Bunnies, what I wouldn't give to be creating my own green job alongside all of our magnificent participants! To have the opportunity to garden and learn at countless hands-on projects... that would make me smile till my cheeks creaked!
Alas, though really it's not at all bad, I'm at least two steps removed from having that opportunity. First, as most know, I'm an Americorps*VISTA volunteer. My time and efforts belong to OMNI. Every moment I use to dig my hands into dirt, or otherwise directly provide service, is a moment when I'm partially shirking my commitment to OMNI. Here's why: As capacity builders, we do everything within our power to build OMNI and its programs' ability to thrive once we're gone. Hands-on projects do provide us with valuable insight into ways we can create capacity, but I've already done all of the hands-on stuff I need to do. After all, I am in my 12th month of service; I'm pretty much an old-hat at this stuff. What I'm saying is, I don't need more hands-on work to know what to do. At this point, every hands-on project I take on is a distraction from the real work I'm tasked with doing. I see the path to capacity; I just gotta keep walking it. Right now, I have three foci: Membership, SoS, and the Website. Any of these, ideally, would be a full-time occupation. If I could put my time into just one of them, I could do so much more for it than I'm able to do now.
Second, I'm a co-coordinator and capacity builder of SoS, not an SoS participant. The distinction between these two/three perhaps isn't clear. A participant receives training, continual assistance, and generally works to meet the requirements of the program and build his or her own green job (and this clearly is a full-time position). A coordinator makes sure everyone's feeling good about their service, makes sure people are staying on task, and generally keeps things running smoothly. This in itself, ideally, would be a full-time occupation. Then, on top of that, I'm SoS's capacity builder. I create training curriculum, scout out and meet with potential funders, expand SoS's media reach, and lots more. I evaluate the effectiveness of existing systems and work to tweak and optimize them, not only ensuring that the experience gets better day by day, but that it also will be absolutely amazing in years to come. This is also a full-time occupation.
So let's count those up. If this were an ideal world, I would be five people. Because when you consider the amount of work that goes into each of these positions, this could easily be five full-time jobs!
This tells me one key thing: Nothing's getting done nearly as awesomely as it could. I sigh a ho-hum every time I think about how much work is NOT getting done on the website, or how much curriculum optimization is NOT happening for SoS, or how much capacity still does NOT exist for SoS, or how little time I have to devote to you glorious SoSers as your program co-coordinator. I'm twice blessed to have Amanda, who shares at least an equal amount of the weight of SoS, but that still doesn't shrink the enormity of what needs to get done.
So I offer this up as clarification, but also as an apology. I should've clarified this earlier. Whenever Amanda and I cannot make hands-on efforts, like visiting the SAF gardens, this is why. Today at 1 PM, Amanda is meeting with a foundation that has the potential to fund the entire 2011 project. Because of having to juggle too many jobs, she has hardly had the time to prepare for this. If she hadn't made the effort to limit herself today, and had gone to SAF, she probably wouldn't have been prepared AT ALL for the meeting, which would have made getting the funding for next next year that much more difficult. It's weird having to make all of these big decisions, but we're starting to get used to it... I think. Heh.
Hope that helps clear up any questions about all of this! We're always available for discussion!
~Ryan
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tuesday Blues, turning to Greens
I'm sure you've heard. NCAT didn't work out as planned. In fact, I don't think the people we were talking to had the same plans. It was a plan taco, and someone forgot the hot sauce. And the shell.
It's kinda funny how life happens sometimes. I was just talking to Manda earlier. We brought up Murphy's Law. You all know it? "If something can go wrong, it will."
That seems kinda morose. I've never seen it effectively countered. So I made up Katherine's Law.
It states: "If something can go right, it will. Vibrantly."
Why this law, stated this way? Well, look at nature. Toss out a seed, and if it's in a place where it can flourish, it will. It'll take so tightly, thrive so thoroughly, that you'll be hard pressed to uproot it. It's tenacious. Like scraggly trees on mountainsides, weathering gale-force winds day in and out.
Basically, abundance is all around us. It's so immense, so common, that we hardly notice it. Abundance, life, and thriving are not unique. Suffering is unique. So we focus on it when it happens. We say, "Golly, that's really crappy."
