The day started with an early sun rising and a cool breeze. I met John our Treasurer and we began our journey to London. We talked about receiving the invitation to attend this fantastic exhibition ‘BUSINESS4BETTER UK’ organised by NCVO and UBM plc. Remarkably the trains were on time and the journey to London was straight forward. The sun was shining, was this a sign for the day ahead?
We arrived and registered, it was quite literally wall to wall of exhibits, there was The Hub to have the chance to meet possible business partners and corporate sponsors. There was also the red, orange and yellow breakout area for seminars, the main stage and lots of excitement.
The first thing that struck us was the amazing way everyone was willing to support one another, there was definitely a ‘buzz’ in the place! Getting around this was going to need some quick planning on our part which we did over a coffee!
John & I met and networked with some truly amazing people and found the day to be interesting. However, this day was about much more than networking, it was about building potential partnerships for our future work too.
We are now working on a few possible partnerships that are going to help us strengthen HEALS for the future. Importantly, we recognized that HEALS has got strong foundations in our four core strategic projects and a clear way of building something to last. We learnt how to make HEALS funding strategy stronger. The best bit was meeting the wonderful Darren who is one of the best connected people in the UK and he’s kindly agreed to work with me as a mentor ………… ‘Jackpot’! Talk about feeling like a lottery winner!
So what did get out of the day? For one I was reminded of how great the HEALS team are and John and I were certainly a good ‘mini’ team HEALS on the day!
For me the learning was something that will help me as HEALS Manager and there were some key messages:
- Collaboration and partnership can only lead to success – building partnerships is the foundation on which HEALS is built
- Be clear about what you are saying or asking for – if you don’t know how will anyone else? – Our four core strategic projects are going to help HEALS achieve this
- Know what the end result is likely to look like – otherwise you may not know when to take the next step – HEALS is now on the road and knows where it’s heading!
- Don’t be generic – be specific, have a purpose – the future direction of HEALS has this
- Develop a mentor and support network – thanks to this event and my network within my LinkedIn network and the I Am Woman business club, this one is definitely ticked
- Recognize you can’t be expert in everything – you need people who’ve done it before to help you – at HEALS we are using our partnerships to gain advice and support
- Get specialists to help with key tasks or challenges – HEALS has got this one sorted too, with a list of experts who help us and we have our potential Trustees too
- Build a sustainable model – This is one for HEALS to work on, however, the feedback on the day suggests we are
Seems like HEALS is well on the way to success!
The one message of the day that I could relate to was:
- Be true to your personal and organisational values and have the self belief that you can achieve
For me this message is important because it’s something I believe in and have often written and spoken about. Being true and honest to yourself and others, is the only way to form partnerships and relationships [personal and business] that will last. If anything validated this, then this event certainly has for me!
alisoncrossjones 