Are you a positive shit disturber? If you are, I’d love to buy you a coffee. Positive Sh!t Disturbers can be seen throughout the world disturbing the status quo and making a difference. In fact, I think that most positive change comes from those who disrupt in a thoughtful way and use as much positive energy as they can to improve our world. Essentially these brave folks recognize that something needs to be changed and see themselves as the vehicle for making that happen.
We all know the names of people who have changed thousands of lives for the better like Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa. But there are some other folks who are doing incredible work right now to make the world a better place. Want some examples? Sure you do. Ever hear of Jessica Jackley and Matt Flannery? No? Well they started a little organization called Kiva which gives people a chance to loan money to entrepreneurs in the third world. This bringing together of lender and borrower known as “micro-lending” has changed the lives of thousands of people in places like Vietnam, Cambodia and Bolivia to name a few. People have been able to start businesses and increase the level of prosperity for their families and the positive ripple effects for the community are huge.
The benefits of being a lender (and yes, I am looking at you) are really something also. When you lend money on Kiva, you read a person’s story and feel part of their entrepreneurial journey. It’s amazing to get an update that says “Maya has purchased noodles, sugar and other supplies to restock her store and can’t wait to get started” or “Miguel has purchased construction supplies for his new business and has begun his first project”. It has been my pleasure to lend to Kiva for a while now, and I still get a ton of satisfaction from seeing people do such great stuff. You might want to check out their site here Be warned though, once you get started on lending to people it can be highly addictive.
Got a problem? Got a situation? Need to figure something out? I don’t have the answer, but you do!
What the heck am I talking about? Well, I believe in the power of collaboration, I believe that a group of people thinking about the same issue or facing the same challenge are infinitely more powerful than one person trying to hammer out a solution. It seems to me that as individuals we often don’t have the entire solution to a problem. We might have a piece of it that we are pretty proud of, but the whole thing? That’s pretty rare. However, our piece of the puzzle might be pretty significant, and somebody across the room might have a great piece of the puzzle as well. Heck, somebody might have even defined the question in an interesting way that takes the discussion in an entirely new direction. When people come together and commit to “The Wisdom in The Room” process very good things happen. This has been explored with Cancer Patients, Health Care Professionals and Social Media Experts. Its fun, stimulating, challenging and a ton of fun.
Recently I had the honour of exploring The Wisdom In the Room with a group of talented people for The Ontario Hospital Association. It was an absolute blast. We weren’t messing around either. We were doing hard core work on how to increase patient engagement through social media. After about 15 minutes ideas were flying. People were sharing their strategies on how to improve the experience of patients across the province. I am struck by the idea that many times we actually have the resources we need to do what we want to do. We just have to be brave enough and generous enough to share our ideas with a like minded group of people and then the magic happens.
The skills of creativity and collaboration never go out of style. It was an absolute blast to present my workshop Fast Track To Collaboration for The University of Waterloo Engineering Department on Monday. Together, 60 students and myself dove into the skills of creating as a group. Technical skills are amazing and many of our best callings in life require a great deal of technical knowledge. However, being able to contribute in a meaningful way to a collaborative effort can be the difference between mediocrity and excellence for an organization. A highly motivated and committed group of students explored this concept with me in a hardcore two hour workshop on one of the coldest days of the year.
We learned the essential elements of teamwork. We demonstrated the skills of accepting ideas and then adding to them in a meaningful way. We learned how to create trust in a team and increase the level of contribution of each individual. We also saw how creating in a group can leverage our skills.
All of this and we laughed like crazy. You see, I have a theory that when we are having a great time, we learn in an easier and much more enjoyable way. I was completely impressed by how willing everyone was to try exercises that may have stretched them a bit. Everyone dug in hard, learned, and supported each other.My thanks to everyone at Waterloo Engineering for giving their all during Fast Track to Collaboration.
So, I’ve been talking a lot about the Ontario Hospital Association‘s conference on Social Media. One of the great examples of patient engagement came from the Niagara Health System. They have created an online community for patients who are doing dialysis. When folks are at the hospital and doing the procedure, they are given the opportunity to log in to “Google hangouts” (yes! you can click on that link!) and chat with each other while the process is going on. This helps them feel a sense of community and they can compare notes/give each other support while they are getting treatment. Response has been terrific.
Cool eh? I did a brief interview with Anna Cobian from The Niagara Health System. Check it out. Oh, and the link to the Niagara Health System is here. Who’s the dorky looking guy in the preview? Oh, that’s me.
Hey Niagara Health System!
On behalf of patients everywhere, please accept this virtual cappuccino as a virtual pat on the back. Thanks for making a difference.
So, Gilda Radner was all kinds of awesome. She was a brilliant, brave and very funny comedian who did pioneering work at The Second City and Saturday Night Live. She also had cancer, wrote a book about the experience and a great organization called Gilda’s Club was created in her memory. Gilda’s Club does tremendous work helping people going through cancer right now. Seriously. These places are awesome.
My friend Lisa D’Apolito is doing a film about Gilda called Love Gilda!
She took the time to do an interview with me here at roberthawke.com
These people are Positive Sh!t-Disturbers
