Work With Me!

I recently asked three elected officials what it takes to effectively work with council. Part of the reason was to build a resource for the community leaders in ACE Communities, and the other reason was to hear responses from people who sit in that position. The responses were meaningful, specific, and realistic. I realize feedback from three elected officials across Alberta is only a very small snapshot, but it does provide a glimpse of how residents can contribute positively to the relationship with council. In any case, I have paraphrased the councillors' wisdom here.

Three messages stood out with the feedback from councillors: benefits, KISS, and relationships.

One councillor discussed sharing information with councillors in terms of benefits. Outline the pros and cons of the proposal. This included costs, resources, impacts, length of progress, and other pertinent information.

It was pointed out that the council is a diverse group of individuals and people may not be an expert in the situation presented to them. This means working with administration to ensure all the background information is shared and any documents forwarded clearly provide the benefits.

What about KISS? This does not mean to literally kiss, but rather to "keep it seriously simple". Be mindful that some councillors are part time, but all councillors have a tremendous amount of material to read and sift through. The tough advice to follow is to keep written and oral presentations short, concise, and clear with the needs and recommendations.

Last, but certainly not least important, is to build relationships. Tips to do that was to "pick up the phone" and share, as well as invite council to meetings or to be a representative at the meeting. If a councillor cannot attend a meeting be sure to share the outcomes, agenda, and minutes of the meeting. Remember that relationships work both ways and the councillors want to share their point of view.

Working effectively with elected official can potentially be every one's job, not just residents of a particular interest group. After all, every resident has the opportunity to vote for a member of council and it is important to know what each council member stands for. When working with council, it really means looking at building relationships in the community and bridging the gaps between stakeholders.

Lasting words to share from the elected officials: "Remember that councillors are just like you with some often tough decisions in front of them."

"I Skateboard AND Vote"

For those of you who know me will realize I am NOT speaking about myself! I noticed the "I skateboard and vote" statement on a bumper sticker while driving in Edmonton. That statement caught my attention because it reflects an important civic responsibility: voting.

There can be some assumptions made that the driver, or at least, the person who stuck the bumper sticker on the car. The person who mounted the sticker may be under 25, but that is not for certain. In any case, a lot can be interpreted about the statement.

Perhaps the driver is sending a message about judgements. How do we judge a skateboarder? Do we think that they don't vote or care about their community because of the leisure activity they participate in? Do we think skateboarders are only young people? If so, does that mean they don't vote? Do we automatically equate youth to not voting?

Maybe the message is to make a stand that leisure for youth is important in communities. Youth skateboarders who pay attention to local politics could help create the stand that leisure is important to quality of life and vibrancy of a community. Youth can be connected to elected officials and share their insights about leisure.

What if the message is about valuing youth more and sharing with youth the importance of voting in elections? Voter turn-out for most age groups is decreasing steadily in Canada and this decrease does not set a positive role model for youth. The bumper sticker statement could be setting a standard for others. The standard could be that while it is important to have a healthy, active lifestyle, it is equally important to take responsibility in the community by voting. A person of any age could get to know their community by attending speaker series at voting time or chatting with elected officials.

Whatever the message the bumper sticker owner is sending it has definitely made an impact. Here I am blogging about the sticker and hundreds of Edmonton drivers have read it and will read it.

A bumper sticker about leisure and voting- at first it seems quite a disconnect, but when dissected I believe the two activities go hand in hand.

What Do You Love About Your Job?

When I interact with people I often like to ask the question "What do you love about your job?" I not only ask my friends, family, and colleagues but also the people who provide specialized services to me. I ask this question because I think it helps me get to know people better. I also learn more about other people's jobs. However, what I have discovered is that often people learn something about themselves when they answer me.

Some people have been so surprised about my question. One person told me that in all his years of work no one had asked him that question. Another person hesitated because she had never thought about it. However, she did answer me in the most thoughtful, meaningful way which showed that she was making some internal connections about her work. Others easily shared a wide range of answers.

I believe a part of leadership skills is being aware of our passions. It is part of that process of self reflection and personal check-in to discover how we are doing. Everyone self reflects in different ways and at different times, but I find it helpful to make the time to do this.

Working with communities I have seen so many people doing what they love: working with people at a community level. The jobs may have different titles, the tasks will be diverse, and the job descriptions or volunteer positions varied. However, it seems that the main focus of the job is helping people increase their quality of life.

What a passion to have: contributing to the quality of life in the community. Those contributions and passions have the opportunity to be powerful in the most positive ways... Keep doing what you love!

The Dog Park

A recently discovered "bumping place" in my community is the dog park. Apparently, it is the place to take your dog to learn to socialize, exercise, and play. Our new puppy, Lupa, loves it as do we- a tired, exercised dog is a happy dog!

It is an interesting culture at the dog park. For the first few weeks we knew the names of the dogs, their breed, age, gender, allergies, idiosyncrasies, and other tidbits of information. However, we didn't know the names of the owners! Over time we did begin to learn the owner's names. Dog owners have a routine of either walking the perimeter with their dog, playing with their dog in the middle of the park, or standing near the entrance to watch the dogs interact. I like to interact in a variety of ways in order to maximize my dog's experience. Now after taking Lupa to the dog park for about three months we are having great conversations about something in common with others: being a dog owner.

