Good afternoon from a clear and cold Brooks Alberta!  I’ve been working with a couple of different groups of credit union folks in this part of the world; directors earlier this week, and now a group of managers for the balance of the week. It’s been an engaging and fun week. And it has got me thinking about how in spite of the dramatic changes we’ve seen in the last few years in technology, (the attached picture is a fun reminder), the economy, and even society in general, we are still not far from cave people trying to live and work together.

As much as the technology changes around us, as much as the economy is changing, and as much as what was common sense 25 years ago is now “old school”, we need each other to make human society work. And as such we need each other to make our organizations and teams work.

For example, in my work this week, I’ve had groups of people who have come to learn in workshops I’ve been running. The content of the courses have covered strategic planning, risk management, board development, performance management and interpersonal literacy. Now I have some expertise in each of these areas, but I could not hope to keep 10 to 20 people at a time engaged for entire days if I stood at the front of the room and lectured. Student and teacher need each other, and learn from each other.  A teacher of mine, Juanita Brown (www.theworldcafe.com) says that, “the wisdom collected in any given room is exponentially larger than the wisdom of the person standing next to the powerpoints.” And this is key, we learn from teachers and experts surely, and we learn from each other and from ourselves.  During a crisis, like during hurricanes, earthquakes or during civil strife, we likely need to have one person in charge, but for the vast majority of our working lives, we are dependent on our collective gifts and competencies, engaged and working together.

Our real strength as a species is our ability to work together, to let people’s strengths work for the benefit of the group. Yes, it is cool that we have wonderful new technology, yes the economy has changed, and yes the world is different from the way it was in the  1970’s, or the 1870’s, or the 370’s. And we are still at our best when we work together, learning from each other.

So what have you learned this week, and how can you share it with others?