By flying in a “V”
formation, a flock of geese gains at least 71% greater flying range than if
each goose flew on its own.
From 1996 –
1998 I lived and worked in Jakarta, Indonesia as a ‘cooperant’ with CUSO, a
Canadian international development agency that sends folks to work in
grassroots community development projects and are paid local wages. During my
time there the country fell into severe financial hardship, referred to now as
the ‘Asian Economic Crisis’, that crippled the country with a ten fold currency
decline, banks closures and overnight price increases for staple items like rice
and fuel that ultimately led to a people’s revolution and overthrow of a 35
year dictatorship.
The biggest
thing that I noticed during this chaotic time was how the people in the cities were
the ones most deeply affected by the crisis. In contrast, when I traveled out
to the rural areas – to places where people still grew their own food, bartered
bananas for chicken, and were still connected to and looked after one another,
were fine. Though country folk had few financial assets, they had incredible
wealth in their communities. What they had a lot of was ‘social capital’.
What is social capital?
In a
nutshell, social capital refers to the resources that are available to us
because of our relationships – whether they be familial, friendly or professional:
formal or informal. And the resources are plentiful including information,
ideas, leads, products, food, money, power, emotional support, goodwill, trust,
cooperation and more. The denser the
networks, the more likely that it’s members will cooperate and share resources
for mutual benefit.
Research has shown that higher levels of social capital are associated with better health, higher educational achievement, better employment outcomes, lower crime rates, longer lives. And it also leads to happiness. After twenty five years of psychological research on happiness, University of Chicago psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi found that two factors matter more than anything else – meaningful work and relationships with others. In other words, those with extensive networks are more likely to be healthy, housed, hired and happy.
Building
networks is a major way of participating in the world and enables us to
contribute to the lives of others. By doing so we not only reap the personal
benefits of networks, we make the world a better place by making it a more
connected place. In practice, “using” social capital means putting our networks
into action and service for others.
Different types of social capital can be typically described as:
Bonding – related to 'getting by' in life and is characterized by strong bonds among family members, closely knit friendship ties, religious and ethnic groups etc. (Folks that regularly share their resources with you).
Bridging – helps with 'getting ahead' in life and is characterized by weaker, but more cross-cutting connections with acquaintances, associations, friends of friends, etc. (Folks that might give you a lead on a job, a discount on mechanical work etc.).
Linking – helps with ‘accessing power’ and is characterized by connections with people in different positions of power and is good for accessing support from formal institutions. (Folks that you can call on who might be in a position to help with your cause).
10 Ideas for Building Social Capital:
- Schedule a half an hour “get together” before meetings.
- Bring a healthy home cooked food item to meetings (e.g. fresh baked muffins. You’ll be a star!).
- Consciously think about being a bridge builder – who else can you invite ‘to the table’ that could benefit and contribute?
- Think about how to involve different types of volunteers in your work, and also think about how you can volunteer.
- Form informal social groups —softball teams, hiking clubs, book circles, potluck clubs, etc.
- Participate in your local community events. Better yet – help to organize them!
- Have a movie night at your house or organization—with popcorn during and discussion afterward.
- Try this recipe for network building: take one good reason to come together + great people. Mix them together in a nice space and add some great food and beverages and watch what happens!
- Invite local government officials to have lunch and a topical discussion with one of your networks.
- Hold discussions about social capital, and what you can do to help increase it in your life, in your work, in your community.
Links to Web Resources on Social
Capital:
