The event welcomed over 600 participants, giving Scotland an opportunity to share our collaborative spirit in innovation, sustainability, and social impact with international associations across the world.
This year’s event took place from 30 September to 2 October in the city of Barcelona and included a full programme of thought-provoking on and off-site activities. The event welcomed over 600 participants, giving Scotland an opportunity to share our collaborative spirit in innovation, sustainability, and social impact with international associations across the world.
Designed to foster connection and collaboration, this year’s immersive programme was curated to meet the evolving needs, challenges, priorities and opportunities faced by our industry.
With a theme built around the three key pillars of trust, strategy and future, the line-up of inspirational keynote speakers included Michael Bungay Stanier, author and thought leader in personal development; Olga Nasibullina, cybersecurity entrepreneur and NATO lecturer; Abir Haddoud, Entrepreneur, Edtech Founder, author and thought leader; Laura Dekker, world record sailor and founder of Laura Dekker World Sailing Foundation; and Felix Rundel, Co-founder of futurehain.
It’s remembering that no one achieves anything alone, and it is our relationships with our colleagues, suppliers, clients, family and friends that help us on our journeys.
Prioritise trust
My main takeaways from Convening EMEA were twofold, and both related to our interpersonal relationships in a professional as well as a personal capacity.
Firstly, it’s remembering that no one achieves anything alone, and it is our relationships with our colleagues, suppliers, clients, family and friends that help us on our journeys, whatever they might be. The cornerstone to a successful relationship is trust - if we keep this in mind, and always act in ways that grow and nurture trust, we can thrive. But if we break trust and let people down – people will quickly get tired of this and your ability to move forward and be successful will be restricted. We have to recognise that there is an emotional, nurturing component.
We all need to get better at being quiet and just listening, really listening to the people around us.
Listen actively
Secondly, and related to the first – is all about the power of listening. Quite simply, we all need to get better at being quiet and just listening, really listening to the people around us. Instead of waiting to speak, try to understand. It is easy to have low quality, interactional conversations, and a lot of the time that’s what we achieve. But when we practice active listening, we can reveal so much more about how another person is feeling, and this ultimately helps us work with that person better, known them on a deeper level, and build greater trust.
When it is time to respond in a conversation, try to ask open questions, for example:
Did you agree with the decision > what are your thoughts on the decision?
Is the new process working > how is the new process impacting your work?
By doing this, it’s remarkable how quickly a conversation can get into deep and emotive areas, and we really learn what the other person is feeling, not just what their top line, superficial response is.
Laura’s recurring message was ‘what got you here won’t get you there’.
Take the plunge
The final keynote was from Laura Dekker, world record sailor and founder of the Laura Dekker World Sailing Foundation. Laura sailed the world alone when she was just 14 years old, and her inspirational story reminded me to be bold and sail into the unknown, because it might just work!
Laura’s recurring message was ‘what got you here won’t get you there’ and to get to the next place, the next level, the next success, you need to keep innovating, moving, changing, and adapting.
