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BUILDING SMART BRIDGES NAVIGATING EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS

BUILDING SMART BRIDGES NAVIGATING EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS. Sal Ajek Steph Tom. WELCOME! BIENVENUE!. OUTLINE. Definition Initiation Challenges Maintaining. Definition. In Your University: The dean The faculty Student organizations In Your Community: Press Funders

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BUILDING SMART BRIDGES NAVIGATING EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS

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  1. BUILDING SMART BRIDGESNAVIGATING EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS Sal Ajek Steph Tom

  2. WELCOME!BIENVENUE!

  3. OUTLINE • Definition • Initiation • Challenges • Maintaining

  4. Definition In Your University: • The dean • The faculty • Student organizations In Your Community: • Press • Funders • Other community organizations • Politicians

  5. Initiation A) Questioning: Why are we doing this? Should we? Do we have the capacity to do so?

  6. Initiation B) Approach: • Use a targeted approach when seeking partnerships • Juxtapose this to being approached • Identifying EWB champions What are the traits of an EWB champion?

  7. Initiation B) Approach: • The “EWB image” • See EWB through your eyes • Business cards C) First Date! • Be aware of their motivations – and try to find common ground • Ask: What do we offer as an organization (as a chapter)? • Find commonality in their terminology, speak in their language (faculty, press, politicians)

  8. INITIATION Know how to respond to “What do you do?” Activity: “The 30 sec to 2 min pitches” How would you pitch what EWB does and what you as an individual do within the organization depending on how much time you had?

  9. Activity - Scenarios • An MP • Your professor • A major corporate CEO • A local community group • Media for a 20 seconds clip on the 6 O'clock news • Local organization with similar mandate • Faculty sponsor • A member of the public • "Why aren't you involved with (local community initiative?)" asks a community member. • "Why should we fund you?" asks a faculty member

  10. CHALLENGES? Once you have established a “bridge”, what challenges do you foresee?

  11. Challenges • Meet the Parents! • Be aware of politics • Public support versus actual support (i.e. politicians, profs that agree but limit the degree of involvement, etc) • There are gaps that you just can’t see coming. Be prepared but also be flexible to change • McMaster U. example

  12. With great success comes great…. • Case scenario: Hooray! You’re featured on the cover of a first-year engineering publication. You begin to read the article but discover that they give off the impression that EWB sends students overseas to build wells. • Case scenario: You have a major faculty sponsor that suddenly withdraws their funding because one of your JFs is not an engineer! • What do you do?

  13. MAINTAINING! How do you maintain the relationships in the face of turnover?

  14. Maintaining an external relationship • Constant communication (holiday cards, thank you cards, update emails, newsletters) • The idea of having a specific contact person for an organization • Benefits: They remember who you are know, less chance of miscommunication • Drawbacks: Chapter turnover, workload

  15. Maintaining an external relationship • Your biggest challenge: Turnover! • Be really prepared for transition • Contacts within the chapter • To maintain ongoing relationship, need to pass on information • Pass on contacts by taking people along with you to meetings • Contacts within the organization • Having multiple contacts within organization • You can also try to see if you can move onto multi-year commitment so both parties are thinking far into the future

  16. To sum it up What does it mean to have an external relationship? How passionate, how professional your interaction becomes (subconsciously) associated with how people view the entire organization. And don’t lose hope if things don’t come through! Thank you! Questions?

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