In the Fall of 2014, fresh out of my graduate degree in Education, and somewhat (well, quite!) at a loss as to how to find remunerated work, I created the Good People Group. I emailed about 7-8 of my female friends, keeping in mind occupation and skills. I wanted to bring together an interdisciplinary group of women that would allow for a wide range of opinion, thought and critical thinking. Our mission? To collectively brainstorm next steps in our respective careers, and also grapple with the foibles inherent our current roles.
In the two years that we've come together, I've learned so much. I'd like to share three of these learnings here, as they provide insight into elements of social design:
1. The magic of structured, yet loose, space and time.
A consummate educator, I began the group with ideas and inklings and a process about where we may like to go, complete with suggestions for speakers, and exercises,doings, and goings. As the group was my idea, I would host each session, serve dinner, and, well, do it all.
To my surprise, and to my relief, the group didn't quite take to all of my planning. Instead, what emerged was a looser structure. Space and time are indeed precious resources here. We already have overly-planned lives. Here emerged a place we could come to and catch up, laugh, joke, but also talk about serious issues such as unfair management practices, sexual harassment on the job, and negotiating better pay. Most useful of all, we could air out ideas to each other, request feedback, and talk about our work in a way that didn't have to be objective, or brief, or perfunctory. We could really get into the fine details that we so frequently debated, dissected, and thought about in our own day-to-days.
What we did do was collectively lay the groundwork for our group. We spoke about how we wanted to keep the group a female-only space. We agreed on intervals between sessions, and location. We simply lay the foundation out together. The rest has been, well, magic.
2. The power of creative unity (rather than isolated creativity).
Perhaps the most fascinating part of observing our sessions has been the interplay between suggestion, listening and ideation. The process is layered. It becomes almost impossible to pick out what suggestion leads to which thought, which thought leads to which idea. Yet it all happens so quickly.
The unplanned nature of not just one, but various ideation processes, sometimes occurring simultaneously, changes the energy in the room. At once, there is a sense of forward movement, and as time moves on, the group becomes less inhibited by self-doubt. In so doing, more open to sharing.
3. The privilege of working with your friends.
We cannot choose who we share our work lives with, nor who we must interact with for a myriad of life steps. This is no bad thing at all, as it allows us to meet new people, learn new things, venture into and create new connections.
Yet it is a wonderful thing to come together and merge professional thoughts with friendship. The trust that undergirds most successful group dynamics was already in place when we began, along with a general appreciation for personalities and ways of being. In the context of a community of practice, where the ethos is collaboration and creativity, friendship has added a valuable element to the mix as a catalyst for even bigger ideas.