Collaborator | ^IfMine Blog

Many small people, in many small places, do many small things, that can alter the face of the world. -Anonymous

Can you recall a specific event or time period in your life when someone reached out and motivated you to overcome an obstacle standing in your way? Think about what that person said or did and how it impacted your life. Where would you be today if that person didn’t stop and help you succeed? And how can you do the same for someone else?

Below are five simple ways to help people succeed:

1. Listen. The simple act of attentive listening is one of the most important things you can do for someone. Keep your opinions to yourself for a moment and allow the person to be heard.

2. Respond. When someone asks for an opinion, give an honest and helpful critique. We’ve all heard of the sandwich method: first compliment is good, followed by suggestions to improve and topped off with another nice compliment.

3. Collaborate. When working together is beneficial to both parties, success can be attained more efficiently as your strengths are brought into play. Teamwork is powerful, as long as everyone is listening attentively and giving helpful feedback.

4. Mentor. We could all use someone to help guide us on the right path. If you’re an expert in a particular field, use that as an advantage and motivate others with your knowledge.

5. Share. Unable to help? It’s time to seek advice from others. Or possibly, success has been reached and you want to share it with the world. Write about it, tweet it or simply, talk about it.

Have you helped someone succeed in life? Comment and share your story with us or continue assisting others at ^IfMine, a platform to voice your opinions and share ideas.

Photo Source: bgottsab (Flickr)

Teamwork. We’ve all done it. Some of us thrive in a team environment. Others, like myself, dreaded when a teacher announced it was time to split up into groups. I can’t recall most of the projects we worked on, but I do remember learning about other people. One particular experience stands out above the rest.

I’m a visual person and love the written word, which made it easy to join the high school newspaper staff. Our team of editors cut and pasted articles the old-fashioned way and developed photographs in the dark room. We took each of our unique abilities and successfully worked together under the guidance of our adviser. The end result was an award-winning student newspaper.

We were Collaborators on a project, the student newspaper, and our adviser was also our Mentor. We learned the importance of teamwork and how to benefit from expert advice.

Experiences like this are life-changing and can now happen outside the classroom thanks to the Internet. People from around the world are working together, collaborating with and mentoring each other. We are just beginning to see this at ^IfMine.

An ^IfMine user has the ability to create projects, but can also become a Mentor, Collaborator…or both. What’s the difference?

Like the newspaper adviser, a Mentor on ^IfMine is a person whose comments are valuable and helpful. A Mentor gives feedback to guide the development and success of a project.

And like the team of editors, Collaborators work together and contribute to a project. A Collaborator is able to edit project descriptions, add photos or documents and even Evolve the project as it progresses.

Are you ready to benefit from teamwork? Take the first step and sign up for ^IfMine. Do you know other people who have ideas needing feedback? Share this post with them.

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Photo Source: wonderferret (Flickr)

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Category Archives: Collaborator

Stop, Collaborate & Listen