But it's the exception, not the rule. I think Katherine, that lovely made up lady whose name came from a recent correspondence of mine, has the right of things. Embrace abundance. It's the way of things.
The way I see it, that's like us. This work's gotta get done. And we're the people to do it. We're here, now. We see the path. We have the time, the energy, the support.
We can do this thing, until the entire world eats the right way. Until communities make sense again.
~Ryan
It's kinda funny how life happens sometimes. I was just talking to Manda earlier. We brought up Murphy's Law. You all know it? "If something can go wrong, it will."
That seems kinda morose. I've never seen it effectively countered. So I made up Katherine's Law.
It states: "If something can go right, it will. Vibrantly."
Why this law, stated this way? Well, look at nature. Toss out a seed, and if it's in a place where it can flourish, it will. It'll take so tightly, thrive so thoroughly, that you'll be hard pressed to uproot it. It's tenacious. Like scraggly trees on mountainsides, weathering gale-force winds day in and out.
Basically, abundance is all around us. It's so immense, so common, that we hardly notice it. Abundance, life, and thriving are not unique. Suffering is unique. So we focus on it when it happens. We say, "Golly, that's really crappy."
But it's the exception, not the rule. I think Katherine, that lovely made up lady whose name came from a recent correspondence of mine, has the right of things. Embrace abundance. It's the way of things.
The way I see it, that's like us. This work's gotta get done. And we're the people to do it. We're here, now. We see the path. We have the time, the energy, the support.
We can do this thing, until the entire world eats the right way. Until communities make sense again.
~Ryan
Monday madness
Oh my snickers!
I had a weekend!
Unfettered! For the first time in months! It was, may I understate?, neat.
My weekend, however, required that I commit to a process of redefining my direction. Let me state that simply: I didn't think about tasks for two days. They got hazy. After 4 hours of pittling, and sorta doing stuff, I sat my booty down and got clear.
I wrote, on a sheet of paper, "Website," and then proceeded to list every single task under the sun, moon, and stars I could think of that I needed to accomplish to make significant progress on the site. I did the same for SoS. Now I gotta take some time to prioritize these tasks, put 'em in a timeline, and stick to it. Cause, friend, that's the key. Sticking to what you say you're gonna do.
Ghandi once said, "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems." Ready to change the world? Are we willing to embrace our potential?
I am committed, every day of my life, to trying.
~Ryan
I had a weekend!
Unfettered! For the first time in months! It was, may I understate?, neat.
My weekend, however, required that I commit to a process of redefining my direction. Let me state that simply: I didn't think about tasks for two days. They got hazy. After 4 hours of pittling, and sorta doing stuff, I sat my booty down and got clear.
I wrote, on a sheet of paper, "Website," and then proceeded to list every single task under the sun, moon, and stars I could think of that I needed to accomplish to make significant progress on the site. I did the same for SoS. Now I gotta take some time to prioritize these tasks, put 'em in a timeline, and stick to it. Cause, friend, that's the key. Sticking to what you say you're gonna do.
Ghandi once said, "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems." Ready to change the world? Are we willing to embrace our potential?
I am committed, every day of my life, to trying.
~Ryan
Friday, day of goal development
Amanda and I threw together a Goal Refinement powerpoint, and encouraged everyone to dash through making some spiffy goals even spiffier!
It's amazing how much I've learned from focusing so much on goals. If we have perfectly well developed goals, and a clear direction for reaching them, we can accomplish ANYTHING. I want to share something I wrote to the OMNI Steering Committee, which came out of all this training development. It's a bit lengthy, but I hope it'll be meaningful to ya! Here it is:
Hey!
In my somewhat limited, but certainly intensive, experience, there's no such thing as having too many goals or too big a plan. It's just important to keep two complementary, symbiotic pieces of information in mind:
If we refuse to relent in our efforts to make our goals SMART (http://www.topachievement.com/smart.html), we will achieve our goals. Said another way, if we do not allow the trained organizational minds in our group to get distracted by small-scale action and day-to-day operational duties, they will remain capable of continuously assessing the needs of the community and the movement, and be able to dynamically refine our direction.
