Exploring Methods of Leadership Collaboration Across the Community
Hello, leaders!
Many of us occupy more than one leadership role in our community. For example, I could be a Listener Mentor, Chatroom Moderator, and Forum Supporter as well. Likewise, you could also carry multiple roles in the community.
You’d agree that all the various roles in the community are ultimately there to serve the community, and thus, all the roles are interconnected with one another. All the projects and teams within the community must work together in harmony with the common goal of making a better community.
There needs to be a spirit of working together within each team, as well as between the teams. Let us take an example. I am a Sharing Circle Host. On one hand, I’d look to be a good host and encourage my fellow hosts -that’d be me being an awesome team member creating unity within my team of hosts. On the other hand, I am aware that many other projects exist in the community at large. So, as a sharing circle host, I could ponder over if there is a possibility of promoting another community project. For instance, I could suggest to the Sharing Circle Leader that we could share the Peer Appreciation Form in one of the conclusion messages of the Sharing Circle script. (This is something we actually did!)
Taking another example, let’s say I make a forum post on how to be a good listener in the Listener Learning & Journey Community. Now, I am also aware that various quality projects exist on 7 Cups and it’s an opportunity to promote those! So, I could include the link to the Quality Listening Program, Listener Coach Request Form, AL Tests, or all - anything that makes the most sense in the context of the post.
The second example is actually one of the simplest ways of cross-collaboration. Whenever you make a forum post, think over if there is a related project or community resource you can link to in your post. Making a gratitude post? Share away the appreciation form! Making a post about time management? Time to spotlight the Academy Time Management Course or link to another community resource on time management.
Got the idea? A collaborative attitude is the key to making our community the most beautiful and helpful. Just your thought and willingness is all that it takes!
Do you have collaborative experience? Please share your thoughts and tips, if you have them!
Speaking of collaboration efforts, special thanks to @Fristo for working with me to create this post!
@Heather225
Thank you for these well-needed words. I appreciate all that you and the teams are doing to help make this a great commuity❤️
@Heather225
Brilliant! 100% agree!
@Heather225 I am so pleased you have made this post that highlights how easy it is to promote and collaborate with other teams. I have always tried to advertise other projects when they are applicable to the topic I am posting. I realise that it is sadly the case that sometimes people can feel protective over their projects and don't want their hard work used to promote other teams, but we all need to remember that we are ONE TEAM, the 7 Cups Team! And we are stronger together!
- In Hobby Zone Community, we have some collaborations planned with the new Arts & Crafts Community.
- When making a post I try to add the Community Roles application to get more people applying.
- In Communities, we have several 'World Days' coming up that could be used to plan collaborations between different communities.
- When making a post in our Community we can also link to other relevant posts, resources, and communities.
- In LSR and TL I like to share lots of resources and application forms
There are lots of ways of bringing people together and offering them more support that they may not realise exists.
Listening - One Step At A Time!
@Heather225
Hi H! 😊 ❤️ Many thanks for this amazing forum post! I for one, love the concept of collaborative efforts and I really like how you have listed for us, some really great ways to do so.
As for me, standing back and seeing the big picture here on the platform...early on, I felt as if a collaborative effort was happening, organically if that is what you want to see and what you want to embrace. I feel as if "one hand washes the other" around here.
You learn new things in one area of the platform and it's up to us to then take that knowledge and do our best to apply it to all of the other areas. I imagine just like anything in life, sometimes the more you put into it, the more you get out of it from an educational standpoint. I guess I simply saw opportunities to take what I had learned and help even more in a variety of different settings on the site, ends up being what I like to call "portable skills".
Do you have collaborative experience? Please share your thoughts and tips if you have them.
Here on the platform I have tried to find ways to provide a collaborative experience.
Some of the most basic ways have been for me in the role of peer support to help others. A variety of things can come up that are needs for others for additional support.
If I am trying to help another and they feel as if they are trying to hold for example, a sharing circle session and are upset that no one is showing up, I try to teach them the value of marketing and the captive audience. Kind of the....use what you got. I encourage them to go to the other rooms and invite others to come and join prior to the session and really whatever type of room/session they are holding it in.
I also encourage them to reach out via pm to others that they know and those that they feel may be interested the day prior in an effort to get contributions from other teammates.
For me also, I kind of feel that part of being knowledgeable (even if you don't know the answer) is knowing who it is that does. If someone asks me a question or makes a specific request of me but I feel as if I wouldn't be the best to provide that, I like to provide them with the screen names of other leaders here in the community that I feel that is what fits into their wheelhouse or is their forte'.
