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Creating A Skills Bank
[[Continued from here. Ties in threads begun here.]]
Back when I lived in the so-called “real world” and still believed it was necessary to “have a job”, I often found myself in an annoying position. When you’re a not-so-closeted computer dork like me, everyone is always coming to you for help when they experience technical problems. Especially in a small company without any official IT department. The alpha-dork becomes the de facto go-to for every little annoying-ass thing that comes up. The reason this is so annoying (beyond the obvious) is that you tend not to benefit from sharing your skills in this way. You end up spending extra time solving other people’s problems instead of doing your own work, and you almost never get paid extra for it.
So what I would end up doing most of the time was feigning ignorance on things which were not directly correlated to (what I considered to be) my job description. Somebody walks into your office with a PowerPoint question (I hate PowerPoint): “Sorry, I don’t know the first thing about that program.” This isn’t an effective way to operate within a shared value community though, which is what a company is. At least ideally: you are working towards one another’s mutual benefit, right? And not towards a paycheck?
[Pause for laughter]
Ahem, okay. Now that we’ve all had a cathartic laugh: let’s look at this issue afresh… Another approach I tried taking in office after office: only admit that you know how to do things which you enjoy doing. Because otherwise you will get spontaneously “volunteered” to be the person in charge of that most hated skill of yours for all time, until you quit or grow enough of a pair to be clear about your needs and desires as a person and employee. That, ultimately, is the end goal: a full and authentic expression of who and what you are as a person and where your boundaries lie and why.
Baby steps, though. Most of us aren’t quite ready to live like that. But here is an exercise to get you going in that direction. And simultaneously, we can use it as an example of how to “grow value” within a shared value community. What I’d like you to do, if you’re interested, is to create for yourself a “skills inventory”.
Instructions
But let’s be judicious about it. Create a list of all the skills you as a person have. Let’s tentatively define a “skill” as the practical application of a specialized area of knowledge which causes an identifiable (positive) effect within reality. That’s not too “out there” is it? I threw a couple qualifiers in there to keep us on target, but the big one we’re going to need to incorporate into our skill inventories is this: only include items which you love doing(*). So if you know how to fix a flat tire, but you hate doing that, then don’t include it in your list. Simple, right?
What I’m planning on doing for myself is to publish this “skills inventory” as a permanent page on my blog. I would like to encourage other people to do the same - if they’re interested. Basically what you are doing is saying: this is what I love to do, and if you need help doing this or just want to talk about it, I would love to do so. It’s very simple and quite easy to put together, and it will take us a step closer to realizing what our own values are, and how to align ourselves more effectively with people whose values we share, or who we would like to share values with.
Inspirations for this concept came to me from people listing movies they have seen on their websites, or writing “100 things about me” type pieces.
If you’d like to take part in this activity, I invite you to do so. Use whatever format makes sense to you, and if you like, link back to this post so people browsing your skills inventory can see what the inspiration and underlying intention of it is. Maybe also include the phrase “skills inventory” for easy googling. Thanks!
I would also like to formally “tag” the following people to put together and publish skill inventories. I already consider all of these people to be a part of my “shared value community” on some level (PS. If I didn’t tag you, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you [or does it?]. Just go ahead and tag yourself - you’re it!):
- Mike Oliver
- Bret Holmes
- Jason Godesky
- Ben Averch
- Skip Seivert
- Douglas Atwell
- Ran Prieur
- Ted Heistman
- John Fabrizio
- Dave Cotter
- Liesl Lee
- Josh Gerak
- Gary Van Warmerdam
- Patrick Gavin
- Buzz Parker
- Aron Ahlstrom
- Peter Boucher
- Rachel Boucher
- Daniel Pinchbeck
- Lion Kimbro
- Jeremy Puma
- *Saab Lofton
- Garrett Kelly
- Drew Moody
- Catherine Herdlick
- Shea Freedomhowler
- Kevin Flaherty
(I don’t know your last name…) - Brooke (not sure if your last name is a secret online?)
- Jennifer Emick
- Brit Wolfson
- Rev Max
- *Zac (I can’t remember what your last name is)
- Lisa Beebe
- Greg Taylor
PS. It would also make sense if there is a prominently featured way to contact you associated with your skills inventory!
- Prev: What Is A Shared Value Community?
- Next: 2012 Is People!
September 17th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Napoleon Dynamite – Well, nobody’s going to go out with me!
Pedro – Have you asked anybody yet?
Napoleon Dynamite – No, but who would? I don’t even have any good skills.
Pedro – What do you mean?
Napoleon Dynamite – You know, like numchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.
September 17th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
I’m seriously going to work on this though. I feel like I have no skills but hopefully as I medtate on this I will surprise myself.
September 17th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
http://www.palmtreegarden.org/fp/2007/09/17/my-skills-inventory/
September 17th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Hey! I’m already partly with you; Just a few minor differences.
A friend (Sam Rose) and I started a wiki page we called “Internet Exchange.” The idea was to make a skills share, so that we could help each other out with our projects. So, you can see some (not love-of-my-life, but non-the-less valuable) skills on that page. I was trying to hunt for “low cost” skills, to facilitate exchange.
The benefit from “keeping score,” is that you can break out of the 1:1 requirement, of a real-life trade. “I’m helping you, and only you can help me back,” is something of the problem that currency (of whatever form) solves: “I’m helping you, and that guy over there can help you back.”
That said: I just LOVE the idea of putting the skills, that we love, on our home page, and it solves a lot of nice problems, in the doing.