Achieving a culture of peace, with justice for all, in a healthy and respected environment is far too complex a goal to approach without an extraordinarily robust plan. It involves billions of minds with in some cases vastly differing priorities. It involves deeply complex environmental systems that we are only beginning to understand. What one person finds convincing and meaningful, another may find offputting and hurtful. Without organized, targeted efforts based on sound data collection and audience selection, and backed up by tight procedural and structural support, woven through lively and mutually empowering social networks, my studies and experience tell me our efforts will never yield more than small-scale, localized, ephemeral change.
If the strategic plan shows us that we need 200 trained, capable leaders, then we make a plan for creating leaders. It's certainly not an easy thing to do (as Amanda and I can attest, through our experience thus far with the youth), but the material's out there to make it happen. In all cases, it's not a question of whether or not we can do it. The answer to this is always "yes." The question is: are we willing to commit to the real work that needs to be done to make this happen? Are we willing to stare our goals in the face, see that they'll take 3 years of 10 to 12 hours days and extraordinary planning and management, and say "I'll do it. But I need help. I don't know how to yet, but I'll find it!"? Are we willing to recognize that our plans may require that we fundraise $200,000 in 2 years to support our efforts, and say "I don't know how yet, but we can do that. Let's figure out how!"?
In a way, this is what Summer of Solutions, made up of OMNI youth, is doing. Every resource we need to achieve our goals is out there, just waiting for us to find and creatively utilize it. It's impossible to write in a single email everything that's needed to make all of our goals achievable (from making goals clear and SMART to running effective meetings to finding and effectively mobilizing resources to cyclically empowering the community to sound data management structures... and on and on), but the materials to guide the development of all of these aspects of a self-sustaining and self-perpetuating movement are out there.
The change we want to see is coming. Because it must. Actions defined as "unsustainable" are called that for a reason. The last question, then, is, how quickly will this change come? Linking back to the beginning, I feel that the more organized we are, the faster we will realize our goals, and the faster and more completely we'll be the change we want to see.
That's my two cents, derived from almost a full year of VISTA work and helping lead the most intense, but rewarding, community organizer training week I've ever experienced. Thanks for giving me a space to speak!
~Ryan
It's amazing how much I've learned from focusing so much on goals. If we have perfectly well developed goals, and a clear direction for reaching them, we can accomplish ANYTHING. I want to share something I wrote to the OMNI Steering Committee, which came out of all this training development. It's a bit lengthy, but I hope it'll be meaningful to ya! Here it is:
Hey!
In my somewhat limited, but certainly intensive, experience, there's no such thing as having too many goals or too big a plan. It's just important to keep two complementary, symbiotic pieces of information in mind:
The bigger the goal, the more time and effort and people/resources it takes to accomplish.
However, the more organized you are, the smaller the amount of time you'll need, and the more manageable your efforts will be.
If we refuse to relent in our efforts to make our goals SMART (http://www.topachievement.com/smart.html), we will achieve our goals. Said another way, if we do not allow the trained organizational minds in our group to get distracted by small-scale action and day-to-day operational duties, they will remain capable of continuously assessing the needs of the community and the movement, and be able to dynamically refine our direction.
Achieving a culture of peace, with justice for all, in a healthy and respected environment is far too complex a goal to approach without an extraordinarily robust plan. It involves billions of minds with in some cases vastly differing priorities. It involves deeply complex environmental systems that we are only beginning to understand. What one person finds convincing and meaningful, another may find offputting and hurtful. Without organized, targeted efforts based on sound data collection and audience selection, and backed up by tight procedural and structural support, woven through lively and mutually empowering social networks, my studies and experience tell me our efforts will never yield more than small-scale, localized, ephemeral change.
If the strategic plan shows us that we need 200 trained, capable leaders, then we make a plan for creating leaders. It's certainly not an easy thing to do (as Amanda and I can attest, through our experience thus far with the youth), but the material's out there to make it happen. In all cases, it's not a question of whether or not we can do it. The answer to this is always "yes." The question is: are we willing to commit to the real work that needs to be done to make this happen? Are we willing to stare our goals in the face, see that they'll take 3 years of 10 to 12 hours days and extraordinary planning and management, and say "I'll do it. But I need help. I don't know how to yet, but I'll find it!"? Are we willing to recognize that our plans may require that we fundraise $200,000 in 2 years to support our efforts, and say "I don't know how yet, but we can do that. Let's figure out how!"?
