One of the first things we noticed about the University of Richmond Law Library staff was how relaxed and collegial they were! It’s not that we don’t encounter relaxed and congenial people in our line of work, but it’s sometimes unusual to see a group of 20 people smiling at eight o’clock inthe morning! What really struck us about our day, however, is just how much the economics of the past several years has impacted everything – including if people even attend law school, and what their employment prospects are upon completion. When you combine positive energy and change, you get great results. In addition to some solid strategic ideas of how the law library team should be thinking differently about its future, the group managed to surface some truly revolutionary ideas. Taking the time to bring a team together to dream is often a useful and meaningful investment. When your team is ready to dream, the investment always has a better return.
Defining leadership (by Carlee)
“What is leadership?”
Of all the questions I’ve been asking this summer (and mind you, there are many), this may be myfavorite. Is it because people give me such meaningful definitions? Yes, but that’s not why I love the question. I love the question because of the look I get immediately after I ask it. Sometimes it’s the look of “how dare you ask me such a thing.” Sometimes it’ s the look of “how in the world am I going to answer this?” Mostly it’s the look I get because for as much of a buzzword as “leadership” is these days, we really struggle to define what it means to us.
Generally, after a few moments of staring off into space, people offer pretty profound, insightful, and very interesting ideas of what leadership is.
I’ve clearly been living in the land of leadership these days at Floricane as I work on my summer internship project to help illustrate the Floricane leadership philosophy and model. I’ve had many conversations asking about leadership with former clients, partners, and friends to help clearly define what exactly leadership means to Floricane.
Lucky for me, Floricane’s Summer of Self-Discovery series is also revolving on leadership this year. In hopes of getting a few answers – and maybe even letting John, Debra and Theron just tell me what leadership is – I was very eager to join the mix at the first session this past week, which did not disappoint.
A room full of people joined in a conversation that revolved around the principles of “The Leadership Challenge.” My group sunk our teeth into the principle of setting the example: how and when should a leader model behavior. When is it better to stop talking and start walking the walk? As one person shared, sometimes being the first to arrive and the last to leave can send a more powerful message than any talk one can give about commitment.
We also heard from other groups on their take on the other principles of great leadership, such as fostering collaboration, taking risks, and envisioning the future. Each group came with unique experiences and perspectives that enriched the principles that Kouzes and Posner offered in their book.
I left the workshop one step closer in my journey to uncover Floricane’s leadership model. As I wrap up my conversations and experience the remaining Summer of Self-Discovery workshops, I’m excited to discover the answer to the question, “What is leadership?”
Don’t Stand In Line (by Carlee)
Last week I was able to shadow an Insights workshop that John and Theron did for YRichmond. Shadowing quickly turned into participating as wefocused in on self-awareness and self-discovery.
One particularly enlightening activity for me explored our tendencies towards introversion or extroversion.
We started the activity in a straight line.
John read a statement. If you agreed with the statement, you took one step to the right. Theron read another statement. If you agreed with that statement, you took one step to the left.
I stepped left.
I stepped right.
I stepped left.
I stepped right.
By the end of the activity, I discovered that the rest of the group was spread out across the room, and I was exactly where I started.
Turns out the statements John read represented more introverted tendencies and the ones Theron read represented extroverted tendencies.
Apparently my personality is a bit confused. Or balanced. For every introverted tendency I identified with, I identified with a extroverted one as well.
At the end of the evening, John challenged us to think of self-awareness as a call to stretch, as an invitation not to be constrained where you are. I realized that maybe it’s not that I can’t decide who I am. Maybe I’ve adapted, stretched, grown, and changed over my life.
Whether you step left or step right, your natural inclination to be one way or the other doesn’t mean that it’s the only place in the room you have to live.
Bird on a wire (by Carlee)
I love Twitter. I think it’s a genius way of sharing information and connecting people. I peruse my Twitter feed multiple times a day. However, inthe past year that I’ve had an account, I have an astonishing 14 tweets to my name.
The same is true of Facebook. As a true millennial, I am a Facebook addict, yet I only post pictures or status updates about once every two weeks. Maybe.
I like to take in information. I like to see what’s going on in the world. When it comes time for me to contribute my two cents on social media, by the time I’ve crafted and articulated my incredibly witty or profound comment, the moment has passed.
When I was asked to write weekly blog posts for this internship, I knew it would be a challenge for me to regularly share my clever and insightful reflections. But I also knew that it was time to join the conversation.
This summer, I’ve seen how joining the conversation is important not just with social media, but also at workplaces, in families, and in community.
Part of my internship is having conversations with Floricane clients, partners, and friends to help illustrate Floricane’s leadership model. I’ve heard about people’s experiences with Floricane and the lessons they’ve learned from the process. From these conversations, I’ve gleaned the importance of how joining the conversation is part of being an engaged and active leader and organization. Part of leadership is inviting others into the conversation: asking others for input, incorporating feedback, hearing what others have to say, etc. It’s welcoming conversations that are challenging and difficult, engaging with others, and contributing to the story.
I’ve learned it’s incredibly easy to remain a spectator. Now, it’s time to join in.
