Monday, May 25, 2015

LAA

November...

  • graduate NCCC 
  • find a job from November - June with state parks?
JTCC

Finish my assossciates by taking one class. Graduate Spring 2016.


Virginia Tech Fall 2016

The Conservation and Recreation Management Option prepares students to be the managers, planners, and program administrators who deal with today’s complex conservation challenges. Courses in ecological, natural, and social sciences, planning, tourism, and business management, are combined with a deep understanding of recreation resources. Graduates pursue careers in government and non-government organizations as well as commercial recreation and green businesses.


OR


Cape Cod Conservation
11 months program in Cape Cod, MASS. Biweekly stipend, car required, housing/food provided. 

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Figurehead v. Leader

As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next the people hate...
 When the best leader's work is done the people say, "We did it ourselves!"


I've been reading Up The Organization recently and that paragraph stood out to me. Recently I've had my leadership style questioned and I've taken a step back and self-reflected on what a leader is to me and what I'd expect out of leadership. There have definitely been times in the last two months where I had no idea if what I was doing was "right" or if my team would be the most "successful" during our first round...but looking back I think it's important for me to acknowledge that the definition of successful isn't rigid, it's adaptable. What is "right" for my team changes monthly, sometimes weekly, and maybe even daily. I think in terms of success my team has surpassed any expectations I've had, they've taken what I've given to them and cultivated into a culture of positivity and growth.

They've never been bashful in telling me when I needed to change something or if something I was doing wasn't necessarily the best for team growth so I feel very confident and hopeful they'll continue to keep me in the loop!

I may not have always made the "best" decisions or done everything "right" by other peoples' standards but as far as I'm concerned I feel like I've put my all into the team and they've given it right back to me. I see their productivity as proof that what I'm doing is working. There are many ways to lead and it has taken me a while to come to terms with my style and it's always changing/evolving but I always feel supported from staff and my team. I'm so proud of my members on Oak 3. I was warned when applying to be a team leader that I'd feel isolated and lonely a lot of the time; however, I haven't had that experience. Sure there has been times when I was lonely and felt like I was alone..but those times didn't last long and were brought to an end when a team member invited me out or included me in something. I'm very lucky to have a team that's so open and inclusive. I feel like I'm getting more out of this experience personally than I thought I would. Coming back to NCCC I thought I knew it all...turns out I didn't. My team has taught me just as much if more not than I've taught them.

I've been thinking a lot about my team and how we've been doing in terms of my leadership and their team work. Our first round is coming to a close, 18 more days! I look forward to our second project as much as I did this project - I have a feeling it will be challenging just as this one was but hopefully we'll continue to grow together.  I feel extremely positive about our work with this sponsor and hope that my team can reflect on this experience and see the good and the areas of improvement within and proceed from there. We have a good basis and are only going up from here.


Saturday, March 28, 2015

LAA

It’s so weird thinking about Life After AmeriCorps during first round however this year is already FLYING by...this is all tentative and in the moment but here it is:
November 2015
  • Graduate program
  • buy car
  • register for last class at JTCC
Simple enough...then it gets tricky!
School v. Traveling
School
  • VA Tech
    • The Conservation and Recreation Management Option prepares students to be the managers, planners, and program administrators who deal with today’s complex conservation challenges. Courses in ecological, natural, and social sciences, planning, tourism, and business management, are combined with a deep understanding of recreation resources. Graduates pursue careers in government and non-government organizations as well as commercial recreation and green businesses.
  • work at VA state parks Summer 2016
  • Save money...go to tech Fall 2016
Travel
Job goals
  • Outward bound intern
  • VA State Parks 
  • NCCC

Sunday, February 15, 2015

some pictures from TLT








over the course of the last few days I have come to such a deeper level of understanding and appreciation for team leaders, as a corps member I had no idea what you guys were doing! The magical balance of looking confident and carefree while juggling the knowledge that you have 50 things to do that were due about a hour ago...

Monday, February 2, 2015

Storms make trees take deeper roots

I haven't had the motivation or energy to update this throughout team leader training (TLT) it's been super hectic. Typical day is 6am-6pm which is just the scheduled trainings, that doesn't include homework, presentations, team bonding, cooking, shopping, basic human needs, etc. It's a super busy time...but glad to report that I feel like I still have my head above water. 

A lot of interesting topics have been introduced, discussed, and reflected upon. My favorites have included the hands of peace training, member management, supervisory skills, and some leadership discussions/videos we took part in during a team building Saturday.

Hands of peace focuses on conflict resolution, team building, active listening, and over all respectful communication. I love it because it isn't the magic class to open up lanes of communication but I believe it was one of the first times team green opened up to one another in a healthy way. I statements although tough to use do come into action a lot more than previously thought. The main point I've taken away in the past week or so is that when I'm upset 9 times out of 10 it isn't the person it's the action. When addressing issues it's important to maintain a separation between the action and the person. The action doesn't define the person. Instead of saying "Sue is disorganized" you look at it from the view point that "Sue struggles with organization" thus changing the tone of "blaming" to a tone of understanding. I think this is such a huge important note to keep in mind, especially when dealing with people from different backgrounds. People don't necessarily have malicious intent and even though we have a common goal we all have different ways of achieving that definition of "success." It's just been a huge factor for me and my relationship building thus far. I hope to maintain this mentality though out the year.

Another concept that was introduced and I think is important to reflect on is the definition of "leading" and the difference between a leader and a manager. I feel like it's such an important topic to reflect on and try to keep in mind when deciding how to approach issues that may arise on my team. It's a concept I'd like to look into more some time...I just find it interesting. I also like the concept of the first follower's role in any situation. To define the first follower it's the first person to agree or support a concept which eventually leads to an influx of "followers" thus a movement is made.
Leadership lessons from dancing guy

Those are just some topics that I've taken away and really appreciate thus far. Members arrive on the tenth of February.  Oak is doing solid, we're growing closer every day! I feel very confident and happy with how everything is going right now.
Except maybe the two feet of snow we have outside right now - that sucks pretty bad but I'm managing via tunnels.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

OAK

Unit reveal was yesterday and I was so happy to find out my unit is indeed Oak! I am so happy to continue my working relationship with that unit leader and continue to push myself to become a strong leader..it helps to know my supervisor sees so much potential in me.
It's getting progressively more busy as we delve deeper into the policies and scenarios but I'm still enjoying myself.
I feel like I cannot say how amazing team green is enough. Everyone is so open and supportive about everything. I really appreciate this environment which is the exact reason I wanted to come back to Vinton so badly. The environment really just adds so much onto this already amazing program.
It's still snow on the ground here, I keep seeing people in Virginia posting about "freezing" and I keep seeing that schools/businesses are closed - bunch of sissies :p Y'all should try to get with this Iowa weather...it's ridiculous

Anyway to sum it up...
busy
happy
Oak

Friday, January 9, 2015

TLT

Team Leader Training. Week 1.
It's been like half a week but still it feels like it's been a whole week! It's been cold, snowy, and busy.
Training from around 730-5. Drug testing/tetanus testing. Reading policy books.

I arrived around ten on Wednesday and pretty sure this is the most snow I've ever seen in my life...first day I went to Alco and proceeded to fall in the snow. Day one falling in snow. Good start, right?

But it's going really well! Everyone is very kind. We find out our units Wednesday - super excited!

That's really all now...