An Australian Government official (formerly a consultant) sent me an email recently. It was such a intelligent insight about getting networks functioning properly.
‘I joined a network once but I was disappointed that, as consultants fostering networking, they demonstrated little networking themselves. All a bit too desperate in their own businesses perhaps.
To make a network or cluster work, it needs people with confidence in themselves, a generous outlook to the effect that there is plenty of work available in the world, and a preparedness to take on and carry out action, with open reporting back.
In terms of establishing clustering agendas, the challenge is finding a market first, and designing/inviting the participants after that, will be the most effective.
Australia’s low population density combined with, in my observation, the extreme individualism will be the major challenges. A longer term view, with all resources mustered positively, is needed to achieve the result.
Even (or perhaps particularly) at the federal level of government, the time frame for results expected is too short. We need more vision. And not just vision, but goals specified and reported against, with details filling in the vision’.
