Step One; Build a Collaborative Learning Community.
“It’s not what you know,” a wise man once said, “It’s WHO you know.” In fact, who you know is directly related to what you know. Your very future as a professional will be determined by the quality of your collaborative community. Surround yourself with a community of smart people that will give you intelligent advice, give you positive and negative feedback, as well as validate you. Isolationism will not work for you or your children. You can’t make the best decisions unless you use collective intelligence. WE is truly smarter than ME. You need a community, a team or support group that you can interact with. A collaborative community is the greatest force on Earth. This group will help you make sound decisions, enhance your creativity, renew your sense of spirit, give you solid advice, celebrate triumphs and assist with tragedies. The community will circle the wagons around you when you are under attack or challenged. This group will support you when you need help and act as your advocate. I define a collaborative learning community as a group of people with similar values and interests who remain in contact for assistance and support. It’s time to develop a plan.
Goal number one; you must build your own collaborative learning community and become an active participant in this group. Networking skills can make or break a person. Build a community who can guide you, point you in the right direction, coach you, answer questions and share their knowledge and wisdom. Most likely you have already begun this process, you just need to take the next step.
How do you start building a collaborative community? I recommend that you take a piece of paper and start listing all the people you are already collaborating with. Draw a web of all the communities and affiliations you belong to, your church, clubs, classes, families, teams, and the neighborhood. It’s important to find people that have the same common interests, share the same values, viewpoints, and goals in life. You must attempt to develop a mutually beneficial relationship in which you can help others and they, in turn, will assist you. Identify who these local individuals are and build a powerful alliance with them.
Your community no longer needs to be based on physical proximity because you can communicate using the Internet. You can form a learning community consisting of many people around the world. The best collaborative groups are composed of local people as well as distant people in virtual space. Take out the web you are drawing and start to list all the people that can join you from distant locations using the Internet. All successful collaborations involve many participants from several sectors of the workforce, government, business, labor/industry and education, as opposed to participants from one work sector. Find several members that have degrees outside of education that work in different fields. Find people from many different walks of life. It’s also recommended to find at least one older person that has more experience. It may be an advantage to find a younger college student that you can mentor and share ideas with. When you attend a conference search for people that are interested in continuing the conversation over the Internet. It’s a great way to build your learning community.
Successful people tend to know more key associates than do their less accomplished peers. Successful people are better connected and have larger learning communities. You can directly tap into the contacts of your membership.
Blogging is the best way to build and maintain a learning community. It’s the glue that holds the entire community together. Blogging simply is conversation in a digital format. The conversations on the blog will draw in new recruits from around the world when they join your discussions. By using RSS feeds you can have a free 24-hour per day research department at your fingertips.
It takes time and patience to develop a personal learning community. It takes time for relationships to develop between group members. It takes time to develop trust. The entire process can be slow at times it may seem as if nothing is happening.
A collaborative community is essential in the world today. “There is no such thing as a self made man. You will reach your goal only with the help of others.” Said George Shinn. Expand your collaborative community, expand your knowledge. In Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital Robert Putnam wrote, “From labor unions and women’s groups to sports leagues and parent teacher associations, there has been a steady decline in participation over the last decade or two. This trend is especially troublesome.” People are not connected and more and more people are bowling alone. Collective intelligence cannot be done alone.
