Hi everyone,<br><br>I have been following this list for a long time, someone suggested I contribute a post I recently wrote. Two days ago I blogged about "The right questions for creative collectives" on <a href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/2007/12/the-right-questions-for-creative-collectives/">
http://blog.socialbytes.com/2007/12/the-right-questions-for-creative-collectives/</a>. I would love your comments/suggestions to this approach of networking (lets discuss it on this list, Ill post a link on the blog to this thread).
<font size="4"><br><br style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The right questions for creative collectives</span></font>
<abbr title="2007-12-24T22:21:53+0000"></abbr><p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://blog.socialbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/questioning.jpg" alt="questioning.jpg"></p>
<p>One of the tools that make creative networking powerful is the way
people get to know each other by asking the right questions. When you
don't know the right stuff about people its very difficult to determine
what you can ask them and how you can help them (or how they can help
you).<span id="more-23"></span></p>
<p>One of the articles I recently read on the topic of collective creativity by <a href="http://atypon-link.com/INF/loi/orsc" target="_blank">Haragadon</a>
gave me a very clear insight into "creative networking" and the
interaction between people. Let me briefly explain a part of this model
to emphasize my point.</p>
<p>Haragadon mentions three behaviors, giving seeking, help giving and
reflective reframing. The first two behaviors matter a lot for creative
networking. People tend to work alone, and only together when teams are
formed. However this removes flexibility of people being involved, and
thereby reduces creativity. When you tell someone what you are doing or
ask them help, you inform them what you are involved in. When you give
help or are involved in a project you inform people of what you're good
at. This information about you travels by informal communication
through your network.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://blog.socialbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/haragadon.gif" alt="haragadon.gif"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/haragadon.gif">
http://blog.socialbytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/haragadon.gif</a><br></p>
<p><strong>What do you do?</strong><br>
The first think after their name most people tell each other is what
they do. I have even been told to prepare a first line containing my
name, current job/activities. For me this would be "Hi, I am Abdul,
Entrepreneur and researcher in the field of IT". However I am a little
hesitant to use this as I have a lot more roles in life then those two,
but sometimes I do.</p>
<p>Most of the time there is always room to ask someone what they do.
Some can describe it in couple of words while others need couple of
minutes (or sometimes people are unable to shut-up about what they do
;)). I sometimes ask what a person does when someone joins a group
conversation or approaches me and looks like he feels uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Recently I forgot to ask some people what they did, it seems like
such a basic thing. But when you don't know how people fill most of
their day, its difficult to position them inside your network. And what
kind of people you can refer to them.</p>
<p><strong>What are you good at?</strong><br>
Looking at the model of Haragadon, this question of "What are you good
at?" falls right under the wing of help seeking. By asking this
question you will know when to approach this person. And what kind of
information this person might have.</p>
<p>I had until recently never met people who where good at discovering
the underlying cause of pretenses. The guy I met had a method of
questioning to find the reason behind pretenses. I helped him with some
analysis of his business idea and in return we explored some of the
pretenses I had. In the process of him telling me what he was good at
and me experiencing it, it established a very good feeling of who he
was as a person.</p>
<p>I continued to ask people this question and found that I got the
essential information needed to learn what kind of people my network
contained. Currently I know what people are good at, I didn't know by
only asking them what they did. People have so much to offer then what
they give at their daily jobs.</p>
<p><strong>How can I help you?</strong><br>
Most of the people I know like to help others, if its in a academic
setting, corporate setting or if its just what they like to do
generally. However most of them ask for something in return, a
objective exchange of value from both sides. They are not interesting
in building social capital as a way of helping each other. Social
capital they can use later on because they know what other people are
good at.</p>
<p>Some people I mentioned in my <a href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/2007/12/a-new-way-of-creative-networking/" target="_blank">previous post</a>
work based on the concept of valuation afterwards. They help other
people, by giving away information and contacts. They don't loose
anything by giving away those two things. Sometimes they get involved,
and donate their time. By doing this they build a lot of social capital
and get the right information, from the right people and sometimes at
the right time. I will dedicate a post to this effect of networking on
information and on the principle of valuation afterwards.</p>
<p>Couple of weeks ago I met someone who informed me of her plans. I
immediately thought of connecting this person with the other person I
spend some time with. They are currently working together on some very
interesting things. After some time, a classmate of mine needed some
info, I didn't hesitate to ask this person for this information and got
a response quickly. I wonder if I could find an agency who could
provide me with that information that quickly, and they would probably
charge my classmate a lot of money. And only in this case I have build
social capital at three sides, connecting two people and giving one
person information by asking the other.</p>
<p>There is one more reason to ask someone this basic question of how
you can help them. Its very difficult to get to know someone by only
talking to them. If you haven't worked together or don't know someone
who has, you will only know what someone tells you. In the years of
working with people I have discovered that you really get to know
people when you or others you know experience how the person in
question interacts, what he delivers, what he contributes, enc.
Recently I met someone who seemed to be very knowledgeable, but when
working together I found out how little (s)he knew about the practical
application of her field of expertise.</p>
<p><em>Dare to ask yourself</em><br>
Helping people is good but you should also ask for help yourself.
Sometimes if you only tell what you are involved with people will offer
their help but its good to ask people for help because that gives
people time to provide it to you and return a favor. People are very
eager to help each other, don't forget that.</p>
<p><strong>The network effect</strong><br>
When you get people involved in your network, they form a other
powerful node that adds value to the entire network. They spread around
who you are in their network, they get to know you by working with your
network, and they form a bridge between networks and making it a
larger. Just read <a href="http://www.starfishandspider.com/" target="_blank">The Starfish and the Spider</a>, great book by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom, to understand this effect in more detail.</p>-- <br>Abdul-Rahman Advany
<br><br>IM: <a href="mailto:abdulrahman@advany.com">abdulrahman@advany.com</a><br>W: <a href="http://blog.socialbytes.com/">http://blog.socialbytes.com/</a><br>Skype: abdulrahmanadvany<br>