The Buddha, networks and some lessons for societal scale impact
Sakhyamuni sat down contented with his band of a handful of followers. Though he knew that his message needed to reach the masses, there he was, just focusing on his band and knowing that this is enough.
The Buddha knew something about networks and that is what one of the stories from the fascinating book, Encounters with enlightenment, tells us. Did he know about multipliers and amplifiers? Definitely, he knew much more than that, now that we see 2500 years later and the present dayness of what he spoke.
A year back in August 2022, there were 3 of us in INREM. We were no Buddha. Nor did we have our band of followers. But one thing we knew and believed in. Networks and their exponential reach.
Numbers tell their own story and this above graph speaks in its own way. When we set out to think, that what lay encapsulated as a treasure of highly inaccessible knowledge on Water contamination, needs to reach out and quickly catalyze thousands of enthusiasts into action, the good question we were asked was:
Yes, that’s great, but that will need a lot of Trainers if we were to engage with the journey of thousands of Water Quality Champions.
That was true. When we think of some 20 topics and a year of sessions, it multiplies into 200+ trainer sessions and if we talk about even 2 languages, English and Hindi, that crosses 400 trainer sessions.
We were 3 of us and there are tens more things we wanted to be doing in this year. So, how does one really imagine this?
Before we come to it, a recap. In the first article of this series on societal scale approaches to impact, we spoke about the obsession with singular solutions and why and how a people-to-people connect is something that is being actually sought for.
For reaching that stage, the step 1 as we discussed was to create a common language. A basic foundational exposure that forms a network of learners and doers.
If we need to reach there ie thousands of professionals across India, interconnected and supporting each other, having undergone a common foundational experience on Water, first we need hundreds of trainers, as we saw above. Where do we get them and what does that cost.
Back to Buddha and the network. The band spread far and wide. Local princes, the Asokas, the Harshvardhans all came along the way. They absorbed the gospel as their own and became its messengers. Beyond a point, they all lived the message. We all know about Asoka and how he changed that moment after the Kalinga war, but lesser known are the Harshvardhans who gave it all away with their own version of the #GivingPledge.
Are the Gurus out there? Is there an aspiration already present. Isn’t there an agent of transformation in every person.
That was the belief with which we began. The message we gave is very simple. This is a chain of goodwill. What you get, you transmit. If you are interested, come back again and we will help you become a trainer.
The response was overwhelming. Some 10% to 20% of participants every month wanted to become trainers. After the foundational course of 9 sessions in a month, they came back for a month of 3 sessions to become a trainer. And there they were, ready to #GiveBack.
This chain of goodwill is something the Buddha knew intuitively. The idea will travel if we allow it to. The more we keep it closed, it becomes our own compulsion.
When we release the agency of individuals to act and give them the tools, no doubt knowledge spreads far and wide.
We have had 90 trainers so far doing 350 sessions in 11 months. Out of these, around 115 have been contributed now by Water Quality Champions coming back as trainers, as we see above. Many new contributors have also emerged now within our organization, INREM, bringing in a lot of new energy and insights.
Some like Sampat of Bangalore have come back for the same session repeatedly over 5 months. Amit Wajpe and Nupur Rai are similar examples. Others like Neha Gupta want to try out different sessions as trainers. Some like Hemanta Koley want to impart on specialized areas they are working in daily life. Others like Khileshwari Sahu see this as an extension of their community work
The motivations vary and they are personal. For some, becoming a trainer is an honor. For others, it is a means to grow and gain confidence.
To be precise, there are 90 different reasons, one for each person.
They keep coming and the tribe keeps growing.
Now you know the secret. Actually it is not a secret. The Buddha knew it and he put it to good use.
You can do it too.
