangladesh.
1. Adapt your communication / Listen before you talk: Seems like a no-brainer, but we often forget this to regurgitate same words that have worked in the past. If your corporate donors do not even know about the 17 SDGs (sustainable development goals), elaborating on how your work aligns with it, is unlikely to impress them.
2. Compromise is NOT the best way: As a manager, when you have 2 teams under you that are offering opposing solutions, trying a compromise between the two is not the way to go. This means both the teams already believe your solution is likely to fail, and no one learns anything from it. It is better to lean towards one side that you prefer, and translate their point to the other side to close the gap.
3. Talk about failures: We often don't like to discuss our failures. Most of the fundings and approvals require success as a prerequisite. But if all the failures are boxed away, you will be swept away by changing tides from business and technology.
You can listen to his take on impact investment and embracing risk in the podcast here: https://www.lidji.org/podcast/episode/462b3b6f/ceo-of-the-british-asian-trust-richard-hawkes-on-impact-investing-development-impact-bonds-risk-taking-and-more
1. Adapt your communication / Listen before you talk: Seems like a no-brainer, but we often forget this to regurgitate same words that have worked in the past. If your corporate donors do not even know about the 17 SDGs (sustainable development goals), elaborating on how your work aligns with it, is unlikely to impress them.
2. Compromise is NOT the best way: As a manager, when you have 2 teams under you that are offering opposing solutions, trying a compromise between the two is not the way to go. This means both the teams already believe your solution is likely to fail, and no one learns anything from it. It is better to lean towards one side that you prefer, and translate their point to the other side to close the gap.
3. Talk about failures: We often don't like to discuss our failures. Most of the fundings and approvals require success as a prerequisite. But if all the failures are boxed away, you will be swept away by changing tides from business and technology.
You can listen to his take on impact investment and embracing risk in the podcast here: https://www.lidji.org/podcast/episode/462b3b6f/ceo-of-the-british-asian-trust-richard-hawkes-on-impact-investing-development-impact-bonds-risk-taking-and-more
Radi
Dhaka
November 2022
November 2022
