It’s been a while since my last blog post and admittedly, I do feel guilty that I am not spending a component of my time blogging so that I can make sense of what I have been working on and learning about.  On the other hand however, I have been using two other methods to do this namely through vlogging (you can see these on my YouTube Channel)  and a new live streaming video tool called Blab which I have been using as a “collective sense making tool” (I will write more of the merits of Blab in due course – although if you sign up for the Activate My Learning Newsletter, you will receive hints and tips of how to use Blab in your work and learning.  Sign up here.). However, there’s been a third way which has been more reflective…and that’s my knitting.

The number of knitting projects have increased in the last month and this is a sure sign that I have been doing much reflection and sense making.

Let me explain.

Knitting for me is a form of meditation.  When I pick up my knitting needles and knit, my mind instantly focuses on what is in my hands.  I watch the yarn pull slightly through my fingers.  I watch the needle go through the loops and create little knits and purls.  The mind automatically focuses into the task at hand and all of a sudden my “busyness” is forgotten.  Instead, I’m thinking only of the knitting project at hand.

Depending on the intricate nature of the pattern, determines how much you need to focus on your knitting.  Many knitters have a range of easy, ‘no brainer’ type projects they can pick up and knit anywhere, anytime without any mental or cognitive investment.  For example, I have basic knitting projects that I pick up when I’m watching TV or travelling on public transport (a relatively new thing for me). Others have advanced projects that require total concentration and focus.  These advanced projects are usually dedicated for an hour or two with no other distractions around me.

When I look at all my knitted pieces in the last few months, they’ve all been basic projects which signifies to me that I’ve had plenty of time to think, make sense and reflect on things other than my knitting.  It may not have been in the writing format through my blog – but I have been reflecting.

So What Have I been Reflecting On?

There were two things mainly.

The first one was on the concept of Third Places in suburban communities brought about by the increasing amount of construction work and property development happening around the suburbs of Melbourne and the demise of some suburban sports and community clubs that rely on memberships to survive.

It’s evident to see that our local community demographic and society is changing and I’ve been thinking of ways of how I am placed into this new suburban community model. My biggest fear is as population rises through more high density living in the suburbs, are we committing ourselves further to isolation in our own homes? Or how can we create diverse and inclusive ‘Third Places’ in our local area to reconnect with the people around us?   These ideas are simply half-baked as I try to imagine what my local community would look like 5 – 10 – 15 – 20 years from now and what part does the local population have in creating their own spaces to which they can connect with others?

I have been meeting people in my local community and also exploring various co-working sites and hubs in communities outside of Melbourne metro to see whether the idea has merit for our own local area.

Part of me is considering if this is a potential new business idea for me but the more I’m researching about it, the more I am seeing that I cannot jump into this as it’s an entirely new endeavour that requires a relationships and influence within the local community, business and government.  There’s another part of me that is not entirely convinced that the business model for some co-working communities is the right one.  It comes down to the basic fact – and maybe it’s a value that I hold, I don’t know but the question that keeps going around in my mind is….  If you want to be part of a community, why pay for the privilege? Are we denying or excluding people and therefore, new and diverse ideas through this model?

Well, anyway I’m rambling.  I know I can write so much more on this aspect alone.  However, this has been my sideline project that has been piquing my curiosity every time I’m out and about my local suburb chatting to various people who work in the libraries, businesses and cafe owners…

The second one is more current and relates to my own work as Activate Learning Solutions.

What Have I Been Working On Recently?

Over the last 18 months outside of the corporate world, I have been helping organisations with ideas on how to inspire social collaboration for their team members.  I have worked with both business clients (small, medium and large) as well as Learning and Development teams in corporates around how to plan, design and develop social learning programs.

Every piece of work with clients has been  specifically customised to suit their particular performance issue (this comes from my background as a performance consultant).

What this means is that we explore and analyse business performance issues with my clients and then create custom solutions that incorporate collaborative and peer learning opportunities using the tools they already have.  It’s a collaborative approach with my clients where we are also working together socially as we explore and implement solutions designed to solve their particular issues.

For example, some of these have been:

• People who have highly specialist skill sets or knowledge in niche areas in corporate organisations who are in the process of being made redundant and who would like to start their own independent consulting business or build their online profile but don’t know how to
• People who have their own small business and would like to explore how to use social tools to establish credibility and reputation in their business area
• Not-for-profits exploring new solutions that would raise revenue and be unique and distinctive from competing products currently in the market
• Corporate Learning and Development teams who want to plan, design and develop guided social learning into their programs or curricula
• Corporate business unit team members who want to learn how to better collaborate with other business units, suppliers and customers
• People who want to learn how to use specific tools namely either LinkedIn or Twitter; or those intrigued by the concept of blogging

During this time, I have noticed that many people in organisations may lack the time or budget to implement a fully customised solution for their business. To support this,  I am now working on a suite of modules that can be delivered face-to-face or through webinars – as well as on organisational enterprise social learning platforms – that can be mixed and matched depending on the performance gap to create your own “Activate Your Learning” program.    The short 90 minute modules are applicable to any individual from any industry, profession or business that will enable them to learn in a world that is constantly changing.

The suite of modules that will be ready in 2016 will be:

• Learning How to Learn in a Changing World
• Building Your Online Reputation & Profile
• How to Be a Digital Citizen (Hints, Tips and Traps of Netiquette) – mid 2016
• Building Your Personal Networks through Social Tools
• Making Yourself Visible Through Narrating Your Work
• Filtering the Noise (on Content Curation) – mid 2016
• Learning Through Communities – mid 2016

All the modules have curated resources and references and are based on my own journey, experiences, activities and insights that I have experienced or blogged about over the years.  I will cite ways of how I have used the tools to suit the context of work to achieve the outcomes I wanted so that you can do the same, or a variation to suit your  own work and learning.

Throughout the programs I encourage people to work out loud through these using #activatemylearning hashtag to build a network of people going through a similar learning journey.

Learning and Development Teams Only

Learning and Development teams however, have specific programs that are designed from the perspective of how to encourage more social learning to occur within the workplace.  You can see the programs for Learning and Development teams here and which are now ready for bookings.

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