Category: collaboration

From the Archives: Making as a Communal Process vs Individual Act

In April of 2014, one of my friends (and fellow blog writer/reader) Ton Zylstra wrote about making as a communal process. (Sorry Ton, it landed in the drafts and languished there until today!)

In the digital age, we add to the mix connectivity, the ability to both make objects, make tools to make those objects and make connections with other makers. Living today, in 2022, in a highly individualistic country, I grasp for more of the communal. With the pandemic, I probably hew more to solitary work. So revisiting Ton’s post has given me food for thought.

reflections of trees in a puddle with autumn leaves floating on top

…making is a communal process. Communal both in its source of knowledge and inspiration, as well as in the context and rationale of where the stuff you made is put to use. Process, as in the full cycle from awareness of issues, ideation, and creation, all the way to application, impact, and sharing the resulting insights again.

Seeing making as an individual act towards a solitary object obscures the layered richness making in the digital age is an expression of. A maker is not doing DIY, but a maker becomes a bridge or boundary spanner between his own local community and other wider global communities, as well as becomes a community hacker.

Ton Zylstra

via Making as a Communal Process vs Individual Act | Interdependent Thoughts.

As a little side bar, from a later draft came the link to a piece on why we tend to value art created by an individual, versus a group. Artists Working Solo Create the Finest Work – Pacific Standard: The Science of Society.

“By sharing responsibility, you have the strength of numbers, diversity and company as well.”

This draft holds up all on its own. Still inspirational. Thank you Peter Miller!

He wrote, “By giving lunch some form and detail, you give it grace. By sharing the responsibility, you have the strength of numbers, diversity, and company as well.” Peter Miller

via For bookmonger, lunch is a doable feast | All You Can Eat | Seattle Times.

Collaborate? Start marching, dancing, singing together…

This post from Carol Kinsey Goman from 2014 still resonates with me. Goman shares how we use our body language to impact our intentions. I am always amazed at how some people make major power plays with their bodies and I always wonder how intentional they are.

Two women singing out loud outside while a third smiles in appreciation.

While some of these 10 tips don’t fly via Zoom (have you tried to sing together? It’s a mess!) they are still a good reminder, starting with breathing.

10 Simple And Powerful Body Language Tips For 2014 – Forbes.

7) When you want your team to collaborate, start marching.

From the Archives: Two more friends better than two more enemies

Social Media in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

It is encouraging to see this article from 2013 is still online, and is still relevant examining how young people from conflict areas can be connected with each other. And the risks involved. . With the current conflicts continuing in Armenia and Azerbaijan and with the emergent issues in Russia and the Ukraine. It also reminds me of the amazing work I was invited into in the Caucasus with Project Harmony, with the highs, lows and learnings. I was hopeful and naïve – I’ll own that!  (More here.) 

From the Drafts: Felt Accountability

Notes about accountability on a flip chart: behaviors, bureaucracy, organizing and sharing

From the draft archives, 2012. This post from Bob Sutton came out of his frustrations with an airline, and led him to consider factors of felt accountability. I loved rereading his post as it spoke to this time of strong individualism here in the US. Do we have any felt accountability? I’ve snipped in the four aspects of felt accountability, but go read the post!

Felt Accountability: Some Emerging Thoughts – Bob Sutton.

Authorship…  That feeling that not only am I obligated to do the right thing, but that I am the person responsible for designing and making it as great as I can…

Mutual Obligation…David Novak, CEO of Yum! brands, argues that this should be the goal of a great leader, to create a place where it feels like you own it and it owns you.   …there is palpable weight on people, they feel pressure to do the right thing even when no one is looking, as the old saying goes. And they pressure others to do so as well.   

Indifference…Think of the average hair salon, where each stylist rents a chair.  Or a group dental practice, where dentists share a common receptionist and a few services and little else. Some organizations are designed this way and can be quite effective. The mutual dependence is weak, it is a “we don’t do much for you, so you don’t have to do much for us” situation.   

Mutual  Contempt… everyone seems to despise everyone else.  I hope I am wrong about this, but the awful stories rolled in from so many sources that it seems as if all the years of cost-cutting, all the battles with unions, all the management changes, all the stress that customers have endured over the years have conspired to bring the organization — at least most it — to this dark place.