Monday, September 20, 2010

Leadership Longview Retreat

I made it into this year's Leadership Longview Class. I'll admit that I knew nothing of this program and was told about it by my boss at about 1:30 pm on a Friday afternoon when the application deadline was 5 pm that day. However, this is such a neat program! The mission of the program is to strengthen and transform the community of Longview through a program of leadership development, community study and involvement. Our class of 25 will meet once a month for 'classes' where we will learn about the different areas of community such as education, criminal justice, health care, etc. In April, we have to complete a class project that benefits the community. A past example is raise funds and construct a playground. However, looking at past projects, 90% of them are playgrounds of some sort. I hope our class can 'think outside the box' (something we heard over and over on our retreat) and do something else for the community. Not that playgrounds for underpriviledged children is not important, but I feel like we are tight-casting ourselves when we could reach others/more in the community. Regardless of the project, I hope that I can be vital participant in bringing it to completion.

So, enough side-tracking on the project. The program kicks off with a retreat at the Lakeview Methodist Conference Center down in Palestine, TX. It was a two day event where we had lots of team building exercises, activities on the ropes course, and getting to know one another. I was excited about going. I had never been to LMCC, but did do a ropes course in Buffalo Gap in college and had a good time. However, I admit to being apprehensive going in. I wouldn't classify myself as a leader. A good worker bee, yes! Tell me what to do and I'm on it and won't stop till I drop. However, I am an introvert, which is not exactly conducive to being a leader. I can sometimes struggle with being thrown into a new crowd and building connections. Especially, when so many times there are always those people who have very, ummm, strong personalities so to speak. However, I was pleasantly surprised with this group. I adored everyone there! True, I didn't get to know some of the people as well as others, but we all seemed to get along so well.

On Friday, we started the day with learning everyone's names. Our facilitator had a great game of going around a circle, saying your name, a descriptor word with the name, and an action to go along with it. I was Jumping Gina! It really did help to learn everyone's name so as silly as it was, I was so glad we did it. The remainder of the day was mainly spent in the classroom doing activities to learn about leadership skills, etc. We also did the DISC behavioral analysis. No news there on my behavior. I'm dependable, responsible, patient, slow to change, and kind, but hate conflict and will do anything to avoid it or tolerate it.

It was interesting going through all of the different exercises. We'd be give a set of guidelines to complete a task and then we had to complete it. I am so NOT an outside of the box thinker and it's amazing how I get in my head what the rules mean and when someone wants to do something differently than what 'I' think the rules mean, it was quite an inner struggle. I kept thinking, 'you can't do that! That's not allowed!' But in reality, the rules didn't say we couldn't do something a certain way, I just interpreted them that way. So while I struggled with many of the activities, it was so good for me. Although, in the end, I still wanted 'the answer.' What's the answer to do this task the best, quickest possible way. That's the engineer in me :) Overall, it was great to be reminded that my way is not the only way and that there is more than one way to accomplish something.

Friday evening, we got to go to the Texas Winery. This is a tiny little winery outside of Palestine owned by the Hernandez'. Such a cute, interesting couple who bought the land when they retired and have slowly built it up. We sat outside on a large 'porch' tasting wines, eating cheese and fruit, and chips and salsa and having a great time. It was really a nice evening, but boy was I happy to hit the sack at the hotel. I was out!

Saturday was ropes course day! We did low ropes in the morning in which many of the activities I had done before...but differently of course. Then, high ropes in the afternoon!! Ugh! I had been staring at those cables all morning. 28 feet IN. THE. AIR. Have I mentioned that I am NOT a heights person?! All of this was optional, we were not pushed into anything we didn't want to do. However, we were encouraged to step safely beyond our comfort levels and try something new. I put on my harness and helmet and thought that was a pretty good start! There were a couple different options to get to the top: rock wall or cargo net and then a series of tight rope walking across logs, wooden ladder, and cables. I opted for cargo net. I kept letting others go before me while I tried to pep talk myself. Once it was my turn, I started up the cargo net. Once about half way, things started feeling high and I began to tremble. I just kept telling myself, one step further, just make it to the top.

Once at the top, I had a BIG decision to make, come back down or go through the next three series of obstacles before making it to the tower. If I decided to go on, well then, you were commited since there was no more dynamic cables to get you down. I desperately didn't want to be a chicken so I somehow talked myself into it. The logs terrified me, the ladder I felt a little better, and by the last calbe, I felt fine. Funny how that worked! However, at the tower, I still chickened out at the zip line. Sigh. Maybe someday. I'm disappointed in myself for not following through all the way, but I did go further than I thought possible. Baby Steps!

All in all, it was a great weekend. Loved the activities, loved the people, loved the idea of this program altogether. It's refreshing to be a part of a group that wants to be involved and make a difference. The many other organizations I am a part of are dying because no one wants to step up and take responsibility. I'm anxious to see how the remainder of our year goes and what project we plan to take on. I definitely think we have the potential to be the best class yet!

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