Why would anyone set-up a support network? One reason is to create a sense of community, of sharing ideas and resources and innovations. A benefit of a community is that members build a shared sense of identity. I have been involved in building online support networks for more than 12 years, starting with eGroups--which became Yahoo Groups and currently focusing on LinkedIn Discussion Groups.
One of the longest running and most successful groups which I started--and which runs itself--is the Action Learning eGroup on Yahoo Groups, run by IFAL-USA.
My most recent group is the DrM-Language Network discussion group on LinkedIn. This group was created to provide the opportunity to build a sense of community around the affordable, online language learning programs supported by http://www.drm-language.com/. While membership is open to people learning languages with other online programs, the main focus is to have the community network available for people working with two different online language programs available globally. Many of the people will be learning English, and one of the two programs offers eight other languages as well.
Many business professionals around the world will be working with me to enroll learners in these programs and this network is open to language learners and to entrepreneurs setting-up their own businesses concerning e-learning and these online language programs.
Some of the questions and answers and other support areas will also offer members a chance to practice their English in their interaction in the discussion group.
Showing posts with label network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label network. Show all posts
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Reusing-Rediscovering-Reinventing Our Resources
Over time we build and acquire lots of resources that we no longer keep in the foreground of our awareness. Much like using our personal computers (Mac or PC), we have more programs on the computer than we normally use and we frequently pay attention to what is in our foreground rather than running in the background.
I was reminded today that a resource I had invested heavily in a few years ago may still be relevant and viable to me today. I had put it into the background and had not used it. All of a sudden I received an e-mail that got me to thinking--to find a way to reuse, rediscover, or reinvent this resource.
If I've done that with one resource, how many more resources can I tap into that I have been ignoring? That will be a focus for me for the next few days--and more.
Several years ago I became a protege of Robert Allen. Since then I became a classroom teacher and was investing all of my energy in teaching. This year, due to economic changes impacting schools, I am engaged in other work and had lost track of the value of being a Robert Allen protege with access to the Enlightened Wealth Institute (EWI). Fortunately I kept on the mailing list and receive the awakening e-mail today. One thing I have to keep in mind is that the opportunities offered by Robert Allen and the EWI are not for everyone--including me. I have to pick and choose the opportunities that are of real value for me.
Yesterday I signed-up for a refresher course in French to help me regain my fluency in the language. My friend who lives in Paris has been encouraging me to brush up on my French for years. Now is a good time to do that.
Today, at lunch with some friends, I began sharing what I am doing about language and the owner of the restaurant, another friend of mine, has people he know that need to learn English--offered in the same software program I am using to brush up on my French.
These resources are all around us and are available for us to use today to improve our lives. I need to keep better track of the blessings I have around me.
I was reminded today that a resource I had invested heavily in a few years ago may still be relevant and viable to me today. I had put it into the background and had not used it. All of a sudden I received an e-mail that got me to thinking--to find a way to reuse, rediscover, or reinvent this resource.
If I've done that with one resource, how many more resources can I tap into that I have been ignoring? That will be a focus for me for the next few days--and more.
Several years ago I became a protege of Robert Allen. Since then I became a classroom teacher and was investing all of my energy in teaching. This year, due to economic changes impacting schools, I am engaged in other work and had lost track of the value of being a Robert Allen protege with access to the Enlightened Wealth Institute (EWI). Fortunately I kept on the mailing list and receive the awakening e-mail today. One thing I have to keep in mind is that the opportunities offered by Robert Allen and the EWI are not for everyone--including me. I have to pick and choose the opportunities that are of real value for me.
Yesterday I signed-up for a refresher course in French to help me regain my fluency in the language. My friend who lives in Paris has been encouraging me to brush up on my French for years. Now is a good time to do that.
Today, at lunch with some friends, I began sharing what I am doing about language and the owner of the restaurant, another friend of mine, has people he know that need to learn English--offered in the same software program I am using to brush up on my French.
These resources are all around us and are available for us to use today to improve our lives. I need to keep better track of the blessings I have around me.
Monday, September 7, 2009
"Getting Help in Opening Doors to Change"--How do we do that today with the resources we know?
Most mornings I go to the grounds of my local hospital and do water aerobics at a "wellness" center. Many of these mornings I engage in informal conversations with one or two colleagues concerning business--past, present, and future. We have even more time for these conversations on Sunday mornings when we get together.
This has been a great way for me to get lots of new ideas--even today--and keeps me getting some valuable exercise the first thing every morning.
Yesterday's conversation was about informal advisory groups for CEOs. Some of these are more formal--boards of directors. Others can be as informal as membership in a discussion group (or a virtual think-tank).
