Newbie to community goes to LSC

I moved to Washington in February of 2011. I now know that February is not the ideal month to move to the Northwest (I went into serious sun withdrawal my first few months here) but my excitement around my new job and the opportunity to explore a new part of the county  trumped the rain. A large part of my current position with United Way of Snohomish County as an Impact and Community Investment Manager revolves around understanding the current conditions of our community and then relaying that information to our volunteers. Moving here from the East Coast, having never lived in this area of the country, I knew I had much to learn about Snohomish County and my new community. Leadership Snohomish County offered the perfect opportunity to dive into that task in a way that strongly complemented my new position. I have felt so lucky to be able to dedicate an entire day every month to learning about my new community from experts in their fields while surrounded by dedicated, intelligent, and interesting peers. There have been areas I don’t know that I otherwise would have touched and I have met people with whom I likely would not have crossed paths.  I am ending this year with a great deal more knowledge, broad exposure to Snohomish County,  new friends, and a plot in a community farm (which certainly would not have happened without the requisite interview).  Not only do I have the education, I will also have vegetables to show for my year with LSC!

Svea Stromme, MSW  

Inaction is not an Option

As the Leadership Snohomish County (LSC) Class of 2012 winds down, I have been attempting to take time to reflect. On where I was at coming into the year versus who I am today. On the many experiences that I had through education days and through my Impact Team’s project. On the fact that this exciting year of learning new things about my community and myself is coming to a close. I’ve also tried to plan out my next steps, and what I am going to do with the information that has been gifted to me about the needs in my community.

Coming in to Leadership Snohomish County, I thought I knew all about my county, having lived in various cities in the county for the past 15+ years. In reality, though, I was aware of only a small portion of the diverse businesses and organizations that serve this community. I also had no grasp for the many remarkable social and health services and programs that are doing amazing things to serve the people of Snohomish County.

One example of this is Dawson Place, a Child Advocacy Center that streamlines the many services (law enforcement, child protective services, medical, victim advocacy, prosecution, and mental health) that serve young victims of sexual or physical abuse. This amazing program is not the cure for abuse, but it does support victims in a way that no other child advocacy center can.

I also came to LSC thinking that my voice didn’t matter to the community, because I can’t really make that much difference by myself. (Similar to how one voter in a presidential election can’t change the vote.) But I have heard countless stories of how one person with passion for addressing a need can induce a positive change in the community. I now realize that my voice does matter, and that I do owe it to my community to make an investment in it, and get involved.

I have begun to do that through my Impact Team’s project, to work with the Friends of the Everett Public Library to increase membership, volunteerism, and financial contributions to this valued non-profit organization. I have immensely enjoyed my project team, as well as our interactions with the EPL. Not only will the project itself have a lasting impact on me, but the experience of working with a diverse group of professionals has been an invaluable exercise!

Like others, I regretfully all-too-often fall back on the “I’m too busy” mantra, which is an easily justified (though not always legitimate) excuse for inaction. One thing that was impressed upon me through LSC is that time is not the only need. Visiting the Volunteers of America Food Bank earlier this month, I was dumbfounded to learn that the vast majority of the food that this organization provides to the community comes from one day. A simple one-day food drive (Letter Carrier’s Food Drive is May 12!) enables VOA to feed thousands! And I can have an impact simply by sharing the value of donating to my colleagues, through social media outlets, and to my circle of friends. That and making sure to put a bag of food at the mailbox on the 12^th of May. This can make an immediate impact on my community, one that will directly aide members of my community.

I know now that I do need to be more aware of and involved in my community, and that my voice can make a difference. I know some of my strengths, and areas that I need to continue to invest in myself. Beyond that, I know that as a leader, I need to surround myself with complementary folks that will make a complete team, instead of trying to “do it all”. This statement alone will have a lasting impact on my life, as it will direct how I spend my time investing in myself, as well who I associate with in the future.

What I don’t know is where all of this will take me. There are countless areas of need and I am aware of many of them, thanks to LSC. I am in the process of exploring my areas of interest, while at the same time being open to opportunities to serve that may not fall within my comfort zone.

The bottom line is that I can make an impact, and with the many ways I can serve, inaction is not an option.

Working it out...

I have spent the last nine months of my life learning everything about Snohomish County I could possibly learn.  I have discovered many wonderful and many not so wonderful things about our county.  I have been elated to see so many good things that have been done, or are being done, and have been saddened by so many bad things that still need to be fixed.  Yet, I still don't know where I fit in.  Where can I lend a hand?  Where can I be that will help the most?  After all this time I still am pondering these questions that I started to ask at day one.  I believe I have come to a realization, however.  Will we ever have the perfect county to live in?  Will we ever agree how to handle every situation that arises in the county? No, but I don't believe that is the point.  It is the act of caring that is the important part.  Passion to help, assist, improve, preserve, etc. is the most important thing to each and everyone of us.  We as individuals grow and our lives are enriched as we work for the community.  Graduation is upon us and I still don't have a one dedicated area of focus. As long as I keep looking, and in the meantime give of myself as I search, I'm not in any big rush.  I am working it out...  and everything in the end will be just fine.

There is hope for me yet!

I am a dedicated yet reluctant community steward. I care deeply about my community and want to be actively involved in it, but left to my own instincts I would also prefer to be back stage working in a supporting role and not out on the stage actively taking part in the performance. Point me to a need and I will volunteer. Leave me to identify the need and rally support to address it... that's much tougher for me, though I don't lack for passion about needs in our community. So participating in a community stewardship program like Leadership Snohomish County (LSC) necessarily causes me to stretch beyond my normal comfort zone.

