Community
By Adam Lacombe
“A group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.”
This definition of a ‘Tribe’ is given to us by Seth Godin in his book Tribes. This book is the Bible upon which we’ve based our organization.
At TribalScale, we’ve gathered a group of people to work toward a common goal. To leverage IoT to create experiences that connect the world. On a macro scale, we want to connect organizations with their employees, customers, and the community at large. On a micro scale, we strive daily to make those connections on a more personal level. These connections are important at the organizational level, as they give rise to motivation, pride, and relationship building. We’ve instilled this sense of community in the foundation of our organization and it permeates throughout the company as we grow.
Ironically, those connections are often lost in the tech community at large. Competition overshadows community within the industry, as organizations fight to maintain their piece of the pie. In the tech space, the community is so small, that it can become painfully obvious when competition outweighs community. At TribalScale we’ve been striving to find ways to rebuild that community, and foster meaningful connections. Here’s a few examples:
Participation
The opportunities to actively participate in the tech scene are endless. Even just within Toronto, there are so many events, that you’d be hard-pressed to attend even half of them. Beyond passive participation, consider reaching out to event coordinators to become a volunteer, or even a speaker if you have the subject knowledge to do so. At TribalScale we’ve taken this a step further and applied our community participation to NYC, LA, SF, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, and beyond.
Collaboration
There are a multitude of organizations that offer complementary services to those of your business. Partnering with likeminded companies can extend your culture beyond the boundaries of your organization and lead to mutually beneficial partnerships. Even traditional competitors are often willing to collaborate when opportunities are shared.
Ecosystem Formation
Within the TribalScale office, we’ve created a startup ecosystem. Sharing our space with innovative startups like WorkTango, Final Blueprint, Actuated Labs, and Vouchr has enabled our community to grow organically. We lean on each other for learning, support, connections, and opportunities. As our ecosystem grows we all reap the benefits and become stronger. As the old adage states, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
By no means are we a shining beacon of community. Like any family, we have our problems. Sometimes we disagree and argue, and we often don’t see eye to eye with our community at large. However, everyday we strive to better that community. We make a concerted effort to find ways to engage our partners, make new connections, create new opportunities, and foster growth within our realm of influence. We hope this encourages others to do the same.
