Connecting with dynamic, supportive folk

Humanity has some great technology at our disposal as I write, but we have not as yet made systemic use of it to engage more folk on a wider basis, and be able to get more things done in better ways. Why is that?

Our team here met on a Facebook Group, the Ecology of Systems Thinking.

When we find our team, and find our ways of working, even when everyone has quite different skills, it can mean a huge amount. The sense of belonging is so welcoming, the buzz is tangible, and the support for mistakes made and lessons learned is truly humbling.

In a sense, our team is trialing the use of this particular technology, Facebook, to find out how we ourselves connect, engage and produce. We can then collectively turn round to others to explain what processes we went through, what we learned, and how others might avoid making the same mistakes. We share some common attributes. There is a sense of dynamism, a need to get things done. There is a spirit of support, of wanting to help others. There is a love of structure & resource, understanding that quality depends on being able to repeat actions in a faithful way. But there is also creativity, an understanding that form, structure and constraint sometimes need to be reviewed, renewed, sometimes swept away to allow a new start. We had small, insignificant beginnings, simply connecting with one another through conversation. But my, how those conversations grew. Collectively, we shared our dreams, and then sought pragmatic ways to make those dreams more real, even in seemingly tiny ways. And that's where we are today. Standing on the threshold of who knows what.

But always willing to take the next step forward, to try things, to risk failure, willing to take turns at leading, supportive of each other. A family separated by geography, but united in spirit and determination.