debriefan online publication of Bridge Builders® Alabama

Skill Building Meetings for Fall 2010

May the Force be with You

Dragons arecoming to Montgomery!

MEET THE VISTAS BRIDGE

BUILDERSRAISE $2,800!

pg. 9

august 2010

augustread all about it2 & 5 Dragon Boat Race & FestivalProceeds benefit Bridge Builders

4 Thoughts and RamblingsMay the force be with you

5 Calendar EventsKeeping up with Bridge Builders

pg. 6

pg. 8

6 VISTASBridge Builders welcomes 3 to help out

8 Food for ThoughtBy Andrew Szymanski

9 Com-pass Points SouthTiegen Kosiak trades snowy winters for Montgomery

pg. 910 Strong Teams

5 Signs of an Excellent Team

11 Call and ResponseBy Jacob Call

3

®

Photos from Bridge Builders Alabama, stockxchng.com, and other sites listed on page.

4

“May the force be with you.” These now famous words were said by Obi-Wan Kenobi in the classic blockbuster Star Wars. Of course, if you’ve seen the Star Wars movies, you realize that the force he is referring to is something good, positive, and meaningful. When we hear the word force used today, it’s not often meant for good. “I was forced to do this...” “He was taken by force...” “I must enforce the rules...” But what if we looked at force as a necessity. What if we thought of force as the only way that positive things could happen? Kurt Lewin, a famous organizational communication researcher, developed the concept of force fields in change.

Lewin basically says that there are forces that drive change or progress toward a goal (helping forces) and forces that drive resistance to change (hindering forces). The difference in resistance to change versus readiness to change lies in how many forces fall on each side. When facilitating change in organizations, schools, communities, etc. the primary role for leadership is to unbalance the force. Leaders need to influence followers to see the reasons to change, strengthen the helping forces in the process. If leaders fail to unbalance the force, the change simply will not occur.

As Bridge Builders, I think “the force” is at the center of what we do. At the conferences this summer, you were given all of the necessary tools needed to bring change into your organizations, teams, schools, and friend groups. No matter how you slice it, change MUST begin with you and your own personal decisions. The force you have access to is one that is powerful, just like the one in Star Wars. Your force might be a little different than someone else’s, but everyone’s force is vital to the overall change happening.

As school begins again and you get back into those regular routines, think about the force you wish to bring to whatever it is you’re doing. Think about what it means to do things with the Bridge Builders mission statement in mind. If you find that things are happening that didn’t before, you’re probably doing something right. Let me know about any progress you make, thoughts on this article, or anything that’s on your mind: tweet me @jgmcfly or email me @ josh.mcfall@bridgebuildersalabama.org. And... may the force be with you!

May the Force Be With You

Thoughts and Ramblings by Josh McFall,

Bridge Builders Alabama Director

Thursday, December 96:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Holiday Party@ BB Headquarters

434 North McDonough Street1 Credit

augustTuesday, August 106:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Back-to-School Junior/Senior Mixer

@ CiCi’s Pizza981 Ann Street

Saturday, August 28Dragon Boat Race & Festival

@ Riverwalk Park**MANDATORY EVENT**

THIS IS OUR MAJOR FUNDRAISER THIS YEAR!

1 Credit

EVENTS CALENDER

septemberSaturday, September 11

6:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.Big Brothers Big Sisters

Fitness Walk/Run ‘10@ The Shoppes at EastChase

7274 Eastchase Parkway1 Credit

Thursday, September 166:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Volunteers needed forBroadway Under the Stars:

Featuring music from Wicked! Lion King! South Pacific!

@ Blount Cultural Park6055 Vaughn Road

1 Credit

Thursday, September 234:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Lecia Brooks, DirectorCivil Rights Memorial Center

“Erase Hate”@ BB Headquarters

434 North McDonough Street1 Credit

octoberSaturday, October 91:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Partner In Education Zoo Walk@ Montgomery Zoo

2301 Coliseum Parkway1 Credit

Thursday, October 146:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.Stephen Boydstun

Troy University“Burning to Serve”@ BB Headquarters

434 North McDonough Street1 Creditnovember

Tuesday, November 911:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Mix it Up at Lunch@ Your School!!!

www.mixitup.org1 Credit

Monday, November 15National Philanthropy Day!

december

5

Bridge Builders Alabama and Rebuilding Together Central Alabama are partnering to bring you a brand NEW event! The Montgomery Dragon Boat Race and Festival will be held on Saturday, August 28 at the Montgomery Riverwalk. The origins of dragon boats can be traced to the fate of Qu Yuan, a renowned 4th c. BCE Chinese poet, statesman, & royal advisor.

