Sonia Bate & Dr Robyn Wilson “Collaboration and Inclusion – East and West”
Sonia says:
When I set up EDIT development nearly six years ago I was unsure what we would become and more importantly how we would become it. The one thing I knew from my years in corporate life was that success comes from collaboration and building great relationships, and therefore that is what I hung my hat on. I am delighted to say that six years later we have many successful partnerships and collaborations which have resulted in us working in industries and with clients that I had only hoped we would be able to work with. We know from the extensive research we have done around high performance leadership with our client portfolio that collaboration is one of the most underdeveloped behaviours of global leaders in the workplace right now, closely followed by a lack of conceptual flexibility. Conceptual flexibility is really all about being thinking agile, flexible with your approach and having openness to doing things in new ways.
For me these two behaviours have been the foundation of building our business. Looking for partners and great people to collaborate with, whilst building diverse relationships leveraging different ideas to create solutions and programmes for clients that are fresh and challenging. When I met Dr Robyn Wilson in Singapore two years ago I knew we would work together, again I just didn’t know how or when. I am so happy that Robyn’s business
Praxis Management Consulting and EDIT Development are now partnering to be able to offer truly global solutions for our existing clients now having a broad, diverse team in Asia, Europe and Americas.
Collaboration for me is all about learning, developing, being better for the relationship and looking for ways to be leaders in the market through sharing not competing. From 1st July EDIT Development is stronger for having an official partner based in Singapore who bring diversity of thought, understanding of cultural difference whilst being grounded on the same values and ethical foundation that we pride ourselves on. A business focused on doing things in new ways, using blended learning solutions whilst keeping at its heart that relationship is what keeps our heart pumping. The relationships with our clients, partners and the extended global team we have working under our brand.
Robyn says:
The way we establish, build and keep our relationships with clients, partners and our network is extremely important to us here in Asia. Being respectful, authentic, open, truthful and grounded is important to us. Our clients face very real challenges and we like to work alongside them, co-creating solutions. This is how we do business at Praxis Management Consulting.
Finding good partners can be hard. Yet, on the other hand, when you meet kindred spirits, its easy. When I first met Sonia from EDIT Development in Singapore a few years back, she was ‘in’, though I had no idea how our connection would play out in the scheme of things. Strangely, I was meeting someone else at the time, but she happened to be there. It is always important to remain open to those we meet, as you never know when these gems come along.
We can speak of being collaborative so easily, but I’m reminded it takes connection, trust, openness, decisions to be deliberate, shared objectives, a sense of timing and shared guiding principles.
As we at Praxis work with Leaders in Asia, we understand that many of these leaders come to Asia from other parts of the world often representing their MNCs and organisations. These leaders come and work with the many great leaders born and bred in Asia. And increasingly, we are seeing many Asian leaders going abroad as their Asian businesses grow globally. We need good partnerships to support our clients, and to bring the best of the ‘east’ and the ‘west’. Leveraging regional relationships, knowledge and experience and bringing the best together as we support leaders who operate in mixed cultural and geographies will be key. Exploiting the power of real inclusion and true diversity is a tremendous opportunity in this complex world.
Thinking differently about how we partner to deliver support to clients globally is important, just as it is important to constantly explore new, fresh and better ways in which to do it. I know that Sonia and her team at EDIT Development will hold me to this, as I will to them. This will make for a great partnership, and one I really look forward to! I’m thrilled EDIT and Praxis are partnering!
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