Having lots of different partners can be great for achieving an organization’s vision… but only if you can overcome all those partners’ differences to sail in the same direction.
This is something we’ve been thinking about lately at Innosphere Ventures. We’re lucky to work with a wide variety of partners - corporate, federal labs, universities, nonprofits, large organizations, small organizations, etc.
Each of these partners has its own processes, culture, and expectations - plus, they move at different speeds.
We knew from the start that it would be hard to build a cohesive coalition out of all these disparate parts. So we endeavored first to create a unified work culture - because getting aligned on culture would enable us to move our entire organization forward at a workable pace.
To accomplish this alignment, we held large cross-partner meetings for bigger projects or focus areas that required everyone’s involvement, conducted one-on-one partner meetings, and recognized that each partner would need a different flavor of collaboration (and tailored our approach accordingly).
With these practices in place, we were able to get the right people involved in the right initiatives at the right time… and achieve a collective understanding of what our engine’s short-term and long-term goals are.
Aligning across our diverse partners in this way has helped us ensure that, in spite of our differences, we’re all in the same boat, sailing in the same direction - excited to reach the same beautiful coastline.
A big thank you to the EQT Ventures for a fantastic event!