The reader looks at five concepts of Professional Networking, understanding and finding the ways I use these concepts has been both engaging and eye opening.
Cooperation
Cooperation can be defined as the process of working or acting together for a mutually beneficial outcome. We see cooperation all around us, organisms form food chains and Eco systems, people form families, tribes, cities and nations. What do we gain from being involved with these cooperative formations? I believe as human beings we tend to naturally cooperate. The need to be involved and help others seems part of our genetic make up. Looking through history humans have always formed communities, these communities make us stronger and able to help each other. Cooperating and sharing information for the good of the group is part of our daily lives.
Mathematicians have developed a set of ideas known as Game theory (the will and way to win) as a means to tackle problems including, sociology, economics, international relations and biology. Robert Axelrod was a particularly influential researcher in this field. Axelrod looked at the patterns that emerged from playing the computer game, 'prisoners dilema'. Axelrod suggests through his research that the most successful strategy during the game was a simple 'Tit for Tat' approach (Axelrod, R 1984). The 'Tit for Tat' strategy starts with the players cooperating with each other and then simply doing what the other players do to you in return. This 'Tit for Tat' theory interests me as it seems slightly contrived, surely to get the most from our networks we should be a positive contributing member and not constantly looking over our shoulder waiting for someone to stab us in the back? However there have been times within the entertainments industry when I wish I hadn't been so open as people have happily used my contacts and assistance and then never returned the favour.
From a dance perspective I can most easily explain cooperation by looking at pas de deux. During any pas de deux or partner work two bodies must work together to form the choreography. The male dancer may be lifting the female dancer, but the female dancer must hold her muscles and use her elevation to assist the male lifting her. Both partners must have the same understanding of the music so their timing is completely unison. When a lift does not work well, who's fault is it? Does either partner blame the other or do they work together to perfect the lift? In cooperating the dancers both mutually benefit from dancing and performing together.
Personally I believe there are times when I cooperate and times when I go my own way. When working I am an active member of the team, cooperating and working together to create great performances for each and every person involved. However when in times of seeking work i think I take more of a 'Tit for Tat' approach, I will always help my friends and colleagues where I can, however having been burnt in the past I do not share information and contacts with people that I feel will abuse my kindness. The entertainments Industry is a small world and sometimes recommending the wrong person can reflect badly on you.
Affiliation
The field of Social phsycology has developed the concept of affiliation to explain how people enjoy and benefit from close relationships with other humans. The main principle of affiliation is homoeostasis (O'Connor and Rosenblood, 1996). Homoeostasis suggests that our need for affiliation differs from person to person, some people require high levels of social interaction and others require much lower levels. Individuals may need to maintain their own privacy levels, Hofstede (1980) suggests that this balance of affiliation and personal privacy levels may differ between cultures. It seems that our need to affiliate alters at different stages of our lives. This is most easily explained in the reader from the following extract;
Extract from Crisp, J and Turner, R (2007), pages 266-268
'The tendency to affiliate is something people have from early on in their lives. Larson, Csikszentmihalyi and Grief (1982) found that adolescents spent about 75 percent of their waking time with other people. Such sociability appears to yield benefits. Teenagers were happier, more alert, and more excited when in the company of others than when alone. In contrast, a lack of affiliation may have a lasting negative impact. In research among children raised in orphanages a lack of social and physical contact adversely affected the ability of the brain and of the hormonal system to cope with stress (Gunnar, 200)'
I believe that humans have a natural need to affiliate and form strong bonds with others. Many of my friends and colleagues require differing levels of affiliation. Personally I enjoy company but also enjoy being by myself, this has never been an issue for me, however when working on one particular cruise ship contract other members of my team did not understand my need for time by myself as they enjoyed spending their free time together as a group. I am by no means a loner and very much enjoy time with my friends and colleagues but I do have to balance that with my personal 'time out'.
Relating affiliation to professional networking now seems like a natural development. Our colleagues have the same interests as us as they are working in the same field. This mutual ground and a natural, innate need for affiliation helps us to expand our current networks. Having this common ground with other practitioners allows us to share and develop our understanding and learning.
Social Constructionism
Social Constructionism is an interesting set of ideas that look to explain how meanings about the world are made. Social Constructionism suggests that humans construct understanding of the world through their experiences of it. This is an interesting concept as a performer because we constantly look to understand the industry we work in. Many performers have gone to college and been trained by practitioners who are more experienced, however it is only as you experience auditions and employment that you begin to form a personal understanding. When we engage in networks with fellow performers we try and understand our 'world', the 'world' of the entertainments industry. This may be as simple as understanding an audition. Many dancers and singers will head to a coffee shop after an audition and talk through with friends and colleagues what has happened. Either a successful audition or unsuccessful, there seems to be a need to gain understanding of what the company were looking for and how and why they structured the audition in the way they did. With our professional Networks it seems the more we put in the more we can get out. Putting your opinion or thoughts across to other members of your Network may seem daunting initially but it contributing we may also gain from other people's knowledge as they may gain from yours.
Connectivism
Connectivism is the theory that seems to most relate to me as a student on the Bapp course. The theory of Connectivism is about, 'learning influenced ideas about the organisation of learning and information' (Reader three) In professional Networks Connectivism shows how the network can both learn and provide the means for learning.
During the Bapp course all participants are expected to blog their ideas on each topic. Each pupil posts their response to the theories set out in the course and also read and comment on other pupils blogs. The Course leaders are providing us with the means to learn, but our personal level of engagement with our student network allows us to contribute to others learning and also learn from our fellow pupils. I feel this is a modern way of learning compared to the way I was taught at school. During my time at secondary school I feel I was given information and made to 'learn' it parrot fashion. I may have had the information to pass my exams but I would question if I had a true understanding of the topics. Personally when I started this course I was very worried about my ability to learn. Having not continuously studied since leaving college I felt that my ability to 'learn' would have deteriorated. I have since discovered that learning never ceases as we constantly learn from others around us as they learn from us. As it states in Reader three, Extract form Siemens, G (2009)
'Learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime. Learning and work related activities are no longer separate. In many situations they are the same.'Another quote from the reader that relates to my personal learning experience is ;
'Many learners will move into a variety of different, possibly unrelated fields over the course of their lifetime.'I never could have believed that I would enrol on a course of education at twenty seven years old. I thought my studies at Stella Mann college were the end of my learning experiences. Now I see that my time at Stella Mann was just the beginning of my education, Bapp won't be the end for me either as I hope to go on to many new learning experiences.
Communities of Practise
Social Science has developed the idea of Communities of Practise as a means to explain the learning process as a process of engagement in social relationships. This suggests that often our greater learning comes from informal situations rather than more formal teacher/pupil situations. Communities of Practise are formed in many professional and social situations however they may vary greatly and change over time. Sustained engagement with our communities of practise allows social learning to be developed within and between the members. Personally I think that my greatest Community of practise is with my fellow performers who are also my close friends. In this professional network our interactions are far more relaxed and informal than other networks I engage with. I can trust my friends as they can trust me and the information shared is genuine and whole hearted. Information such as how members are finding different companies they work for is shared socially without fear of recrimination.
Looking at the course reader I have been drawn to look at these ideas personally and what they mean to me. Anyone reading this blog may not agree with my thinking but until gaining an understanding of Networking it has not been a tool I have been conscious of. As I develop as a practitioner I am sure my ideas will change and advance however I do feel my initial feelings will still have value. Looking at other people's blogs I see that often as performers we share the same frustrations, gaining a fuller understanding of the tools available mean we can maximise our personal learning experiences and also learn from each other.
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