Braiding for Impact – Collaboration for the 21st Century – Part 1
Collaboration truly is the key to success, both personally and professionally.
Mother Teresa said, “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” I wrote this article to share with you the benefits of braiding for impact and to inform you of something incredible that you otherwise might not be aware of…
Braiding for Impact will change your life.
In 1989, the Harvard Business Review published an article on collaborating with your competitors to win, citing how such brands as General Motors and Toyota got together to assemble automobiles; Canon entered into a joint venture (JV) with Kodak to supply photocopiers, and Siemens and Philips formed a strategic alliance to develop semiconductors. What I’m saying here is that this concept is not new. What was true then is even more important now. Why? It’s simple:
- We can get there faster
- We can’t do it alone (and frankly, why would we want to?)
- We are all connected, so let’s stop thinking and working in silos
Braiding is who we are. It’s part of our natural make-up as an interconnected species and now, we’re remembering this.
Empowering Indigenous women through digital literacy is why we exist.
I am a writer, speaker, facilitator, trainer, artist, and MBA student with a background in administration. I teach the DEVA 20-week online training program, bringing digital literacy, digital media, and virtual administrative skills to Indigenous women. DEVA is an acronym for Digital Executive Virtual Assistant. I have had two cohorts run through the program and have partnered with two organizations, PowHERhouse Impact Media Group and Impact Arts Co-operative to provide practicums and internships. This partnership (braid) also models reconciliation in action. Our network of professionals is vast and many are waiting for DEVAs to graduate so they can contract a DEVA. We are excited to announce that we will have one cohort running in Q1 & one in Q2.
As you can see, three single strands can be more powerful when they are Braided for Impact.
DEVA provides a professional development network of Indigenous women ready to work for you. We have a waiting list of professionals who want to hire a DEVA to help them move into their zone of genius. Through this partnership with PowHERhouse and Impact Arts, we not only share opportunities, such as grants, networks, speaking engagements, etc., we also have each other’s backs and we think in threes.
Our graduates will have opportunities in media, data management, and virtual administrative support. If you would like to sponsor a DEVA, please contact Sharon to get on the waiting list.
To learn more about our Practicum Partner opportunities and join our network of professionals who are taking tangible steps towards prioritizing reconciliation in action, contact Sharon at sam@digitaldeva.org.