Tribe seems to be the new “in” word. I’ve seen a couple of HR bloggers write posts about it. Fellow blogger Carlos wrote about it before SHRM17, encouraging attendees to find their tribe. Since I began writing again, I’ve found a stronger link to the other HR writers. We share, we encourage, we support each other. We make real connections thru Twitter and for me, these connections have moved to LinkedIn, Facebook and real life.
So I’ve been thinking about community, tribes and how that all fits. My husband recently (like this morning) suggested I read “Tribe: on Homecoming and Belonging” by Sebastian Junger. It’s a quick read but worth your time. Sebastian talks about how our society have evolved from one of constant community/tribe of sharing, encouraging, support to the independent, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, keep to yourself society that is the modern, civilized world we are now in. Where we used to find community next door, we now have to seek it out. Our society prizes individuality and seeking help or giving help is seen as “weakness” or worse, socialism! But we as humans want to be connected to others, we need to feel authentic. Most want to give and be connected with others on some level. So if we can’t find our tribe in our neighborhoods, we look elsewhere.
One of the reasons I miss Montana is our community, our tribe. We had a strong network through our church. It did not happen overnight. Finding and growing your community takes time and effort. We are slowly finding our community, tribes here in Brookings. As I look at our lives here, I am happy to find a few different tribes for me: family, the Wellness Center, Girl Scouts, HR. Some of these tribes are finding some cross over which strengthens our overall community.
But I’m liking the term Tribe more. Tribe gives me the sense of choosing, a feeling of selecting, a purpose to being a part of the group. More than just where you happened to be born or grow up. You chose to be a part of that group.
Have you found your tribe(s)?
My Dailey Journey 