As I mentioned in my earlier post, HC is a forum where people...

As I mentioned in my earlier post, HC is a forum where people bring and share their collective knowledge. In this process we share collective intelligence, which is referred to as "symbiotic intelligence" by Norman Lee Johnson. Collective intelligence strongly contributes to the shift of knowledge and power from the individual to the collective. As with any sharing and communicating in groups, there is a evolving group process.

There are various models on group processes but most follow the same path. According to Tuckman (1965) there are five phases to group dynamics: They are Orientation, Power Struggle, Cooperation and Integration, Synergy and Closure. These phases are on constant display on HC. At the moment, the HC discussions have not passed the phase of the power struggle. However, I am confident that with the upcoming news we soon can pass on to the next stage.

All of us can remember school projects and the dynamics which evolved within the group, or your own workplace. You have the "slackers", the "clowns", the "saboteurs", the "chatters", the "workers", the "dobbers" and of course the "leaders" just to name a few. You will find them all on HC too. All of these different roles serve a purpose. For example the "slackers" will push the "workers" and "leaders" to cooperate and excel and propel the group forward towards Cooperation, Integration and Synergy. Most people on HC will know exactly where they fit in. However keep in mind that no one needs to stay in a fixed role and we can switch.

HC faces a number of unique and difficulties. For one it is anonymous and secondly it is a big diverse group from all over the world. German sociologist Georg Simmel argued that as the group becomes greater, the individual becomes separated and grows more alone, isolated and segmented. He stated this long before the arrival of the internet, let alone blogs. What complicates things even further is that in our particular group there is no assigned leader. This means, that the standard, integrity and the value of work can and does at times erode. Since integrity is such a critical element of leadership, it makes sense that the values and team integrity would erode without a leader's presence.

Having said that, there are people on HC who try to guide the group dynamics on HC towards constructive dialogue, learning, growing, understanding etc. To those contributors I am very thankful and I hope they keep their invaluable work up in these exiting times to come. I will not mention their names but their traits: they are effective communicators, responsible, long term thinkers, self-motivated, people oriented and of course emotionally stable.