No-one can agree on a community. \u00a0Is it defined by political geography? Physical geography? Economic geography? \u00a0Interest, practice, culture? \u00a0So how do we use such an elusive, slippery yet, for some of us, attractive and powerful concept.<\/p>\n
Well, personally I have given up worrying about how ‘communities’ are defined by outsiders (politicians, funders, missionaries of various kinds, what Paul Theroux calls the Dark Angels of Virtue). \u00a0The only thing that matters for me is the individual, or the usually small group sat in front of me, and their perception of their community, defined their way. \u00a0Any other attempt to work with the concept for me is just hot air. \u00a0We all define community personally and, very\u00a0probably,\u00a0uniquely.<\/p>\n
But that does not make the concept useless. \u00a0Quite the opposite.<\/p>\n
I spend a lot of time helping people to look at the relationships and contexts that they are a part of and the extent to which they help or hinder them to become the kind of person that they wish to become, accomplishing the things that they most wish to accomplish. \u00a0And I will spend time working with them on how they\u00a0can get more of the support that they need from their ‘community’. \u00a0I spend a lot of time and energy building networks of people who just love to ‘help’. \u00a0Many of these networks are a\u00a0blend\u00a0of face to face and online – mediated through blogs and social networks as well as through a range of meetings, gatherings and parties. \u00a0And I try to connect individuals from one network into individuals from another, so that help can start to flow across and between different groups.<\/p>\n
So first we have to find self interest. \u00a0That which really matters personally. \u00a0That which shapes who we are. \u00a0That on which our\u00a0identity\u00a0is based and through which it can be constructively shaped.<\/p>\n
Then we have to find common cause and build networks and relationships where we can successfully negotiate our\u00a0self\u00a0interest. \u00a0We then forge connections between these networks to build a diverse, resourceful ‘community’ of individuals who are helping and being helped as part of their daily practice. \u00a0Surely this puts us firmly on the trail of the enterprising community?<\/p>\n
And for great things to happen people have to learn to help each other. \u00a0 The stereotype of the\u00a0selfish\u00a0backstabbing ‘Apprentice’ does not thrive in an enterprising community – though they may do well in The City. \u00a0Successful citizens in the enterprising community learn to associate, collaborate, cooperate and mutualise. \u00a0To find those with whom there is a common cause. \u00a0And they understand that giving hep to others is as important as getting help themselves. \u00a0The have the Go-Giver <\/a>mindset and they express it through their actions. \u00a0They live it.<\/p>\n So, as those who attended\u00a0Enterprising\u00a0Community: Big Conversation<\/em><\/strong> explored,\u00a0enterprising\u00a0community is not a place or a neighbourhood but a philosophy, that\u00a0can\u00a0be summed up as ‘Concentrate on yourself and helping your neighbour’.<\/p>\n