NET Connect 1 (May 2022): Knowing me, knowing you and aha moments!
A small but definitely perfectly formed group of NET members gathered earlier this month for our first NET Connect event.
One person kicked us off by sharing
- About me and my organisation and/or practice
- What matters in my world right now?
- Asks and offers: what support would you like to ask for and what could you offer by way of support to others?
And the next person shared based on a connection or response to the previous person before responding to the three prompts themselves.
Why are you here?
- To reconnect with NET members , meet new people and find out whats going on for everyone
- To connect with new people and share ideas
- Opportunity to connect, network and learn from others
What matters in our worlds right now?
- The impact of the pandemic on youth workers including risk of burnout
- Feeling isolated with fewer connections than before the pandemic
- How we need to build up our communities — more health, more wealth, more resilience
- The university having an event bigger part to play in our communities and VCSE in the region
- Health and wellbeing of people working and volunteering in the VCSE — our cups are constantly being emptied but not being refilled — and the immediate and long term impact of this
- Not enough volunteers including trustees for the community initiatives I’m involved with
Our asks and offers
Our asks included
- conversations with others
- volunteers for BELS and Toy Library North Tyneside
- treasurer for a North Tyneside scouts group
Our offers included
- to have mutual thinking space style conversations if useful to any of the network
- executive education scholarships to support under-represented groups and increase diversity for three Masters programmes at Newcastle University Business School starting in September 2022 (deadline 3 July)
- to share results from recent IVAR Leading in uncertainty events and research
- Youth Starts Here, a free regional conference for the youth sector in the NE hosted by North East Youth Alliance on 7 June
Our aha moments from our conversations…
“A moment of sudden realisation, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension”
- How much we all need to re-connect — with ourselves and our needs, with each other, our communities and how we could move forward
- Potential of the concept of ‘community wealth building’
- Having a chance to share how we are feeling with others was important
- How much of what we each shared connected. If we were in a room with a ball of wool, we’d all be holding a thread. We’ve shown a care for each other here and for others we know and work with, plus requests to connect to each other through conversations and requests for volunteers. A nice collection of connections…telling me we’re not on our own
- We need to make time to ‘reflect’ for the good of everyone
- The power of sharing stories and building that understanding
Join us next time
Our next NET Connect is 14 September 2022. Join us.
About NET Connect
These are regular short online gatherings for NET members and networks friends to connect, form and deepen relationships for mutual support and to build community. This is an opportunity for us all to get to know each other better, to grow and nurture our relationships, understand our areas of interest, and identify opportunities to collaborate. We think this will contribute towards reducing isolation, strengthening personal resilience and building social capital. These events are a short remix of November 2021’s event North East Together 22: Getting to know you and your leadership. We use guided networking to help us have a great conversation together…welcoming new members and reconnecting with existing members.
About North East Together
Our collective mission here at NET is to create the conditions, and platform for, collaboration to become the norm in the north east and to nurture a healthier social change system. Together we can do this.
We believe bringing leaders together to tackle social injustice will create positive change — in our communities, organisations and the social systems we live and work within. Our network offers mutual support, enables collaboration and inspires social leaders. It’s for leaders from the voluntary, charity, social enterprise, education, public and private sectors. It’s for experienced, new and future leaders of organisations, work, and ideas.
North East Together is hosted by Yes We Can and is a collaboration between Yes We Can and Newcastle University Business School.
Future North East Together events
- NET x HLS pop up event 1: An introduction to Human Learning Systems and short stories from those who are working this way, 7 June, 15:00–17:00, online
- NET x HLS pop up event 2: Deeper exploration and rummaging — hearing detailed case studies organisations to learn what they did and how, ask questions, get in to the detail, 21 June, 15:00–17:00, online
- Leading, together: Growing and developing collaborative leadership practice, 22 June, 09:30–16:30, Newcastle University
- NET x HLS pop up event 3: Having a go — moving from theory to practice with a new learning cycles toolkit, 5 July, 13:00 for 13:30–17:30, in person (venue TBC)
- NET Connect: [we’re still waiting on a ABBA-themed title from Marie], 14 September, 16:00–17:15, online
