Welcome to this next instalment of 100 Days of Social Leadership. Days 70 to 79 are focused around co-creation.

70 – Impetus, Incentive & Momentum

Co-creation needs all three of these, the challenge is understanding individuals motivations to engage and carry on supporting social leadership and change / transformation efforts. People involved need to keep their peers engaged and check in to see what working for them and if they need support.

71 – Motivation

This day of the 100 days asks us to reflect on what motivates us to engage in conversations with our communities. For me thinking about my work at the OU it is threefold:

  1. Help the organisation improve its ability to give an excellent education to students.
  2. Connect with, and support my peers.
  3. Learn new ideas, tools and techniques around change and leadership.

Every time I interact with my peers I am continuously learning and this is really valuable.

72 – Ownership

Who owns the co-created conversation? For me everyone engaged in it or who has a stake in it is a co-owner. This includes people who are not necessarily “live” at any one time, but may have been engaged earlier on or may come in later. One of the things about the OU is the length of some of the dialogues that happen through a range of channels. Levels of engagement change, but we all co-own the conversations.


73 – Reward

This day us to reflect on how we can reward people informally in social situations. Public and private recognition go a very long way. This can be as simple as a “thank you”. Overall more generosity and sharing is a good thing.

74 – Knowledge bias

I really like this idea of knowledge bias and its impact on what we consume and how we collaborate. In the image below I have shown some of the resources that I consume. Beyond these, I read quite heavily as I have access to a great digital library through the OU and I also subscribe to Get Abstract a business book summary. I definitely feel that I need to expand my horizons on what I consume and who I dialogue with.

Day 75 – Action Day

This day was an action day and I spent it exploring resources and possible books around change. I set up a thread on LinkedIn to ask my network and certainly gained some new ideas. Two books I have picked up from this day are SW!TCH by Dan Heath and OpenSpace Beta by Niels Pflaeging and Silke Hermann.

Day 76 – Barriers

This day asks us to reflect on what the barrier to engaging with co-creative activities within a community. In discussions the following came up:

  • People were unsure of the personal and professional impact of being in a community / sharing. Some thought it could be risky to put themselves out there.
  • Not having the time to engage in the community or thinking that it might take too much time to engage and keep engaged.
  • Not being full engaged in the first place.

I was surprised that “how to engage, to be most effective” did not generally come up in discussions.

77 – Who are your best filters?

Today asks us to reflect on who are our best filters. People that filter and build networks. This is a great question and beyond my line manager AND Barry Verdin, I am not so sure really. Outside of the OU, I would say by best example is Jack Martin Leith – Very on point with ideas, great at finding nuggets and building on others ideas and resources.  He really shares things that add value to myself and my communities.

78 – Cultural Difference

This day asks us to think about how cultural differences impact on our ability co-create within communities. Within the OU there are quite a few different “cultures”. From my experience working internationally and in organisations with a broad range of national and role cultures, such as the European Commission or the global companies, I believe that those who truly want to co-create, find the way to overcome differences and enter in dialogue.

79 – Voiceless

This day asks to think about ways in which people can be left out of co-creation process. A few ways I considered are:

  • In not being or feeling welcomed
  • Not actually being invited into the community
  • Not feeling valued in the way they support the organisations
  • Not being supported appropriately
  • Not being celebrated for who they are and/or what they bring

We can all ensure people do engage, but we have to be aware of the dynamics and find our way of supporting others in ways that are appropriate to them.

 

THANKS for reading this section on my thoughts around co-creation.

The journey continues over HERE looking at Social Capital.