TechnicalGroupDynamics2011

 

Introduction/Definition/etc Body Conclusion Discussion Page History Page Statistics Page Views:  since creating on 20110510

 

Introduction/Definition/etc

 

Among the technical groups I'm involved with, or have experienced,

it's really a different animal, conceived on different assumptions,

about people and groups, and how they interact, AFAICT.

 

 

Body

 

Bike Culture is different, endorphin junkies, green geeks,

and social enterprise/ activism, organizing, parallels the

Mental Health (MH) Consumer Run Drop In Center

disorganizing committees and RRWG developments

in many ways, IMHO...

 

Support Groups are based on the assumption that you

are to help the members/ visitors/ guests,

but Peer Support is from your personal experience... 

"Hi, I'm Jerry, and people confuse me with Eeyore

(not that I'm really an Ass, but some might disagree,

I mostly mope around and pull the life out of

all living organisms around me,"

but on the positive, it does something to most groups,

and each group responds differently to it, In My Experience.

 

Anonymous and Confidential Groups, you can't say much

about outside the group, and some don't even say you

are a member, or have restrictions on names/ full names

used, and I've used that tradition here, so that I might

write a little about the experience, but not others' personal

information...

 

Closed membership groups have an inherent

"We are different/ better than Them" attitude a lot of the time... 

Some advocacy and other group can use that to their advantage,

it's a bit more militant/ aggressive/ anti-social

and sometime Borderline than I care for, personally.

Say you were doing Anti War Rally, raising the

Anti is more appropriate than when say supporting PTSD

survivors or Bordies...  Calmness and meditation/

mindfullness/ centering and bringing together

instead of tearing apart are probably in order...

 

But on the technical side, be it computers,

hardware, or Bike Geeks, usually there is more Hierarchy

involved.  It's as if the social skills are not there,

and check with the MotherShip for an answer/ decision.

The Founders are usually Ego Centric,

and more about what they want than the riff raff

lowly members, who are generally viewed as incompetent.

That male domination / S&M type dominatrix

type thing only goes so far with me, as having

experienced better, I can usually get into authoritarian

arguments with people who think they know everything,

and well, they may know more technically, they are not

group geeks, and organizationally, they usually end up

suffering for it.  That is My Experience, Strength and Hope.

 

And many have age differences, some more diverse

than others.  In a room of 20 year olds, a 47 year old

is probably going to be seen as different, either

Daddy Issues, and rejection/ snideness or other

blowback, but sometimes the wisdom of experience

shows up, if not killed off early in the In/Out process...

 

So how to create a technical based group / space that

spans both worlds?  Like JerrySpaceIdea from so many

years and life times ago?

 

Usually theory says it's about group composition

and group cohesion.  Creating a housing program,

peer based takes some "Have Beens and Never Was'es"

as someone Anonymous once put it.  Housing Unlimited

or similar, Oxford Houses in the Substance Abuse

Recovery model, look interesting to me,

as it creates one house at a time and spreads when the group

outgrows or splinters into another house.  It has so much

history and tradition and infrastructure, that It is Hard To

Relate That To Startups, who generally just have an Idear,

not a Clue, but energy and innovation count for something

(in my Book).

 

I would like to take apart the dynamics in the physical world

groups, but well, that might kill the subjects.  Maybe not literally,

but figuratively.  Concrete thinking and anything feeling based

is considered BS.  Chest Thumping and Authority/ Hierarchy

get old for most members and groups like that, unless

truly Testosterone Based, probably die out of their own

mistakes.  Time will tell...

 

Groups of social outcasts (probably called Freaks, now a days,

Back In The Day, it was the N Word, (Nerd), but now that

Geeks have made some $$$$.  That is the Best Nerd Revenge,

Success, AFAICT.)

 

But inflammatory off color language probably gets the point

across but gets tired of reading the opinions instead of facts,

(insert vague reference to most bloggers here)

and in my case, general anger from experiences like RRWG and Drop In Center

developments.  Some are transferable skills, Chairing meetings,

Robert's Rules of Order, Guberment Relations, instead of Consensus

(no real de facto standard for that process???)

 

And as an old Red Haired Kid on the Playground,

I've probably learned some of this as a survival mechanism,

think High School, all over again, and It's No Wonder

We Don't Like Teenagers, it's such an awkward time,

braces and pimples, and PROM (note 4 letters)

add in College Admissions and Acceptance/ Rejection

letters and you have a recipe for disaster.

 

Luckily, some old people remember what it was like

when they were in High School, and might be able

to provide some guidance, if not support/ empathy/

sympathy during this difficult time of the year/

season(s).

 

Most people probably don't know how they come across,

myself probably more blind than others, but

holding up a negative mirroring all the time,

and well, you are probably being the wicked witch/warlock

instead of a real leader...

 

 

Conclusion

 

Summary of experience or similar

 

Discussion

 

A place for feedback on the page presented

 

Page History

 

20110513 Jerry

• Some typos/ spelling changes/ editing on Friday The 13th...

 

 

20110510 Jerry

• Jerry created this page to ...

 

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