The challenge is the same--some people have lots of expertise and experience to share. Some CEOs could really benefit from that expertise and experience. How can the two groups get together?
Beyond that, the people with expertise and experience still need income--though probably not as much as they used to get while they were acquiring their expertise and experience. CEOs who could use the help may have limited funds (especially in today's economy) to pay for outside consultants or for a high-price-tag membership in an advisory group service.
Some Inner Dialogue
"If we do today what we did yesterday, we'll get more of the same results." (In today's economy, we may even get fewer results or lower quality results.) What do we need to change? What do we need to change to? How can anyone else know my business? How can I trust anyone to share that I don't know how to handle a challenge my business faces?
"What do I do best?"--I make a positive difference in the world by helping people and organizations learn to change to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future. How can I open doors to be able to do this for more people and organizations?
In the course of my 40+ years of work, I have come across professional consulting groups where CEOs of moderate-sized companies pay a monthly fee and meet with other CEOs and a consultant on a monthly basis and other consulting firms who send in a business analysis to probe the needs of the company, then follow-up consultants to address the specific needs the company decides to work on. These firms usually work with small to mid-sized companies. The global consulting firms I have worked with normally have global clients and multimillion dollar consulting contracts. Many of these have to do with implementing new information technology throughout the company, though some are smaller and focus on business processes and strategy improvement. While executive teams make the "buying decision" for consultants and set overall direction, most work is supervised by upper management. The large firms have a few seasoned professionals guiding teams of gifted and less experienced professionals who actually do the work for the client.
All of these models work, though, in today's society. We need something more or different. Many companies--due to reduced income from multiple sources--are pushing out senior people and replacing them with more people with less experience that command lower salaries and have more room to grow with the company. Requirements for specialized skills in the latest software are also influencing requirements for both consultants and employees.
Ultimately, the CEOs of the small to mid-sized companies still face the same challenges and have even fewer resources to find new and innovative solutions. Most are faced with the problem that "It's hard to remember when you're up to your waist in alligators that your goal was to drain the swamp."
Back to my original question today, how can I get help to do what I do best by working with the resources I know today? If anyone has any thoughts, please post a comment or contact me through my Wiki Projects page.
This has been a great way for me to get lots of new ideas--even today--and keeps me getting some valuable exercise the first thing every morning.
Yesterday's conversation was about informal advisory groups for CEOs. Some of these are more formal--boards of directors. Others can be as informal as membership in a discussion group (or a virtual think-tank).
The challenge is the same--some people have lots of expertise and experience to share. Some CEOs could really benefit from that expertise and experience. How can the two groups get together?
Beyond that, the people with expertise and experience still need income--though probably not as much as they used to get while they were acquiring their expertise and experience. CEOs who could use the help may have limited funds (especially in today's economy) to pay for outside consultants or for a high-price-tag membership in an advisory group service.
Some Inner Dialogue
"If we do today what we did yesterday, we'll get more of the same results." (In today's economy, we may even get fewer results or lower quality results.) What do we need to change? What do we need to change to? How can anyone else know my business? How can I trust anyone to share that I don't know how to handle a challenge my business faces?
"What do I do best?"--I make a positive difference in the world by helping people and organizations learn to change to improve their quality of (business) life now and for the future. How can I open doors to be able to do this for more people and organizations?
In the course of my 40+ years of work, I have come across professional consulting groups where CEOs of moderate-sized companies pay a monthly fee and meet with other CEOs and a consultant on a monthly basis and other consulting firms who send in a business analysis to probe the needs of the company, then follow-up consultants to address the specific needs the company decides to work on. These firms usually work with small to mid-sized companies. The global consulting firms I have worked with normally have global clients and multimillion dollar consulting contracts. Many of these have to do with implementing new information technology throughout the company, though some are smaller and focus on business processes and strategy improvement. While executive teams make the "buying decision" for consultants and set overall direction, most work is supervised by upper management. The large firms have a few seasoned professionals guiding teams of gifted and less experienced professionals who actually do the work for the client.
All of these models work, though, in today's society. We need something more or different. Many companies--due to reduced income from multiple sources--are pushing out senior people and replacing them with more people with less experience that command lower salaries and have more room to grow with the company. Requirements for specialized skills in the latest software are also influencing requirements for both consultants and employees.
Ultimately, the CEOs of the small to mid-sized companies still face the same challenges and have even fewer resources to find new and innovative solutions. Most are faced with the problem that "It's hard to remember when you're up to your waist in alligators that your goal was to drain the swamp."
