On Tuesday we’ll be talking about everything to do with small groups – why there are so many of them, why this matters, and the secrets of what keeps a group going.
During my research I’d often meet people who had joined groups, clubs or societies only to watch them fall apart. Or they might feel no real urge to come back to the next meeting. So why is it that some groups never get off the ground while others flourish? There are lots of reasons, and one of them – without making this sound formulaic – concerns whether or not the group has what I like to call a Macher.
‘Macher’ (pronounced macker or marker) is a Yiddish word meaning a person who makes things happen. A Macher is a doer, a social operator, somebody who inspires action. Although there is a smudge of irony to it, in the sense that by calling someone a Macher you might be teasing them slightly, or making out that they are a busybody, these are the people who are prepared to put their heads above the social parapet in order to get things done.
I like to use the word in a slightly different sense to describe not so much a person but a style of leadership. For any association to begin – be it a reading group, protest collective, 5-a-side football team – there needs to be at least one person playing the part of Macher.
What’s interesting is just how many people that we like to think of as stars, figureheads or solitary campaigners are at the same time skilled Machers. Think of Keith Richards, William Wilberforce or Emmeline Pankhurst. These are people who speak the language of groups. In our rush to lionise great individuals we can often lose sight of the role they have played in their respective groups. This is just one of the things we’ll be looking at on Tuesday evening.
Henry Hemming is author of ‘Together: How Small Groups Achieve Big Things’ (Published by John Murray). Join him for 'A Good Day for Connecting' next Tuesday evening at The School of Life. For more information and to book click here. Follow him on Twitter @henryhemming or visit henryhemming.com
Comments