Having a dog park as a "bumping place" had never crossed my mind. I initially considered the dog park for just exercising the dog. Now I see it as a place to interact with other dog owners and learn more about dog behaviour. I look forward to our "outings" to the park because it is such a social place, for both humans and dogs.

This particular bumping place is special because the city had the foresight to utilize a piece of property that could never be developed. This foresight met the needs of a particular segment of the population. The park is oval, fenced in, has plenty of parking, and is lighted as a result of the commercial properties surrounding it. This means even after dark dog owners can frequent the park. City planners have recently spoke to dog owners to find out how a dog park can be built even more effectively.

A bumping place in any community is a place to be side-to-side with neighbours and have opportunities to interact. Often these bumping places, or gathering places, will be a place where people share a common interest or have the potential to discover differences. These bumping places can blossom into a chance to develop relationships that may forge into a particular community focus or initiative.

There are many stories in our own communities where these bumping places have brought together a group of people. These connections have often created initiatives, a movement, or a project in a community to make communities an even better place to live.

Take the time to seek out a "bumping place" that fits for you in your community. Or, create one yourself! You will never know what may transpire! After all, it is up to each of us to help contribute and create the quality of life we want in our neighbourhoods.

What Are Your Daily Bookends?

"What bookends do you have to start and end your day?"

This was asked of a crowd of over 200 people at a conference. The motivational speaker was addressing how we enter and exit our day. Do we have a positive, reflective approach to our day? Do we view our day with gratitude? How do we answer someone when they ask "how are you?" The speaker continued to share special stories about the ways people answer that question. Some answers included... fabulous, phenomenal, super, terrific, awesome, and stunning. Other stories were funny, uplifting, and priceless.

What stood out for me during the dialogue was that even though I have heard this message before, it is one that I often minimize or not pay attention to. Building gratitude into my daily "bookends" is and should be a natural part of my day. Sandwiching my day between thoughtful and meaningful approaches would guide me to ensure I am consciously aware of the day's events.

Community leaders often build gratitude into community development planning. This "gratitude" is reflective of looking for growth and learning opportunities, building on strengths and successes, sharing stories, and being attentive to volunteers. A "go-for-it" attitude is often part of community success and many communities have benefited from community leaders with this style.

Bookends are not just meant to hold up books. Bookends can be used to withstand the pressure of the day- heavy or light. Applying a reflective, positive attitude toward the day can help build gratitude in what we have done in our communities, no matter how small something may seem.

Have Some Attitude

On one of my recent neighbourhood walks I met Happy and a man with some attitude.

What struck me about this man was his positive, fun attitude. As our dogs met each other briefly the man told me about his ten year old dog. He named him Happy because the man received the dog on his birthday which was on New Year's Day. He thought it would be the best name for the dog as it reflected a "happy day" in more ways than one. I thought this example of attitude was priceless because the man's attitude was very uplifting.

Since then, I looked up the word attitude, and depending on which dictionary is used, attitude generally means "a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways."

This means that it is all up to us; it is up to us to have the attitude that we can accomplish what we want. I once had a co-worker who had a lapel pin that read "attitude". She picked it up at a workshop that focused on having a positive attitude towards anything we do. Often when we hear someone has attitude we think of a "bad" or negative attitude. But, this is not always the case.

When I hear about the stories in rural communities and how amazing activities and changes are happening I know it is because of people's attitudes. Rural communities already have a unique make-up and culture of their own, so having attitude to reflect that is not surprising. The "can-do" attitude has kept many rural communities alive and focused on the values that hold them together. With many influences affecting rural communities the attitude does shift a bit, but it still comes down to the values reflected in rural communities that hold them together.

Attitude is a good thing to have. When people have an attitude of collaboration, breaking down barriers, and focusing on the aspirations of the communities then we have communities that thrive.

I believe it is known that a postive attitude is contagious. If that is true, then the attitudes of positive community building is really spreading in rural Alberta.

Neighbour Power!

NEIGHBOUR POWER was a chant that was heard throughout the evening at an Edmonton Neighbourhood Strategy meeting with guest speaker Jim Diers. Diers was creating an atmosphere of food, fun, and storytelling around how communities are utilizing the strength of their neighbours to move forward.

Hearing the "chant" reminded me of one of my childhood shows- Seasame Street. Seasame Street just celebrated 40 years of being televised. The famous song "Who Are The People in Your Neighbourhood" is quite a trademark of the show. However, that song is quite powerful with its meaning for all ages, not just preschoolers.

Who are the people in our neighbourhood? When was the last time we said "hello" to a neighbour? We will only know who our neighbour is if we become active and engaged in our communities, at whatever level works for people.

Diers pointed out some key elements of community:

• having a common identity
• doing something at a manageable scale
• having key gathering or "bumping" places
• having a vehicle for collective action
• having the power to care for one another
• having power to demand justice

These key elements create a vehicle for bringing people together and moving forward to make communities a better place to live. It can start with two, three or more people, but the important piece is not one person can do it alone.

Diers goes on to say that we need to start where people are- in their own backyard. This is often where the block parties and other such neighbourhood events begin. From here, networks begin to flourish and people's passions can be tapped into.

We need to remember that each one of us have gifts from the head, heart, and hands, but they just look differently for some people. Sharing and building on our gifts can benefit not only ourselves, but also our communities.

Take a moment to chant "neighbour power" and see what happens... you might be surprised.