Back to my original question today, how can I get help to do what I do best by working with the resources I know today? If anyone has any thoughts, please post a comment or contact me through my Wiki Projects page.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Weighing Choices--Making Decisions--Assessing Results
We take these actions from earliest memory. Even babies are weighing choices--"do I do this or do that?"--making decisions--"I'll cry now because ..."--and assessing results--"I cried when I was uncomfortable (wet or hungry) and now I'm dry and full."
As we get older the weighing process becomes more complex as do the decisions and our assessment of results. Sometimes there are delays between our actions and the results we see. Have you ever decided to order something, then been disappointed in it when it arrived?
When we get much older, many of our choices and decisions and results have to do with health. My 94-year-old mother went to the eye doctor today who told her that a shot in her left eye would control the accumulation of blood caused by age-related wet macular degeneration. Mom loves to read and to use her eyes. While she knew the shot is painful (this was the sixth shot she's had over several years) she has already decided that, if something will help her preserve her sight, she'll go through the pain. She had the shot. Age-related macular degeneration doesn't get better. Treatments can at least slow down the vision loss and that was the choice she made today.
How do we weigh our daily choices. There are 168 hours in a week (24 x 7) and we get to choose how we'll use them. Most of us want to sleep some of them away. Some of us know the value of exercise in our lives and devote some of the hours to exercise. All of us want to eat some of the time, so we take time for that as well. Many of us work several hours a day. We want time for recreation--perhaps with our families. Whatever the choices, those are the hours we have to work with in any given week.
We make decisions, then assess the results--are we getting what we want? In some of my eating choices, I have chosen to eat (what or when or how much I eat) that caused me to gain three pounds this week. If I want to get that off, I have to change my eating and exercise choices this week and can check on the results a week from now.
Yesterday I read a newsletter article that talked about looking for work AGR ("after the great recession in 2007"). The author (at http://www.higheredjobs.com) said that we have to have a different approach to looking for work AGR. What we used to do no longer produces the same results that it did before AGR. (See the post about Spenser Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese.)
If you go to http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning-Affect+Models.PDF and go to slide 2, Shame-Affect-Decisions Model. It will give you a picture of some of what I am talking about here.
Social networking sites abound with the hope that people will connect with the right jobs (or dates or spouses or . . .) through their social networks. Some do and some don't.
All of us need to rethink our choices and decisions, the results I am assessing tell me that times have, indeed, changed and I (along with millions of others) need to change to keep up with the change.
As we get older the weighing process becomes more complex as do the decisions and our assessment of results. Sometimes there are delays between our actions and the results we see. Have you ever decided to order something, then been disappointed in it when it arrived?
When we get much older, many of our choices and decisions and results have to do with health. My 94-year-old mother went to the eye doctor today who told her that a shot in her left eye would control the accumulation of blood caused by age-related wet macular degeneration. Mom loves to read and to use her eyes. While she knew the shot is painful (this was the sixth shot she's had over several years) she has already decided that, if something will help her preserve her sight, she'll go through the pain. She had the shot. Age-related macular degeneration doesn't get better. Treatments can at least slow down the vision loss and that was the choice she made today.
How do we weigh our daily choices. There are 168 hours in a week (24 x 7) and we get to choose how we'll use them. Most of us want to sleep some of them away. Some of us know the value of exercise in our lives and devote some of the hours to exercise. All of us want to eat some of the time, so we take time for that as well. Many of us work several hours a day. We want time for recreation--perhaps with our families. Whatever the choices, those are the hours we have to work with in any given week.
We make decisions, then assess the results--are we getting what we want? In some of my eating choices, I have chosen to eat (what or when or how much I eat) that caused me to gain three pounds this week. If I want to get that off, I have to change my eating and exercise choices this week and can check on the results a week from now.
Yesterday I read a newsletter article that talked about looking for work AGR ("after the great recession in 2007"). The author (at http://www.higheredjobs.com) said that we have to have a different approach to looking for work AGR. What we used to do no longer produces the same results that it did before AGR. (See the post about Spenser Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese.)
If you go to http://joelmonty.wikispaces.com/file/view/Meta-Learning-Affect+Models.PDF and go to slide 2, Shame-Affect-Decisions Model. It will give you a picture of some of what I am talking about here.
Social networking sites abound with the hope that people will connect with the right jobs (or dates or spouses or . . .) through their social networks. Some do and some don't.
All of us need to rethink our choices and decisions, the results I am assessing tell me that times have, indeed, changed and I (along with millions of others) need to change to keep up with the change.
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