Regional Coordinator Retreat in Leavenworth, Washington

Katie, Kathy, and Trinelle

Tilman and I

Vasilya, Monica, and Rebecca

Caroline, and Elaine

Myself, Michelle, and Mandy

(From left to right) Michelle, Trinelle, Caroline, Mandy, Vasilya, Elaine, Monica, Katie, Tilman, myself, Rebecca, and Kathy

I sound like a broken record, but if it were not for the incredible people with whom I have the tremendous privilege of working, I would not have survived and grown to absolutely love my current position.  It is also not lost on me that the opportunities afforded to me in this capacity are extraordinary and that any morsel of growth I have demonstrated is due to the strength and leadership of those around me.

This group of women have been an endless source of encouragement, wisdom, and grace.  Each and every one of them is so talented that I labor to keep up with their greatness.  Truthfully, I always tell people that I'm really not sure how the universe aligned in such a way that has provided this once in a lifetime opportunity, but that I'm grateful that I was selected among a large pool of applicants, and that I have managed to, despite occasional feelings of inadequacy, hang in for the long haul.

Retreats aren't always my favorite thing.  They usually include some sort of diagnostic tool for identifying areas of strength and of growth, or some insight into why interactions with a particular type of person are more challenging than others.  This time, the tool employed was from "The Platinum Rule" and it categorized individuals into one of four quadrants of leadership: There's the thinker, the socializer, the relater, and the director.  Based on an individual's responses to a series of questions, followed by the assignment of two tiers of personalities, the respondent can hope to gain a wider appreciation of their natural tendencies as a leader and strengths or behavior they're less likely to demonstrate. 

For example, surprise surprise, the responses I furnished resulted in being identified as a relating thinker.  This was of little surprise to me and those around me.  What was a bit of a surprise, not because it didn't feel correct, but because it wasn't something any of us ever thought about with the intention of identifying and labeling our colleagues, was that a couple of people fell into the two categories that were not common to the rest of us.  The majority of us (6 of 8) fell into the "socializer" and "relater" quadrants.  Of the remaining two, one fell into the "director" quadrant and the other fell into the "thinker."  

This explains why I've always sought out those two particular people for guidance.  The "director," in particular, is an individual who has functioned as my professional as well as personal mentor.  Her strengths are definitely my areas of growth.  I wish I had the ability to take a firm stand on a course of action, and effectively delegate tasks to realize my vision.  The "thinker" is someone whom I've always admired immensely for her ability to thoroughly examine every facet of a situation to generate a thoughtful and appropriate response.  In contrast, I generally operate in a reactionary manner- one that by virtue, affords far less time to reflect and, well, think.

It was a productive and enriching retreat and I am looking forward to acting on the goals I set for myself as a result of this experience.