What Price Happiness? (Priceless) [by Carlee]
I had a moment of inspiration this week when a friend sent me this Ted Talk, which asks the question: what place does happiness have at work?
According to Shawn Achor, a pretty significant one. Not only does it make for a positive environment, but your brain actually performs better when positive than when negative, neutral, or stressed. You are smarter, more productive, a better salesperson, and more successful when happy.
Tapping into that potential, into the exceptional, is as simple as choosing to be happy? As choosing to scan the world for the positive? As seeing the world through rose colored glasses?
It seems too good to be true. But if it starts with such easy steps, I think it’s worth taking the 21 day challenge. I’m on day 4, we’ll see how it goes.
The Power of Choice
In college I had a roommate who was obsessed with the TV show 'Friends'. She's the only person I've ever known who actually knew how to set the timer on the VCR so she could tape reruns of the show. She eventually managed to record every episode and would constantly watch them.Over and over. And over.
Chances are you have now been hijacked by my references to both 'Friends' and VCRs. So, before we continue I will give you a moment to refocus.
Ready?
Personally, I hate reruns. Once I have seen an episode, I am ready for something new, for the story to progress. So, when Carlee and I sat down at the recent International Coaches Federation event, I was a little disappointed to see a familiar topic on the agenda. However, I did not leave the event feeling disappointed or as if I had just watched a rerun. Instead, I felt like the information had finally sunk in.
The topic was simple and familiar: we always have a choice. For example, when the little old lady at the grocery store rams her cart into the back of your ankles you can turn around and scream at her, or politely smile and limp away holding back tears of pain. This is a purely hypothetical example, of course. The man limping and crying in the cereal aisle just happened to look like me.
The difficulty in not only making these choices, but also remembering that you have a choice, is that it requires overriding our most primitive of neurological responses. And perhaps that is why the topic of choice is discussed so often; because the rational, logical parts of our brain that understand choice shuts down when faced with a hijack-inducing stimulus. Yet, it is possible to re-wire our brains to see the choices available to us in even the most stressful of situations.
I another life, I practiced and taught emergency medicine. One of the first things you learn is that when something bad happens, you should stop and smoke a cigarette, as the saying goes. In other words, take a moment to assess the situation before rushing in. I always found it interesting that I had the ability to remain calm and rational in the midst of a true emergency, but could become completely irrational in response to a one line email from my boss. I guess I need to smoke more often (metaphorically, of course).
So, the next time you go to a conference or workshop and the topic is a rerun it may not be because the presenter has no new material. It may simply be because we, the audience, haven't learned our lesson yet.
Getting Hijacked (by Carlee)
Like any good organization with interesting and diverse people, Floricane is full of unique idioms, phrases and lingo. When I was recently asked to choose, I had to say my favorite Floricanism is “hijacked.”
I’ve seen it used to describe distraction.
Ex: “Yeah, Carlee, I was paying attention to you until I was hijacked by ::insert any of my favorite Nashville phrases such as ‘Bless your heart’ or ‘Boy Howdy’::”
I’ve seen it used it to describe being emotionally overtaken.
Ex: You’re driving down the road when another driver so rudely cuts you off. Immediately you go into a blind rage or perhaps you use other types of exclamatory remarks ::not among my favorite Nashville phrases::. This can be an emotional hijacking of sorts.
There are many opportunities when our thoughts, feelings, and focus can be hijacked from our control.
Now, forgive me as I hijack the conversation to discuss a recent International Coach Federation’s program on The Power of Choice. The discussion was about the power of emotional intelligence and how we make choices. The particular focus was on those moments of crisis or conflict when we feel before we think. We are vulnerable to emotional hijacking (apparently it’s not just a Floricane phrase) and when it happens, we say or do things that negatively affect those around us. We can lose control and fail to think before we respond. At The Power of Choice program, we were challenged to think about what could happen if we stop, take a breath, and intentionally choose our response in those moments.
When we do this, we choose to pause and respond constructively instead of being emotionally hijacked.
If you’re able to pause in a moment of high stress, then you can take the time to discover the most effective response. Does your response align with who you truly are, with your values or with how you want the world to receive you?
Do I get emotionally hijacked? Of course. However, it’s incredibly empowering to remember that, ultimately, I do have a choice, and I’m able to choose to react in line with who I know I truly am.
Fulton Keeps Rising
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It's been two years since Peter Fraser and I teamed up to tackle a neighborhood building initiative with Virginia LISC. Our six months of working shoulder-to-shoulder with the residents of the Greater Fulton community in Richmond's East End was humbling, educational and fulfilling. I continue to stay curious about the Fulton community, and am always excited when I hear more evidence of continued progress -- a real testiment to the residents, and the team at LISC.
This morning, I attended the City of Richmond's 2nd Annual Business Recognition Breakfast. There were plenty of familiar faces in the room, and some truly fantastic businesses receiving recognition for their success. I have to say that the single best moment of the morning was to learn about Dhakar Dental, which opened a dental office last fall in the medically underserved Fulton community. Dr. Dhakar and his team not only employee six local residents, but they already boast almost 500 patients. There was not a dental office within walking distance for the 5,000 families in Fulton until Dhakar Dental opened.
And that's what makes the work of community building and change so fulfilling.