The paradox is that for outside actors to be useful, they must first accept the solution to this civic dilemma: to stop attempting to add value to and for communities and instead make space for communities to co-create what they value. Put another way, participation in the public square and the regrowth of associational life – so key to enabling the response of the many – cannot be shaped like a potter shapes clay. Instead, it requires a process similar in ethos and practice to rewilding.
Source: Nurture and Development
This snippet talks to me because it ties into two things that I’ve experienced: value and co-creation.
Co-creation: I adopted the term co-create very early on in my community building efforts. I’ve used it in my our company tag lines and generally have had it at the core of my thinking in everything we do. When we start thinking about the things we do, the main question in our mind is “how can we do this with our people?”
Value creation: it feels like such a common phrase these days, and perhaps this is partly due to the tech bubble that I’m in, but we seem to obsess over creating value.
But the truth is, if we focus on the co-creation that puts people at the heart of everything, then in theory we would only end up creating something of value.
This doesn’t mean our outputs are great and wonderful and as valuable as gold. Often they are not. Or often we don’t even succeed. Whether or not we succeed, at least the whole process of co-creation has been of value to us as humans and towards understanding of what we truly need.
🔮 I’m launching a course soon on a topic that I’m deeply fascinated about — Community Discovery.