Mining Experiential Knowledge At Partnering Events - Part 1
Date of publication: July 10, 2009
This is a two-parts article to be continued in the next issue
by Dr. Norbert Rau, RauCon business development
When business development executives attend a euroPLX meeting (or any other partnering conference for that matter) they experience a learning process which is based on
a. formal data and information laid down in the online partnering information (collaboration interests); often this is only a summary, a list of items, or even just a hint of what the delegate might be willing to discuss face to face.
b. information that other delegates are willing to share apart from the written partnering profile, either during formal appointments or when socialising during the breaks, at dinner, or at the bar.
c. know-how of senior, experienced professionals that can be tapped, e.g. when a non-European asks a European about how to best approach European regulatory procedures, pitfalls to avoid, etc.
d. experiential knowledge, procedural skills, cultural views, gut feelings: tacit, implicit knowledge which is inexpressible and which does not lend itself to be captured, codified, stored, or transferred.
e. newly created knowledge and business ideas that come up and are shared through the interaction of delegates, frequently not during the formal face-to-face discussions, but in a more relaxed atmosphere outside the sessions.
Formal Information: The Collaboration Interests
The formal data and information on a company’s collaboration interests that are shared online or on paper are only the tip of the iceberg of information which is transferred and shared during a euroPLX meeting.
It is often barely more than a rough sketch of the business opportunity a company offers, because frequently a delegate does not have enough time, is not supposed to, or is too bad a writer to describe it comprehensively. You sometimes have to read between the lines and be familiar with the other company’s business in order to get the idea. This is, unfortunately, a fact.
Considering this flaw, it is probably not the best idea to request a meeting with a company based on the supplied partnering information alone, nor is it wise to reject a requested appointment: the trade-off could be valuable knowledge or a missed business opportunity. Expensive, and not really beneficial for one’s own career.
Some partnering conferences, however, use online software which does exactly that: giving registrants the opportunity to reject another company’s request for a one-to-one appointment by the click of the mouse: “I know this company, there is no common ground to discuss business.” Click.
The notion that a person can “know” a company is widespread, yet absolutely mistaken. Nobody can ever have complete knowledge of a company, its strategy, its plans, projects, most recent developments, legal situation, or other, not publicly known facts.
Organisers who support the rejecting practice by providing an online tool for it, do not appear to have understood how partnering mechanisms really work. (It is interesting to note that you, the registrant, have paid the registration fee for the right to meet other business people and explore possible deals. At the same time the organisers permit other registrants to reject your request for an appointment, i.e. make it impossible for you to get what you paid for… lawyers pay attention!)
Rejecting a request (which is not permitted at euroPLX Meetings) would also mean to forgo the potential of the items b) to e) listed above. The formal reason to attend, the exchange of business opportunities, is one thing, the “add-ons”, another.
One participant from India put it that way recently: “I call euroPLX a power packed partnering and competency development programme.” A German delegate called it “…an excellent platform for valuable information exchange.”
Information Apart From the Written Partnering Profile
Many delegates do not write their most interesting offer in their collaboration interests. They want it “off the records”. They do not wish to have this information online, visible for all other delegates, including their competition. That is quite understandable and legitimate. Here is a (true) story to think about:
At one euroPLX Meeting delegates of a company showed up that had never attended before and attended never again (so far). They attended because they saw another company on the list which they wanted to meet on neutral grounds. Of course, they did not mention their real reason for attending in their partnering profile, which is why the delegate of the requested company asked us: “Do I really have to see this company? We have nothing in common!” Well, they had, but he did not know until then. And it turned out to be the biggest deal which he did for his company.
Think about it twice. euroPLX’ reciprocity rule was established by people who are familiar with the mechanisms of effective partnering: If you expect others to accept your request for a meeting, you have to accept their requests, too.
It is true, there are one-on-one meetings which turn out to be a waste of time. Quite annoying, especially if you already assumed before that the request would lead to nothing. But even smaller results than the unexpected outcome described above outweigh the useless appointments by far.
by Dr. Norbert Rau, RauCon business development