May I suggest putting “skills wanted” on the page, as well? To follow with the “only list skills you love,” thing — perhaps only put those skills that you really really really wish, from the bottom of your heart– that you could have? (I know that “drawing skills” is going on mine..!)
See also: Declarative Living, and: CommunityWiki:CyberneticEconomy.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
“only admit that you know how to do things which you enjoy doing.”
if you could go back in time and really do it right, or if we lived in a healthier society, the rule would be:
“only develop skill in things that you enjoy doing.”
September 17th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
That seems totally true, actually! Probably a simple evolutionary matter: don’t get together with somebody who is useless!
Anyway, one of the things I love about this “skills inventory” concept is that it gets you to stop thinking sollipsistically (a problem of mine in the past) about “what I do know a lot about?” and replaces it with a “of what use am I to other people?” That shit is a lot more important and “sustainable” for building a real human life out of.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I really like that as a way of focusing intention and when publicly shared it opens up communication and encouragement from others in the community for you to actualize your goals.
This is pretty close in some ways to these ideas:
http://www.43things.com/
September 17th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
It should be as simple as that. Let’s make it be as simple as that. Thanks Ran! I’m trying to decipher whether you’re our Thoreau or our Emerson or somebody else entirely. You are very much “you” which is awesome and inspiring. You brought me through to some much clearer and more fulfilled thinking through the work you’ve shared with people online.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
I’ve got several of my skills up; Right there on my website. That, in addition to those listed on the Internet Exchange.
I’d be interested in something that helped in clearly announce and locate skills. Community spaces for listing and reading. Personal networking norms and procedures. Location of existing taxonomies, making taxonomies, or making tools for making taxonomies, and search tools. Project specifications and requests.
I think at Saturday House, there is sympathy for the idea of collecting our skills together, probably as an addition to the participants page.
I have been advocating project sheets in paper; And then there’s the Open Projects Development wiki.
September 17th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
PARTICIPANTS:
These concepts would benefit from your reading and dissemination:
http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2007...ackup-among-shared-value-communities/
Thanks!
September 17th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
After spending 12 hours at work today I realize that what I’m good at is spending 12 hours at work. I can sleep for 12 straight though.
September 17th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
You must be good at spending those twelves hours in a good way though, right? Figure out how you do that.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Ok, ok. I was trying to feel sorry for myself here until you interrupted.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Yeah do that on your own time… we’re building a skills bank here.
September 17th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj127gtcqdk&NR=1
I find good wierd videos all of the time.
September 17th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Ok I made mine. It inspired me to work on building more skills, but also inspired me to write a serries of articles about being homeless without seeming homeless and how to get a job while homeless, how to camp in an urban area, how to live in your car.
These are skills i forgot I had.
September 17th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Permanent link to Ted’s skill inventory:
http://freerangeorganichuman2.blogspot.com/2007/09/skillz.html
September 18th, 2007 at 9:28 am
I love the idea of this. I haven’t thought about my “skills” in ages. Even after only thinking about it for a minute, I feel so full of potential.
September 18th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Awesome! That’s wonderful and exactly what I was going for.
Here
is another skills inventory!are two more!http://inmostlight.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-skills-inventory.html
http://naturalibus.blogspot.com/2007/09/skills-bank.html
September 18th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
hey, where the heck is your skillset, dawg? drop a list on us.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Will try to put it together later: have lots of preparations to make for the “Graduation Party” this weekend.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
[…] Tim’s starting a “Skills Bank,” which I think is an excellent idea. Without further ado, here are the skills I value and enjoy. I encourage any of my readers to participate as well. […]
September 18th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
[…] Consider the following my deposit into the skills bank. […]
September 19th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
I’m rpoud to say in this day and age, that there is only one place on the internet that my last name appears, so I’m glad you forgot.
I’ll see what we can do about the skills inventory. I think we talked about something similar at one point, as a more general website idea.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Yeah, I try to be careful with people’s last names for that reason now, you know. You should make up a last name for yourself. Like “Zac Power” or something!
September 20th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Someone told me that if you want to make up a porn-star name for yourself, you just use your middle name and the street you live on.
thus, my internet porn star name is Mark Dominion. See! it works.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
[…] PS: coming up next: My Mad Skillz Inventory (Why I’m Kind of a Big Deal). Oh… it is going to be good. […]
September 29th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
[…] Last night, all I seemed to dream about was websites! It didn’t even involve my own website, per se (despite all my obsessing over it the past few days). It was a shared value community-related thing and it felt oddly exciting (for a dream about websites). It was about self-image and becoming bigger-than-life — first in image, then in reality. I was seeing all these different people’s character profiles, skills inventories and each included an amazing self-portrait that beautifully captured that person at his/her best. All the profiles were somehow connected, too. I was flipping through them like a book (but with no hands, and they were websites). […]
October 17th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
[…] It would be a cool thing to attempt though, and we could even potentially find a way to hook it into other ideas covered here, such as the skills bank idea, and the RipplePay system. It would also be cool to find a way to integrate it into my existing system for me to personally make money off this site: through ad revenue streams, donations, etc. If we were able to perfect a system like this here, we could potentially also export it for other people to use on their own websites and in other types of shared value communities. […]
January 15th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
[…] {See also: skills bank} Articles With Similar Themes: […]
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:02 pm
[…] A skills inventory is a great way to make yourself publicly available to others as an expert resource in the things you’re good at and interested in. It’s an open format for individuals and small communities to create a skills bank to facilitate trade inside or alongside the monetary system. For me, the skills inventory has become a reference point to track my progress towards personal and professional goals. […]