Figuring out my personal communication style is a full time job. Throughout my career working in non profit towers, I’ve had to speak as a representative of the tower.

Now that I am no longer an official Tower representative (as a full time employee), I feel more comfortable in speaking from a broader platform as a consultant.

I continue working and speaking on behalf of organizations through my consulting work. In my new role, I strive to represent the interests of these groups and I continue my obligation to provide high levels of service.

I have new towers to report to but I also have a degree of flexibility and freedom that I didn’t have as an employee.

Now as I look back on all the work I’ve undertaken and how fortunate I’ve being to experience so many challenging roles in the community, I feel more comfortable in letting more of my spontaneous and personal side be expressed through my weblog.

I’m an Aquarian and earlier in the year, I learned that Jupiter is at long last entering Aquarius, bringing very auspicious changes to the world, especially us Aquarians. I’ll take that as permission for stepping out of my backroom guy role and speak more from the hip about my perspective on topics that interest me.

The way I see it, one of my goal as a blogger who consults with non profits is to think more deeply about subjects and write from a place where my personal experiences and knowledge is expressed on the subject at hand.

Doing this would refine my personal lens and add texture and colour to my writing.I see now that getting up on stage and playing your original music is scary business .

Below are snippets of my past experiences that bleed through into my thinking and feelings about what I’m doing today. I see these examples of my experiences in a most positive light, bringing energy to me as I work with others on choosing futures full of promise.

• I’m a son of Cape Breton N.S. parents and their culture is steeped in story telling, singing, dancing, music and social gatherings. I sense the rightness and naturalness of storytelling as a means to enliven and restore community. Social media is story telling so my work as a consultant in this field brings me a coming home feeling;

• I grew up in a mining city in Sudbury Ontario and worked in the mines (like many young people). I’ve being inculcated in the mores and values of working class folks and know intimately the wisdom and knowledge that flows through people that drill and blast;

• I’ve worked over 20 years and counting in the non profit sector, designing and managing programs for hard to serve (youth with promise) young people. Complementing this work, I’ve being involved in numerous cross sector collaboration initiatives and community development projects.

• I am keenly interested in developing community based solutions for systemic issues within schools.  At one point I partnered with a school board and initiated a community based program within a high school that positively disrupted the school culture. Our goal was to jointly address the disconnect so many young people experience as they go through the school system (resulting in high drop out rates). I see the social web as a force that can bring further positive disruption to the school system.

• I’m fascinated by working with others on systemic change processes that utilize a learning community and/or communities of practice approach. Having just completed a 3 year project that sought to address youth poverty using a learning community model, I’ve seen the success that comes from bringing diverse sectors and practitioners together to address a common goal.

• I’m a team player that likes the pooling of talent that makes for a strong and effective team – plus the social enjoyment that is part of this process. I love sports. At one time I was a star basketball player on a Canadian championship team. Now it’s tennis – a game for life.

• I get a real kick out of learning new skills and putting these new skills to work. I like the experience and feeling that comes to me when I discover new ideas that push my learning and growth.

• I love reading about complexity theory and how this lens can apply to community change. Getting to Maybe: How the World Has Changed by Frances Westley, Brenda Zimmerman, and Michael Quinn Patton – 2006, had given me great insight into understanding and using the complexity theory lens on the community level.

• I have just being introduced to Peter Block’s work. His book, Community – The Structure of Belonging. I have yet to read the book but  after reading Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community white paper my world has turned 360 degrees. I am going to be joining a group to experience the community restoration framework first hand…too exciting.

I hope my list of personal reflections shines a bit of light on what I’m about in my role with Social Media Tools for Work & Learning. For me it’s all about what is emerging today and tomorrow, not what I have accomplished.  It’s an exciting and fun time for me as I consult with organizations and individuals on the social web and developing their online communication strategies.

Brent Uncategorized