Qu Yuan was banished from his beloved homeland because his advice to the king was misinterpreted. Overcome by sorrow, Qu Yuan threw himself into the torrents of the Milou River. Local fisherman raced to their boats to save Qu Yuan. In an attempt to keep water dragons & fish from eating his body, they wildly beat their drums, tossed in rice dumplings and splashed the river with their paddles. Modern dragon boat racing grew from an annual reenactment of this dramatic tale. Today, dragon boat racing is one of the fastest growing water sports around the world. It is visually spectacular, tremendously fun and is widely accessible to nearly any age or level of ability. We need your help to make this event a success! Tell all of your friends about it! Visit the website www.montgomerydragonboat.org! Also, we will need you to volunteer the day of the event! Since this will be our

only BIG fundraiser for this year, we are asking that you plan to come volunteer and show your support for the Race and Festival. Remember, it doesn’t cost anything for you to be a Bridge Builder but we have to raise the money somehow... and what a fun way to do it! We will need volunteers on Friday night and early Saturday morning for set up and registration, volunteers throughout the day, and help with clean up. The actual event lasts from 9am-4pm. If you have any questions, please send an email to Josh.McFall@bridgebuildersalabama.org.

http://www.ps21.gov.sg/challenge/2008_03/coverstory.html

DRAGONS ARE COMING!!

6

MEETTHE

VISTAS

7

Jacob Call Thank you, thank you, good residents of Centralish Alabama for your warm welcoming of myself, Jacob Call, to this new home in Montgomery -- a new home which is approximately 770 miles south and 1370 miles east of my former home. Feel free to do the geometry and find either the length of the hypotenuse or the location of my previous home. You may do both for extra credit. I enjoy (in my infrequent spare time) reading, rock-climbing, Ultimate Frisbee, church, and staying out of Alabama’s ridiculously humid summer days, which make it difficult to climb or play frisbee, as you certainly know. In addition to these activities, I also spend far too much time on Facebook, Twitter, and other online resources. Please feel free to Follow (twitter.com/glotof ) or Friend (facebook.com/jacobbuildsbridges) me if you want to stay in the loop with this most excellent Ambalamba adventure.

Andrew Szymanski Hey y’all! For those of you whom I didn’t meet at this year’s summer conferences, my name is Andrew Szymanski and for the next year I will be working in the Bridge Builder’s office. I came to Montgomery by way of AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), a program that places people with non-profit agencies across the nation. I can honestly say that I never imagined myself working or living in Alabama but I couldn’t be more excited that I am here. I grew up in a small town in northeast Massachusetts called Topsfield where I attended and graduated from Masconomet Regional High School in 2004. A lot of my friends made decisions to stay in New England for college but I wanted something different, so I applied and was later accepted to the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!). I really enjoyed the change of scenery, culture, and temperature at UGA as well as the football and all the other fun things that I got to experience in a new area of the country. I was a Speech Communications major at Georgia and very involved on campus through a variety of philanthropic clubs and intramural sports teams. I finished school in December of 2008 and had to make a decision about what the next step of my life would look like. I have always been interested in non-profit work, which is how I ended up here in Montgomery (Fun-Gomery as some say). AmeriCorps VISTA is basically a domestic version of the Peace Corps and a lot of what VISTA’s

work towards is combating poverty in our country. There are all sorts of programs people can do with VISTA from working with refugees, Native Americans, inner city children, or people who want to make a difference in their community like y’all. I was drawn to Bridge Builders because it serves a different purpose than putting food on someone’s table or rebuilding someone’s house. Bridge Builders works towards changing people’s minds and opinions about others that are different from them. I am very excited about the upcoming year and I hope y’all are too and remember that this is a very unique program that you are a part of! We are going to be putting a lot of hard work and effort into all of the skill building meetings throughout the year so I hope everyone can attend the required number of events to continue with the program. But, I would really like to encourage all of you to go beyond what is required and attend all of them if possible, or at least close to all of them. Dr. Seuss once said, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.” That is what I am asking from you this year, to care a “whole awful lot” about this program and your role in it. In closing, Jacob, Tiegen, and I are all new to the Montgomery area so please, please, please let us know of any and all events that you may be participating in this year. Whether it’s at school, community centers, or religious institutions, we want to be there to come support y’all. We are up for anything and would really enjoy seeing your teams, musical or drama performances, or community service projects this year. I look forward to a wonderful year with y’all and I’ll be seeing you at the Back to School Junior/Senior Mixer at Cici’s and also at the Dragon Boat festival at the end of the month!

Tiegen Kosiak (tee-gun cozy-ak) Hi there, Bridge Builders! I’m so excited to be in Fungomery, Ambalamba. I’m originally from Minnesota and, contrary to popular belief, it does get hot up there, just not like this! Y’all don’t mess around with the humidity here, do you? Juniors know me as a purple facilitator. Seniors saw me lead the Archives, but what many of you may not know is that I’m an Americorps VISTA volunteer who will be working with Bridge Builders full-time this year! So any time you call the office, you can ask for me. And when the office isn’t open, you can shoot me an email at tiegen.kosiak@bridgebuildersalabama.org. I’m here to make your year super fun and rewarding, but y’all gotta help me out by showing up and showing off your positive mental attitudes!

