One of the real benefits of being a Flowstar is to be surrounded by the curious, challenging, dynamic and clever people that work here.
While the idea behind our Flowschool sessions is to impart knowledge and develop skills, it is during these classes that learning beyond the topic of the evening happens.
Lesson 1: Don’t accept what you are being told
Teaching and education used to be a pretty one-way process; the imparter of the information force-feeding the recipient. The recipient would then be asked, in some form or other, to regurgitate what had been ingested to prove that it had been absorbed.
There was not much argument to the process, just an acceptance of this as the status quo. Flowstars don’t subscribe to this tradition, but rebel against it in a fairly primal way. The educational principle that we see in play in our Flowschool classes is “question everything”.
While this may unsettle any carefully laid-out lesson plan and presentation, it does stimulate discussion and debate, and forces you to formulate your own opinion as opposed to having it dictated to you. The ability and willingness to question is actually an asset of far greater value than an ability to retain knowledge unquestioningly, and being in a Flowschool class teaches us all the benefit of this.
Lesson 2: Find an anchor point – this world is spinning fast
The theme for the recent Flow Winterschool classes was social media – specifically what’s new and what’s happening in relation to the communications landscape.
While we covered, in some detail, the trends, growth areas and potential for brands in the social media space, the main learning was actually about how fundamentally these media have changed the very structure of society in terms of power, creativity, consumption and identity. These are not subtle movements that you can navigate by just maintaining a stable footing, these are seismic shifts that require an entirely new way of thinking about how you send and receive messages.
We are going to need parachutes, life rafts, safety harnesses and flak jackets (as well as a lot of bravado and a love for the adrenalin rush) to survive and remain relevant in this hectically changing space. In true Flow style, though, the classes reveal a “bring it on” attitude amongst the staff.
Lesson 3: Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate
Silo thinking is fairly widely recognised as being detrimental in business and there is an awareness that if departments don’t talk to each other, disasters can happen (like cars that malfunction and can cause deaths because the guys who made the ignition switch didn’t talk to the airbag team …)
It’s not likely to have such dire consequences in the communications space, but the risk here is that if we don’t collaborate, we’ll not be making the most use of potential skill sets.
Part of the dynamic of the Flowclasses is that everyone usually does have an opinion and a perspective – often dependant on their field of interest – that is shared. We don’t have many opportunities to hear these opinions as we come to work and channel into the needs of the day, so the value of these forums is to see whom we should be collaborating with when we are developing new work for clients.
It sometimes materialises that a project manager may actually be the most up-to-date on video apps and a developer knows the best resources for web fonts. Collaboration is the key to getting better at what we do, growing our expertise and exposure, and being a better team.
Lesson 4: Embrace the beast
As a non-horse rider I always found, when I was forced into a saddle on some misguided idea that an out-ride into the bush would bring me closer to nature, that it was a very uncomfortable and rather unpleasant experience. Unfamiliar territory, a perspective I was unused to, a longing to be on safer footing.
It’s somewhat the same in the social media space – a bumpy ride in a landscape I’m not sure of, surrounded by others who seem to know what they are doing so much better than I.
What’s needed in both instances is to get more into the experience and enjoy it for what it’s worth, to embrace the beast. Don’t fight it, don’t try to do it your way or bend the situation to your rules; rather relax and embrace it as a new experience with new rhythms, experiences and potentials.
It does require a bit of bravery and a leap of faith, but once you accept the beast and try to ride with it as opposed to against it, the benefits become all the more evident. Being surrounded by Flowstars who are all happily in the saddle and who are encouraging and enthusiastic, makes the challenge that much easier.
Lesson 5: Technology can be cool
While there are some widespread social concerns about how our preoccupation with screens and “looking down” impacts on relationships and how we now choose to engage with each other, Flowschool also reflected on how beneficial this selfsame screen viewing can be.
With some trial and error, persistence, cables and connections, we managed to include our Cape Town office. Not only could they watch and participate in our classes, but deliver them as well. This not only allowed us to connect with colleagues with whom we have little face-to-face contact, but also to recognise the skills and passions that were out there and accessible to us all.
Technology – instead of being guilty of the usual criticism of distancing us from each other – brought us all closer in a very real and significant way.