My Workplace Tribe

According to A Teacher’s Guide to Social Media, there are four ways to apply social media in an educational setting: for connecting, for notifying, for teaching, and for curating. The concept of using social media to “curate” made me examine how my own workplace accomplishes this take.

I just started working at The Women’s Bean Project, which is a nonprofit that operates a social enterprise to employ women who have difficulties finding employment. They do so by manufacturing and selling gourmet spices, ingredients, and food. On the surface you would image that this type of business model has no need to use social media for educational purposes. In fact, they’ve only used social media for the obvious answer of marketing and public relations.

However, by challenging myself to add an educational component I discovered that the organization provided no resources for those who wanted to learn to cook using the products or any recipes or dinner ideas. Upon this discovery I decided to create a site that would “curate” all things related to cooking while using WBP’s products.

But how does this relate to “my tribe.” Upon this discovery I immediately began thinking of ways to involve my co-workers and other staff. I already have several women that have volunteered to serve as hosts for the cooking show segments. I also went to the Director of Marketing who will help provide the images, resources, and other content I may need, as well as serve as a mentor through this process. I then went to the Director of Public Relations who will help promote the site so that it becomes a community involvement.

So, when I think of “tribe” I think of “community involvement.” Just like how my workplace operates, each person does their part to contribute to the whole. I saw how my new formed tribe was willing to help with the parts of my project to contribute to the whole. A tribe means having a team of people ready to support you and your business goals. Our hands may be manufacturing beans but our hearts have been trained to manufacture successful people.