Apr 19, 2007
Why is it often difficult to involve the business sector in LED?
What can you do to raise their interest?
At one point, we refer to Malcolm Gladwell's concept of
"connectors". More information on this is available at http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/tp_excerpt2.html.
Dear Shawn and Joerg,
thanks a lot for the interesting podcast on business involvement that created quite some thoughts in myself. Three aspects/ questions I would like to highlight to you in this regard:
- You talk about the importance of getting the \\\"buy in\\\" of businesses in the process. But you do not say something about one important prerequisite for getting businesses involved: having a business and economic-oriented situation analysis. I think one important aspect to get business involved is through reflecting with them about their business and business environment situation. Often through this reflection process they realize their challenges, their insufficient reflection on aspects of competitiveness in the past and most important: they realize that they have learned something and have to learn more to \\\"stay in the game\\\". So creating awareness about the necessity to learn as a business or a location is one of the challenging aspects. Encouraging LED and getting businesses involved requires to follow a business-oriented approach with which you create awareness in the private and public sector.
- LED stakeholders are individuals and both of you often mention the necessity of change facilitation. So how can we reach and support these individuals to (be able to ) change their mindsets. Which tools can us help at the individual and LED level to get access to them? I think we need to have more knowledge about how to approach individuals in the process of LED and how to support them in their working environment in which they find themselves as individual workers. We can analyse LED from a structural and general trust perspective. But how can we support the individual representatives in their process of learning and awareness creation?
- Often we identify local stakeholders (e.g. in the municipality) who are keen to learn but have not enough power to make decisions. How can we support these persons?
These are just some questions which came into my mind while listening to your podcast. Thanks again for it!
Best, Frank