Spiderweb Model

People have got to get to know each other in social change work. Sometimes we assume that just because we share a common interest we’ll get to know each other, and that’s just not true! Projects will go on for months before people really get comfortable with each other.

When a group of people are preparing to participate in social change, there needs to be some breaking down of inhibitions before they become group participants. "There is no 'I' in T-E-A-M". Before a group can build effective solutions to the problems facing their communities, they need to trust each other and communicate.

The idea is to discover which style represents your personal - your Comfort Zone. And to recognize the benefits and drawbacks of style - both in how you approach projects and in how to communicate with people who have a different style to you. And to develop the less-strong side - which, for many of us, should mean developing the 'just do it!' side.

People with the 'just do it!' approach learn-by-doing. Like the Spider's Web approach they have stretched themselves more, too. And, while they may not have successfully got everyone through the web, they have learned a lot about each other, about their personal styles, about what works and what doesn't work, and about how teams can pull it together.

We human beings are natural experimenters: after all, learning by doing and experimenting is how we learned to walk and talk. But at this early stage we were encouraged continually - even when we got it wrong.

It was only a bit later, when we began school, that we learned that there were 'right' and 'wrong' answers and that taking the time to get things right is rewarded. This is when we discovered that were penalties for being impulsive, for not thoroughly thinking things through and for unconventional views or impulsive actions.

Recognizing the penalties involved in not 'getting it right', many of us developed strategies for playing safe - avoiding such penalties. One such strategy was to avoid being spontaneous, or impulsive, or just having a go. And a great way of doing this was to evaluate and plan and talk and talk. We learned that it is wiser and safer to talk and to think rather than have a go.

Of course, it's not a matter of becoming a 'just do it!' person.

That's a bit too simplistic for a complex world. It's a matter of having the flexibility to do what will work best at any stage in a situation - and recognizing when to use which style. And for many of us this means we must first recognize our learned tendency to over-intellectualize rather than balance thinking with action.

In selling they will just dive in, make the pitch and ask for the sale - while the rest of us are wondering if this is the right time or if perhaps we should wait a bit longer while we develop a better relationship with our customer.

They do more. So they make more mistakes - many more.

But in doing so they learn much more. And, because they haven't bought into the get-it-right-every-time they are continually extending their repertoire of skills. And developing their self-belief and self-confidence along.