One of the concepts we recently read and discussed dealt with the leadership value of sponsorship, the proverbial putting one's money (or time, energy, freedom, maybe even life) where one's mouth is.  Sponsorship may be speaking out publicly, or it may be taking an idea and pushing, driving, kicking until a difference has been made. As Bruce Cockburn says in his song Lovers In A Dangerous Time, "Sometimes you have to kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight." 

Sponsorship says: this is what I believe, this is what I am passionate about, this, therefore, is what I shall do. And yet, passion alone may not be a sufficient guide for our community actions and efforts. When I talk to individuals who successfully advocate for community needs, who make things happen with their sponsorship, I see more than passion at work.

Oliver Segovia, writing in the Harvard Business Review a few weeks back exhorts us to forget about passion. He makes the case that it is more important to be aware of the needs around us, of our communities and neighbors, and of the world. Segovia stresses the need for a heightened degree of situational awareness and a knowledge of those things which most impact us very personally, and to cultivate an ability to work with others to solve large problems. Doing so takes us outside of ourselves and, frequently, beyond our individual passions.

As a path toward effective leadership and, more specifically, effective sponsorship, this rings very true to me. As I mull over what we have been reading and discussing in LSC, and continue to process how I will apply what I am learning, these are threads that come together to form, for me, a new perspective on community stewardship.

So how does all this translate at my personal street level? My impact team (and I feel very fortunate to be working with such a great team of talented community leaders!) is currently working to build a new basketball court for a local Boy's and Girl's Club (http://bit.ly/yXapo5). It is a wonderful project and addesses a very real community need in a very concrete (no pun intended) way.  It was not a community need that was previously on my personal radar screen, though, and building a basketball court is not part of my personal skill set. On my own, I would never have stepped up to lead this project, assuming there were far more qualified individuals than myself to tackle this kind of need. Yet our project is coming together very well so far, and each of us in playing an integral role in shepherding it forward.

This is a perfect example of the kind of beyond-personal-passion community awareness Segovia describes. It is sponsorship of an identified community need more than sponsorship of a personal passion (though both clearly have value). And it requires me to work together with many other individuals, people with more applicable skills and talents than I bring to this table, to complete this project. In so doing, I do have a constructive role to play, though it is a role I am having to stretch and learn into.

Hayden Bixby, herself an alumni of Leadership Snohomish County, recently wrote on her blog for the CURA Kenyan AIDs orphanage she sponsors with her activism, about the role of "connectors" in such projects. As someone who is naturally retiring, who would rather never pick up a phone to call someone, and who dislikes any sort of spotlight, I was inspired to hear that even she (someone I view as very successful at community sponsorship) sometimes feels stretched by the role of connecting people and needs. 

So here is what I am learning: Community stewardship and sponsorship do not necessarily depend on having a specific passion or vision.  In fact, it may be more important to listen to the needs of the community and to be willing to pick up a shovel (or phone) when and where most wanted. Passion is important, but passion needs to be linked with awareness of our communities, and not imposed on them. There is a role for everyone in community stewardship, though each of us may have to stretch ourselves to adjust to the needs that exist in our communities. There is hope for me, then, after all.

    - Kevin McKay

Feeling the love...

January 12th was our Business and Economic Development Day. I was interested in the “Women on the Move” panel discussion. Two local business women shared their stories of owning their own businesses. One piece of advice I heard that was particularly inspiring was to think, “Everyone here loves me” whenever you walk into a room. This will boost your confidence and allow you to handle whatever situation you are faced with.

I used this advice recently when I had to give a last minute presentation at work. I was not feeling
100% prepared but rather than panic I thought, “Everyone here thinks I’m awesome and they will understand if I don’t give the best presentation”. My presentation wasn’t perfect but it came across a lot better than it would have if I hadn’t felt the” love”.

My "speak up or sell out" moment

I've been thinking a lot about the "Authenticity" chapter of our curriculum this week. A glaring example of this concept came up in my job, and it threw me into a career-existential crisis. Decisions were being made at the executive level that would shape my work, and the direction of the organization, for the next year and possibly beyond. When I first learned about them, I tried very hard to fully understand what might have been driving the decision-making process and really get my head around what it meant for my team and for me, personally. After several internal deliberations, I found myself very conflicted.

I realized very quickly that the work I do is very much driven by my personal mission and values. It's much more than just a job, and my role as a leader is both to help others believe deeply in what it is I'm working toward and also to help them connect to that mission and set of values in order to find a way to make a difference.

I was encouraged by my boss (someone I regard as an amazing leader and mentor) to stand up for what I believed in and spend a little bit of my professional/social capital to get my point across to people who could change the direction of the ship. Her advice was to stick to the facts, trust that logic and sound values were on my side, and try to keep unnecessary emotion out of it as much as possible. That last part was pretty challenging given the deep-seated feelings I had about the issues at hand.

In the end, my point was well heard by the decision-makers and I felt tremendous resolve from choosing to speak up.

Team

I am enjoying getting to know my team. Moving forward from this point on, I feel like these are relationships that will be part of our lives well after Snohomish County Leadership is over. I look forward to making a difference with this group not only with this project but possibly many more in the future.