If someone comes to me and is unhappy for whatever reason in a current role, of course I help them in regard to their feelings, tips on conflict resolution, negotiation strategies, etc. It really is a kind of....first things first kind of thing. This person could be highly gifted, a true team player, but maybe just not the right "fit" for that team.
I'm not one for "throwing out the baby with the bath water" and my intentions are always for listener retention as well as talent retention.
I provide them with additional options, other teams to consider that may end up being a better "fit" for them as well as providing them with the screen name of the leader of other teams that they may enjoy being a part of. I provide links in regard to what the qualifications are for that team and we talk about if those are some of the qualifications they already have or would like to go through the process and learn.
In real life, I have a great deal of experience for collaborative efforts, team building and something that I have implemented in real life was cross training. It helps to be in the role of the other teammate for a bit, learn their "job". It always seemed to help with team building, having empathy for others, doing your job correctly before passing it along to the next person and so it can build unity and being able to see the bigger picture of what it is that a corporation is trying to achieve.
It also helped if someone had to leave or step away for a bit as I typically had talent at the ready to slide into the role. This way the client was unaffected. Business as usual and we got this! 😊
What I do here on the platform is of course, much more basic than the great things that you listed, however these are ways that I end up doing it naturally. It's kind of automatic for me or second nature.
Again, many thanks for the wonderful forum post. This was fun for me to contribute.
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
@Heather225 @Fristo I was thinking about Outreach We have so many projects that we need to outreach for and we all also know how tiring and time-consuming it can be. So I have been thinking about ONE Outreach team and if that might work? It would be cross-collaboration across all teams. Perhaps that wouldn't work because of each team's requirements, but what if there was more collaboration on role outreach?
For instance, offering more generic links to forum posts with information so Peer Support outreach could also give links to PAT, the Care Team, Mentors php, and LCT. Most messages sent are just copy and pasted so perhaps with agreement and a draft generic message this might help cut down on multiple messages to the same user about different roles?
Listening - One Step At A Time!
@MistyMagic ONE Outreach team, I love the sound of it!
But how would it exactly work? Won't there be too many links in a single outreach message? Would love to think and discuss more about it!!
@Fristo
Hi Fristo! 😊 ❤️ I agree with you that dropping many links and walking away could be a bit overwhelming. That is a great deal of information for anyone to decipher all on their own. This could be a scenario of when someone says "thank you, I'll take it into account. Lots to read. Hope I am able to get to it sometime". 😳
Too much information at once can be a blast to the senses and most enjoy smaller bite sized pieces to process things. This actually could be upsetting or even scary to some if being "pushed" to go through all of this by themselves. Most would lock up, shut down and think, "maybe I'll get to that one day".
With the proper guidance of someone that is highly knowledgeable of the site as well as the roles (cross trained in a sense), it could be feasible. If a leader could be willing to stay with them, take on an explanatory journey with them, be a mentor for outreach and talent search in it's own right specifally.
I'm a bit confused though as I thought this would be part of the role of any mentor, in any domain here on the site? However, more is better! Better to have and not need than to need and not have. 😊
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️
@MistyMagic
Hi Misty! 😊❤️ I like where you are going with this.....kind of a "one stop shopping" effort.
I have gone in that direction before when helping others by providing a link labeled "all of the roles on 7 cups". That has been a very useful tool for me to help others that are clearly, viable talent, but simply in need of a bit of guidance and direction.
It's something that I have used from time to time, in my approach that I mentioned above in my reply to H. I mentioned part of my approach, but not the link. It's simply another tool for me to pull out of my "listener tool box" 😊.
Doing so can be really helpful (supplying that type of link) provided that the leader is willing to stay the course, stick with the person and take a bit of an exploratory journey with them. If a leader see's the talent and promise in another and is willing to spend time with them and discuss the options, what it all means, what it entails, the requirements needed........well, could be a beautiful union for "person and team". ❤️
I like the idea of someone staying the course as providing the link and walking away could be most overwhelming. Spending time with another, seeing where their interests as well as talents lie can be really helpful. It's actually nice to go through the process with another and see what it is that "speaks to them". I have been fortunate in that I have helped others to find better "fits" for different teams when needed and they ended up being really happy. ❤️
I too, still love the concept of team leaders reaching out to others independently via' pm if they see promise in another. Even if the listener/member feels as if they might not be able to join that team for whatever reason, might I say, just to be asked is an honor in and of itself!
*high fives* 😊 and *hugs* ❤️