NxtGen Committee's Connection with Collaboration

Collaboration is one of the key determinants in the development and success of an individual, across all levels of experience, in both professional environments and everyday life. The opportunities that arise from collaboration internally and externally develop their roots at the start of each person’s professional journey. The impacts of collaboration from the get-go are particularly important to provide the foundations of career development and opportunities further down the line; which is why a piece from the IAM UK NxtGen Committee seems particularly well suited to the ‘collaboration’ theme of this edition of Assets.

If you are not yet aware who the IAM UK NxtGen committee is, we are a team of 15 asset management professionals who have recently started their asset management careers, whether that be as a student, graduate or through the transition from another industry. Our committee has members from 12 different companies, covering a variety of sectors including water, transportation, gas, aviation and infrastructure. Members of the committee are located across the country and meet on a fortnightly basis to hold discussions, share insight and plan the goals of the committee for the year ahead. Notably, the IAM NxtGen committee is not just a UK-based innovation committees that are also held across the globe in Germany, Canada, India, the Netherlands and the USA. I will now cover the three key areas where collaboration is evident within our committee. 

Shared Insights

Joining the UK NxtGen committee has allowed me to develop my understanding of asset management outside the learning circle of my sector. Exposure to the projects and opportunities of those in similar stages of their careers, through general discussion before beginning the agenda of our calls, has allowed me to develop a more holistic outlook on asset management and an understanding of our industry in a relatively short period. The benefits of reducing the knowledge gap between different sectors within asset management are clear, so many of our projects have such large overlaps even with completely different assets. If the opportunity to take good practice from one sector to another is feasible, then why not take it? Collaboration allows improvements like these to be made.

The opportunity to collaborate on improving areas of the NxtGen including our university outreach, our social media engagement, our event planning, our website layout or our written content themes are all initially conducted as a committee. Areas of focus are then picked up in greater detail by the designated teams, the collaboration of these teams that all have different experiences in asset management helps to spark ideas and share insight that is less likely to be discovered during internal discussion.

University Outreach

NxtGen collaboration is not limited to collaboration between our committee members, we also aim to spread awareness of the asset management industry to those with different levels of understanding and awareness, through events and university outreach.

Teaming up with universities that offer asset management modules or courses has allowed us to present the day-to-day activities of a young professional in several different sectors, providing a more reflective perception of the industry than is accessible online. The opportunity to have meaningful 

conversations with those who will potentially be joining the asset management industry allows a knowledge exchange between young professionals and students about the array of opportunities and the real-life application to their academic research.

Our ambition is to extend our outreach beyond those who are already familiar with the industry by teaming up with universities and attending their career fairs. Asset management is a potential career path for students with a wide variety of degrees, but whether students are aware of this is a different story. The NxtGen committee have a wide variety of academic backgrounds that should be advertised to university students who are seeking to enter the professional world.

Connectivity of global leads

The extent of NxtGen’s collaboration is not confined to the UK but stretches across the globe connecting the UK, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, India and the USA. Every month the NxtGen committee chairs hold a forum where they can discuss examples of good practice, upcoming events, what works well and provide updates on the progression of their committees. These discussions not only provide an update to other chairs about initiatives that they could consider implementing. But also provides a transfer of knowledge between countries of differing asset management maturity and committee size. Sharing examples of what works well within different contexts allows each committee to reflect on the options available to them. With the ambition to work as one interconnected unit that can provide collaborative aid to those around them. 

If you or any of your team would like any further information about the IAM NxtGen feel free to point them in the direction of our webpage which can be found here.