Working Mindfully
Growing community and innovation within organizations is not something that can be done mechanically. Growing community and innovation happens with the mindful attention of the gardener, nurturing all components appropriately so that a bountiful harvest can be realized.
Growing community and innovation is something that requires the presence of mind and spirit we find in nature; looking for opportunity in the cracks and crevices not explored in mechanical, systematic processes.
The act of planting and burying are very similar, the difference is the intent and the result. Are you growing something new and innovative or burying that innovation so it never sees the light of day? – Joe Valentino, Upper Arlington Deputy City Manager
The first steps that we take together are deciding if we are a good fit for each other; if you and your organization are ready to take a radical departure from the status-quo and embrace a more organic approach.
Are We Compatible
We all have a belief system and a set of ideals that guides our actions and directs us through life; we always keep our purpose in the center lest we find ourselves lost. Andrew Miller Consulting finds the following ideas of utmost value and believes in working towards them in every engagement:
- Creativity
- Equality
- Community
- Constant Learning
- Share and Share Alike
- Meaningful Conversation
The work we do together is always directed at making a positive impact on your organization and every individual involved. What we need to be compatible is: a mutual desire for positive impact and a willingness to be open to the above ideals.
Putting Purpose At The Center
We choose to engage in this work because it has immediate effects on the organization we’re engaged with. However, our larger purpose, the one at our center is what sustains the work.
- Environmental Impact
- Global Understanding
- Social Justice
- Peace
What does any of this have to do with you and your organization? When we learn to build community on the small level, within our work groups at the office, within our volunteer organizations, on our block – that is where large scale community building starts.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead
Before we start our first conversation about making a positive impact on your organization we must find the purpose that we will hold as the center; one related to our change conversation. Purpose must be bigger than an individual and must be open to interpretation to allow for the community to innovate within that sphere.
As you will see, the purpose attaches itself freely to everything that goes after it. The purpose allows us to build trust, it is where we open the door to innovation and where community grows.
Harvesting Knowledge
Purpose leads to community, community leads to community knowledge and all of that knowledge can easily be lost if we aren’t ready to harvest it. The harvest of a conversation is the output that we can use to seed future conversations and future innovation.
What a harvest is:
- A free-form representation of the conversation
- Something to be shared freely
- Additional narrative for your organization’s mission
- The seeds of future conversation
- Sustenance for purpose
Proper harvesting provides us with so much fruitful knowledge that it is important to consider both the medium with which you harvest your conversations as well as the medium with which to share those harvests. This is where collaboration software such as blogs, wiki’s and other socially enabled online tools become valuable to the community. All of these tools that we interact with online can be just as effective within the boarders of an organization or work group.
Taking Your Harvest To The People
When your shopping for food to satisfy your hunger nothing beats the local farmer’s market; fresh vibrant vegetables, meats and dairy all awaiting your creative whims. Similarly, the harvests that come from your conversations can satisfy the hunger your staff and supporters have for your organizational narrative. These harvests can build the narrative that defines your organization, informing your staff and supporters of the purpose that drives you forward and of the innovative and exciting work you are engaging in.
In the past the sharing of this story, and interaction with it (letting your staff and supporters develop it into their own) was something difficult to do because there was a limited number of communication options. Thanks to the social media tools available to us today these interactions can happen with minimal cost on a global scale.
Andrew Miller Consulting is experienced in developing digital narratives and sharing them with the world. We will work together to give your story the opportunity to create maximum impact by extending the meaningful conversations we host in person to the digital realm.
Ready Steady Go
Are you ready to grow an organizational community that drives innovation? Are you ready to take your story to the world? Contact Andrew Miller Consulting today!
