The funniest thing is I never watched the E channel in the States, but some how it is my little escape back to CA/LA for me. I feel like I am seeing my "old neighborhood" and getting caught up with my "friends." I know ridiculous, but true. So I just watched a good 3 hours of E (all caught up on Hollywood) and then watched a few MTV favorites...Punk'd and Run's House and now am listening to Hairspray reading about my real friend's lives.
This last week was one of those weeks that seems to have had 14 days in it not 7. I hit the ground running with my new areas I am leading. It was a lot of details to work through at first as well as meeting with some people that I think will make incredible leaders. I think my favorite part about Kiwi culture is the fact that most of them don't realize how incredible they are. The talent here is unbelievable. I feel like a kid in a candy shop as I look at the potential that is overwhelmingly obvious to me. You know those candy shops you go into with bins and bins of candy? That is the leadership and creativity or Kiwi's. I feel giddy all the time as I think I get to be apart of helping them realize their potential and seeing how uniquely they were created.
The way I tend to lead volunteer teams is by placing people in leadership over areas that they are passionate about. I have been asking the question this week: if you can do anything what would you do? It has been so exciting to hear what people are saying. And much more exciting to see them begin to get excited about not just filling a role that someone else assigned them or completing a task that someone gave them. I get to say, "you want to do that? Ok let's make it happen. Go try it. If it doesn't work I will take responsibility, you just go create and risk." I oversee two different areas of volunteers. The first area is one that is dedicated to making sure people have a spot to be involved and volunteering their own talents. The second area is making sure people have friends to do this with. These two areas eventually will be separate but for right now I oversee them both.
The first thing I have done this week is began to pull people together that already get the concept that life can be about so much more than just ourselves. In actuality I am taking a core group of people that want to see people have places to volunteer in areas that they are talented as well as create a space for people to explore spirituality, church, and God. So far I have been so excited about each person that wants to work with me. I feel so privileged that I might get to work with these leaders. They are going to teach me so much over the next 6 months. Over the next few weeks there will be many changes....which is always a touchy point. We will see how it goes. Some times I look really nice until I began to shake things up a little. Which at the end of the day I realize is what I will do here. (which is why my friend Joel has named me Dane Pain, short for Dane that brings the pain...nice, huh? And it is beginning to stick...the most creative nickname I have ever had before--told you they were really creative)
If you have been reading my blog for awhile, do you remember when I ran the Mount? And remember how I pretty much complained and whined the whole way up the mount? Yep that is kind of how I approach leadership too. On the inside I am quiting the whole time. I walked into my friend Joel's office this week and said, "I quit. I will quit numerous times in the process this is just my time for today to quit." He is a great friend and just smiled, but then later came by my office and we lamented for a little bit about what we were doing and how hard it was, then very quickly we started to talk about all the cool things we are seeing and getting to do. Joel challenged me in so many areas this week. I talked to him a couple times this week about the areas that we are leading and I walked away feeling like a better leader each time.
I guess at the end of the day it is called SYNERGY: The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substance, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum or their separate effects.
Synergy is one of those experiences that once you know what it feels like it become a little addictive. You run faster, run better, and have the most fun you can imagine. The catch though? You can't create it. I have tried to manufacture it, and you just can't. Sometimes you just have it with the people you work with. And this week I felt it. My friends Jared and Michelle are overseeing me as I lead these new areas and between them and my friends Joel and Glen this week I felt like the best leader I could be while having an incredible amount of FUN doing it. Jared and Michelle have helped me word and phrase vision in this new Kiwi culture. Which was quite a humorous experience this week. I had emailed them an email to look at before I sent it to my new teams. Well, lets just say this was my answer: did you already send it? I had to laugh as I spent so much time rewording my thoughts, calming down my intensity for this new Kiwi culture I am still trying to figure out, and then still create excitement around what we get to do together.
I am not gonna lie I really didn't want to redo the email. And I had to laugh because it was my bright idea as a consultant to have a Leadership Team member (Jared and Michelle) oversee leaders like myself that are overseeing certain areas of the organization. It is so easy to think that we don't need people or that our ideas are the best. But I really believe at the end of the day people that are overseeing us have a wisdom that we should listen to...we can always learn from those that are placed in leadership above us. It was a great experience for me. When I got the email back that said..."looks good send that." I have to admit I was ecstatic and felt like I had worked so hard and had the best pulled out of me. And on top of all that I got to work with Michelle and we created so much stuff together this week. She is a VERY talented graphic designer and she took my ideas and put them in useful and eye catching graphics.
I came home tonight exhausted from all of that, plus navigating some emotionally draining leadership consulting experiences, but feeling so full of energy. I guess it is that GOOD tired when you want to fall on the couch and eat chocolate, watch trash TV (ie. The E channel) and read trashy hollywood gossip magazines during the commercials. Or is that just me? The only thing that would have made it a better night would be if their was a Hills Marathon this weekend on MTV, but I guess a girl can't have it all can she? I guess I will settle for watching The Holiday one more time...and enjoying a SUNSHINEY weekend in paradise!
No comments:
Post a Comment