If creativity has free reign, solutions come easier
Lees hieronder de ervaringen met de KL Social Safari 2011 van een van de deelnemers (originele pagina):
Social Safari is a one-week program in which participants from diverse backgrounds work together on complex issues for social organisations in Amsterdam and surroundings. Social Safari is organized under the umbrella of Kennisland by three amazing ladies Chris, Kwela and Corline. Social Safari works as a pressure cooker where participants (called tigers) work in teams on cases covering a diverse range of social issues with very tight deadlines. The results of such a project are always unexpected and fresh due to the diversity of the tigers (age, gender, nationality background and experience) and the limited amount time for coming up with a proposal, prototype, implementation and results/recommendations.
The cases were provided by the Municipality of Amsterdam, ABC Educational Advisers, Stichting DOEN, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Netwerk Democratie. You can read more about the cases here .
I joined the Social Safari team and for one week (17-22 July) and worked on one of the five interesting and challenging cases, the case of municipality of Amsterdam.
Why did I go through with it?
I went through in this adventure because I wanted as many other participants, a challenge, a fresh perspective, I wanted to shake up things and put myself in a new environment with like-minded people.
I got so much more than I bargained for because Social Safari has been an intensive learning experience.
I learned to be a little less cynical, I learned that you can have an impact in a short time if you work together and it is possible to bring your ideas to life.
I learned that most of the people there were rebels, entrepreneurs, were on a mission to make their dreams reality and make the world a better place in the process.
If creativity has free reign solutions come easier.
I learned that team dynamics can work for you or against you, but all the phases ( forming, storming, norming and performing) are necessary. Diversity in terms of team, challenges, etc is always an asset.
Who do I recommend it for?
I recommend it to someone that needs a challenge, personally but especially professionally. If you want to do something totally different than your day-to-day job,for example, to test your abilities in a different area, especially if you are flirting with the idea of changing career focus Social Safari is something for you.
It is also an eye opener in terms of local challenges and it can help you feel more connected to the city you live in (especially for expats).
If you started doubting your choices it can help you regain confidence in your own abilities partly because one of the side effects of working on Social Safari is believing that anything is possible (even though it is just for a week) and partly because the people you work with go through the same challenges (more or less).
If it seems like a magic potion, well it is not, it is very much real, but keeping the learnings fresh it takes constant effort.
Thank you Social Safari organizers.
Thank you participants and team members for making Safari week worthwhile!!!
Ana Maria Hirtanu
