The Book "The Starfish and The Spider" uses the amazing capabilities of starfish to survive and regrow damaged limbs as a powerful metaphor for leaderless organisations.

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The most amazing things are happening in our rural communities enabled by broadband and digital technologies. Yesterday’s story was about the exodus of young workers having to move to the towns and cities to find work. Today’s story is about the influx of workers leaving the cities and relocating in rural areas as full-time and part-time digital teleworkers.

What can we learn from conflict resolution that can help us build strong virtual communities, networks and teams?

Community development as active waiting

Growing a successful virtual community is a lot like tending a delicate rose in your garden.
Both the rose and the community need to be carefully nurtured, fed and encouraged to grow. Both are under constant threats to their continued health and existence. Both will wither and eventually die if not carefully looked after. This is because, despite all our hopes and intentions for them, a rose and a virtual community are both living systems in their own right and will not just thrive and develop on demand – no matter how hard we push! So can you help such a creature grow and develop?