Use Collaboration, Teamwork, and Networking
to Unleash Your Hidden Wealth

In 2007 we released the first edition of Collaboration, Teamwork, and Networking, a book about working together to make a difference in our own lives and the lives within our community.  We recently released a 2^nd edition of our book.

The lessons we learned as we put some of the concepts outlined in the book to work include the need to revisit the entire process, and that led us to develop this website.

This website is devoting to showing you that working together in a systematic way, in pursuit of a common vision, and with highly articulated goals is a very effective way to change the dynamics of a group, organization, or community.  It is the pathway to finding and leveraging your hidden wealth.

Why we all need to practice collaboration and networking

There is no question that our personal wealth, as well as the condition of most communities, needs improvement.   Unemployment is rampant for many; in African American communities it has been higher than the national average forever.  This problem is at the top of the discussion list in our country, and has become a political football.   We understand the devastating impact of unemployment; we simply believe in taking whatever positive action we can – now – to do something about it. We can’t afford to wait for someone else to fix the problem.

We live in communities that are similar to yours.  Our churches that have been our beacon of hope for centuries are losing membership and are strapped for money. We go to the same kinds of churches as you.  Has yours lost members during the past decade?  Records show that church membership is declining, resulting in diminished resources and erosion of moral direction. According to a February 25, 2009   article in the Washington Times, many church organizations are losing memberships. The highest losses were:

• United Church of Christ (down 6.01 percent)
• African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (down 3.01 percent)
• Presbyterian Church (USA) (down 2.79 percent)
• Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (down 1.44 percent)

The Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, has been seeing faltering numbers for years in their head count.

Anecdotally, we know that the Church of God in Christ and National Baptist Convention of America are losing members.  We see it in our communities.  It’s interesting that neither reported membership updates in National Council of Churches’ 2010 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, according to The February, 2010, edition of Associated Baptist Press.

We know what it feels like to see the value of a home plummet, to see businesses shuttered, and to worry if our job will still be there tomorrow.

Solutions

But, we have also seen the absolute power collaborations that leverage complementary strengths and building coalitions in pursuit of common goals.  We have personally been involved in creating enterprises and teams in situations that people thought were impossible, within corporations and at the grass roots level.

Have you used networking to build win-win coalitions instead of trying to go it alone?

Did everything work perfectly?  No, it didn’t, and it never will. The pilot programs were practice shots, meant to gain insights.  The institutionalized programs performed beyond expectations, but they, like life, have a defined life span.

The processes that we show you here have been working all over the world.  Networks of people have applied cooperative economics to provide affordable services for decades.   We believe that it is time to apply them in our own community, in our own groups of people that are already organized as a collective force.

The strategies and processes here will help every church, every social organization, and every community uncover the hidden wealth and other capabilities that exist in their memberships.  They have been working all over the world for years.  It is time to apply them in our own community, in our own groups of people that are already organized as a collective force.

What we give you here are tools so that you will have choices.