In a way, this is what Summer of Solutions, made up of OMNI youth, is doing. Every resource we need to achieve our goals is out there, just waiting for us to find and creatively utilize it. It's impossible to write in a single email everything that's needed to make all of our goals achievable (from making goals clear and SMART to running effective meetings to finding and effectively mobilizing resources to cyclically empowering the community to sound data management structures... and on and on), but the materials to guide the development of all of these aspects of a self-sustaining and self-perpetuating movement are out there.
The change we want to see is coming. Because it must. Actions defined as "unsustainable" are called that for a reason. The last question, then, is, how quickly will this change come? Linking back to the beginning, I feel that the more organized we are, the faster we will realize our goals, and the faster and more completely we'll be the change we want to see.
That's my two cents, derived from almost a full year of VISTA work and helping lead the most intense, but rewarding, community organizer training week I've ever experienced. Thanks for giving me a space to speak!
~Ryan
Thursday's blur
It wasn't actually blurry outside; that might've just been my eyes from too much computer work. Amazing how the world takes on the aspect of our perspective. We're far too visual; gotta exercise those other senses, hone hearing and taste.
On this day, Amanda received the now infamous (amazing how hindsight lends clarity) call from Katy. That was the big news of that day.
However, I can't even begin to imagine what we learned from this.
But I break my chronological flow. Let's stick with what was known on Thursday of last week.
May kitties, if you find them intriguing and delightful, cross your path!
~Ryan
On this day, Amanda received the now infamous (amazing how hindsight lends clarity) call from Katy. That was the big news of that day.
However, I can't even begin to imagine what we learned from this.
But I break my chronological flow. Let's stick with what was known on Thursday of last week.
May kitties, if you find them intriguing and delightful, cross your path!
~Ryan
Racing forward!
This is for last Wednesday!
It was supremely busy, as all of these days have a tendency to be. I hardly remember what I did, now that so much more has happened. No doubt the budget earned some nuzzles. I probably put a few flourishes on the website, and perhaps some of the materials needed to manage it.
I know that I interacted with some amazing people, though. Yep, if you're reading this, teammates, that's you. Let's keep this project moving forward. We're like a steamroller... made of fruit and flowers!
~Ryan
It was supremely busy, as all of these days have a tendency to be. I hardly remember what I did, now that so much more has happened. No doubt the budget earned some nuzzles. I probably put a few flourishes on the website, and perhaps some of the materials needed to manage it.
I know that I interacted with some amazing people, though. Yep, if you're reading this, teammates, that's you. Let's keep this project moving forward. We're like a steamroller... made of fruit and flowers!
~Ryan
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
A little late on this second post
Sorry 'bout that! So much to do, so little balance to time!
Yesterday, I braced myself against the whirlwind of activity. I made strides on 3 or 4 website-related projects (wrote a short article for the OMNI newsletter; learned how to "build" a custom paypal donation button; crafted policies for managing the web front page and corresponded at length with people who are working on the website), and created about 5 new documents for SoS (which most of you saw this morning). It's absolutely amazing how much goes into managing a program. When you've got two of them, it's almost overwhelming.
However, I wouldn't choose anything else. How many people can say with assurance that their job is making a real difference? Who else can watch the fundamental changes that need to occur for our planet to survive rise out of the conversation and action he and his colleagues initiate and take?
Sure, it's hard sometimes. But our parents and ancestors made somewhat of a mess of things. We gotta step up and do some things that push the comfort zone.
Challenge, my old friend, let's travel arm in arm. Let's make change happen.
~Ryan
Yesterday, I braced myself against the whirlwind of activity. I made strides on 3 or 4 website-related projects (wrote a short article for the OMNI newsletter; learned how to "build" a custom paypal donation button; crafted policies for managing the web front page and corresponded at length with people who are working on the website), and created about 5 new documents for SoS (which most of you saw this morning). It's absolutely amazing how much goes into managing a program. When you've got two of them, it's almost overwhelming.
However, I wouldn't choose anything else. How many people can say with assurance that their job is making a real difference? Who else can watch the fundamental changes that need to occur for our planet to survive rise out of the conversation and action he and his colleagues initiate and take?
Sure, it's hard sometimes. But our parents and ancestors made somewhat of a mess of things. We gotta step up and do some things that push the comfort zone.
Challenge, my old friend, let's travel arm in arm. Let's make change happen.
~Ryan
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