Good for Nothing: on doing good things and expecting nothing in return.
Blame the economy, increasingly disconnected lives we live, blurring social roles, gut health, sedentary lifestyle or social media. We seem to be more confused about happiness and eager to study its mechanics. With extensive research going into defining what makes us happy, we find oursleves in the middle of a wellbeing revolution. The biggest shift seems to be from happiness being an indvidual, private quest versus a collective goal.
I was at a creative industry conference in Bristol recently listening to a talk by John Grant on his upcoming book Better- The Wellbeing Revolution & Human Friendly Business. In his book John makes a claim that wellbeing is 80% social. He goes on to say that as social species, in order to thrive, we need more than adult colouring books and green smoothies, we need fellowship and belonging, a stimulating environment, contact with nature, happy communities, a sense of purpose. However, somehow the majority of modern workplaces still operate on outdated principles of command-and-control and with the weakening of local community ties, we often lack engagement.
So what happens when you unite people over common values, ask them to define their skill sets not job titles, give them plenty of supportive leadership and a destination rather than a specific set of directions? Nothing.
Ok, Good for Nothing to be precise.
We started in September after a call out from the Good for Nothing HQ for volunteers to lead the Bath chapter. We came together as a group of people with wildly diverse set of skills & backgrounds. Over the next few months we would collaborate to lead Good for Nothing in Bath, energising the local community and putting together succesful events that brought together some of the most exciting community projects and enthusiastic, creative people. The idea was simple- to give a platform to local, community orientated projects to gain exposure and to give people an opportunity to contribute their talents towards causes they care about.
The framework was fairly open but involved us organising a Pitch Night during which project leaders would pitch their community innitiatives to an audience. We’d then vote, give feedback, ask questions & chose one project that we’d organise a Gig Night (aka Give Night) for.
The idea of a Gig Night isn’t dissimilar to a hacathon- get a bunch of willing, creative people in the room. Present them with some challenges and ask them to come up with tangible solutions to best tackle these issues.
The chosen project for our first edition was Eat-Move-Glow; an initiative that promotes wellbeing among cancer surviors. Focusing on the importance of the ‘after care’, Eat-Move-Glow set out to support & empower women affected by cancer with nutrition, exercise & wellness tools. Some of the biggest challenges for Eat-Move-Glow were extending their reach, improving digital presence and rasining their profile to gain recognition among the medical community. The event gathered a wonderfully diverse group of web developers, marketers, social media wizzes, facilitators, collaborators & creative thinkers all working together for the good of a community initiative. That’s how Laura, the founder of Eat-Move-Glow, described the evening:
The Gig Night was an incredible evening of good people doing amazing things. All the ideas, contacts, skill sets and opportunities are endless. It was intense, immense and absolutely fabulous. I loved every minute of it, l feel totally grateful for all the support from the Bath Community
From organising ourselves as chapter leaders at the start of the projects, through putting on the Good for Nothing events, to finally seeing the local community coming together & working on projects that matter to them, Good for Nothing has been a proof that collaborative leadership works. That people thrive & work best when they are asked questions rather than told what to do. That we have a natural ability to intuitvely assume roles within a group. That with support, direction & common values, you can create engagement and that community certainly isn’t dead.
