The news yesterday that Prince William is encouraging the charities he supports to work together was a refreshing start to the day. He reportedly feels that these organisations have skills, experience, resources and ideas which could be shared and set up the Princes' Charities Forum with his brother to see if the charities they support could help each other.
“Twice a year, the princes coax their charities to discuss their plans and devise new ideas to work together”. We can certainly support his view that many charities have great ideas – the Social Impact Awards at ebic 2008 illustrated just how much talent and commitment is in the third sector.
Prince William referred to a recent partnership between Centrepoint, a charity for the homeless, and Mountain Rescue England and Wales as "cross-pollination". In July, the prince scaled England’s third highest mountain, with young people from Centrepoint and Mountain Rescue volunteers. Mountain Rescue's chairman said that “the collaboration gave a morale boost to his volunteers and encouraged his organisation to be less inward-looking”; the chief executive of Centrepoint said that the climb helped his young people to "build their confidence and self-esteem, confront their fears, and believe that they can do anything. It was very, very powerful."
The Forum and this example illustrates the real culture of KM; partnership, collaboration, sharing, and celebrating success resulting from positive leadership and small practical steps.
The news made me think about a discussion on David Snowden’s blog about the role of, or alternative to, the CKO. David had some interesting ideas which have generated a great discussion. The sentiment that crept out from behind the “I don’t want to be a royal ornament’ statement seems to indicate that Prince William gets the KM point without worrying about the label.
Angela Abell
Senior Associate
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