Worknow_Aotearoa_NZ

Migration needed to care for ageing population. Source

Are we today so separated from our neighbors, so divorced from our communities that we must employ workers from other countries to take care of our own?

Has it really come to this? Are we simply to busy to care or is there not enough time to go around? Not exactly…

Community organisations like Age Concern do brilliant work in our communities, throughout New Zealand. So if you find the thought of our elderly people, alone and lonely; a sad, disturbing insight into your community – you can make a difference.

Volunteers & Time Trade

From delivering Meals on Wheels to in home visits or even just a friendly phone call. It really is this simple to make a positive difference to someones day. Do you have the time to help others? to make a difference and help build happier communities?

Yes! it seems that we do. Statistics New Zealand shows that kiwis contribute 270 million hours of formal, unpaid work for non-profit organisations annually.

270 million hours! Imagine then if we could take this time and use it as a trading currency to get people to support our older people. Actually, no need to imagine, we can.

Time Trade is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community.

In recognition for your contribution you receive one Time Credit which you can then gift or trade, with other members of the community, in exchange for their talent and time. It’s a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections.

Here at Worknow we are building online system to automate the transfer of time credits between Community Members.

What will you volunteer your time for when you can earn and exchange it for the time and talent of others?

Being Maori, I was raised with a cultural notion of collective and collaborative action.

As a child my mum and her brother and sisters would spend hours developing their collective world view. To onlookers it could have seemed that they simply talked and argued, often, about the same issues.

Yet, such a simplistic point of view belies the nuances of  tribal etiquette that are integral to creating collective purpose. Simple rules that can and should be applied throughout society. For instance:-

When making a decision or deciding on a course of action that affects others, everyone is allowed the chance to voice their opinion.

Inevitably multiple opinions leads to conflict but it is important to recognise this as part of the process, rather than a problem. The discussion should continue for as long as takes for everyone to be heard.

It’s not about majority rule, tribal communities were never a democracy. Leaders must make decisions for others to follow.

Followers need not necessarily agree because in having their voice heard and in listening to others there now exists a shared understanding of why the decision is made.

Tribal etiquette can help build a shared sense of purpose and strengthen teams when we:-

• Encourage and support collaborative process that openly allow people to offer their opinion or point of view.
• Recognise that conflict is natural and inevitable, it can even be constructive. Note though, it has taken me many years to realise that many people do not share this understanding.
• Don’t take conflict too personally, we all have the right to disagree.
• Value constructive criticism, what better way to refine and craft ones thinking than to have it challenged.

Worknow is a community and marketplace to help people find, connect and work together

The greater our collective purpose the more shared intelligence we build together the stronger we become.

Venture Start Up

I studied business extramurally because, as far as I could see, the best way to learn business was simply to get involved. I planned to gain real life business experience while building and diversifying my skills in preparation for “one day” when the right opportunity came along for my own venture start-up.

I never exactly knew when that “one day” might be but I’d been pretty generous and given myself until 35 to discover it, on the basis that I would intuitively know the right opportunity when I saw it. And so in early March 2009 my one day arrived and I was ready.

Status Quo, Schmo

Jamie’s idea to develop an online contractors marketplace to help people find work, immediately struck a chord with me.The idea was, in essence, exactly what I needed and wanted for myself.

It was a means to encourage and support business creators, owners and collaborative teams. It was everything I wasn’t, but wanted to be and I immediately recognised his idea as a means to achieving my longest held work aspiration – to build a company that could truly help people.

We are quite happily, not in keeping with the status quo. Indeed as statistics bemoan rising unemployment I tend to see the job losses as inevitable because for social innovation and change to occur one must in some way destroy the old.

For all practical purposes this meant; if I was actually going to help people be their own boss; if I hoped to promote entrepreneurship and new business creation as a viable alternative to employment; if I was going to prove work existed but that the way we connect with it was changing; I simply could no longer work as a full-time employee

Making the Change

Mentally, in a recession leaving my only secure source of income was a pretty tough call to make. But in life we must take calculated risks. I was determined that money would not hinder my pursuit of the dream and in that decision alone I have learnt lessons for life, about the potential to get work done without the need for cash – ergo Time Trade.

Practically however, it is not at all hard to work your way out of a job. I’m not particularly proud of the way I left my last employee role but it was best for both parties. Indeed the hierarchy and their methods of control and authority, even their use of these words – when I aspire to collaboration and leadership – are driving factors in the development of Worknow.

Worknow

We are building this community and marketplace on the belief that 1) networking platforms can help us find connect and work together in new ways and that 2) there are other talented people here, that seek new more collaborative and flexible ways of working.

With this blog I intend to relate my experience as a business creator, owner and contractor, in hopes that my journey may encourage others along this path.