8

Every month you will be hearing from Bridge Builders through our columns in the Debrief Magazine. It is an opportunity for all of us to share our thoughts with you and give you a better idea of who the people running your organization are. I love food. I mean I really love food and even more so cooking food for others. It is amazing to me, how self expressive food can truly be. I often times find myself inviting people over to try some new creation of mine or sitting in front of the TV analyzing every dish the Food Network puts out. Food can tell you a lot about a person’s background, culture, and socioeconomic status. A lot of my love for food comes from my mom who always made sure that the family sat together for every dinner. She would come home from work and prepare dinner every day of the week. At the time I used to think it was a drag, I much preferred eating while watching ESPN or while on AIM (do people still use that?) but my mother insisted that we eat dinner as a family. We ate foods from all over the world, Italian, South American, German, Polish, even good old American comfort food. Every Thanksgiving since I was born, my family has hosted the dinner at our house because my mom loved to host others. Usually the days leading up to it were chaotic, my dad making breads and sides and my sister and I helping out where we could. I learned a lot from my mom and in my later high school years began to enjoy being her assistant. Food is the centerpiece of any holiday whether it be a Thanksgiving Turkey, a Christmas Roast, or an Easter Ham. Fourth of July… Barbeque, hot dogs, and hamburgers. But what about the division that is created between people who have and don’t have food. There are people who can’t feed themselves three times a day and there are people that

will have days they do not eat at all. According to the Food Research and Action Center, 49.1 million Americans struggle to feed themselves on a daily basis. Of that 49.1 million people, 16.7 million are children age 18 and under. That is an unbelievably scary statistic to me. I’m sure some of you have experienced hunger or know people that have experienced hunger but what as Bridge Builders can we do about it? So much of what we do is empower ourselves to be better leaders for our communities and the state of Alabama so my answer is to get involved. As Bridge Builders we should be seeking out opportunities to better our community. Just because a community service event is not sponsored by Bridge

Builders, doesn’t mean you can’t wear your t-shirt there and volunteer.

You all have access to me and the rest of the

Bridge Builders staff who can help

connect you with a variety of organizations in Montgomery that specifically address the issue

of hunger in our community. No matter where you are, remember

to stay active in our

community. I hope that

over the next year you find

my columns informative and hopefully entertaining at

times. I encourage everyone to challenge

themselves over the next year to keep an open mind and learn about our city. On

that note, I leave you with a quote from my favorite President, John F. Kennedy, “Never before has man had such a fantastic capacity to control his own environment, to end hunger, poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and human misery. We have the power to make the best generation of mankind in the history of the world.”

By Andrew Szymanski

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

9

COM – PASSby Tiegen Kosiak

Last Saturday night, I saw a band downtown. As we were rocking out to “Dixieland Delight” my housemate squeezed my shoulder and asked, “Three years ago, did you ever think you’d end up in Montgomery, Alabama?” Three years ago I was a client services representative at a post-production firm in New York City. I answered phones and ordered food and picked up coffee cups, all in the hope of someday burrowing my way into the film industry. I worked thirteen-hour days, through lunch breaks, and over weekends in order to ensure that the people behind the commercials were well fed and properly caffeinated. I remember running ten blocks in the dead heat of August to fetch a chicken sandwich for the writer of a Verizon commercial because he didn’t like the Mexican food we had ordered. And that commercial was never even made. “No,” I told my housemate. “Three months ago I didn’t think I’d be here!” Three months ago I was a teaching assistant in the English department at Minnesota State University Moorhead, which is just a bridge away from Fargo, North Dakota. After two years of blizzard-heavy winters, I was desperate to move somewhere warm, so I visited the Americorps website and clicked on the state search bar. Alabama was first alphabetically.

Mere hours after I applied to Bridge Builders, Josh emailed me. The

following business day he offered

me a position over the phone. I wanted to accept on the spot, but figured I should play it cool, think things over. That mentality lasted a little over twenty-four hours. Without knowing how much I would make or where I would live or who I would meet, I said yes, enthusiastically. I officially moved to Montgomery on July 11. And though I make far less money than I did in post-production and work far more hours than I ever did as a professor, I’m so happy. It’s a joy to go to work every day and know that I’m doing something that, as corny as it may sound, makes Montgomery a better place. Thank goodness for my internal compass that has led me down this warm, historical, Southern path.

Way to go Bridge Builders!

New to the program this year was the student letter writing campaign. This spring, Bridge Builders wrote letters to friends and family asking for their support of the program. The Classes of 2010 and 2011 raised $1,125 from this campaign. The Class of 2012 raised $1,675 for their efforts.

The monies raised will help sponsor 3 students in the program. Thanks so much for all of your support in this letter writing effort! We couldn’t build bridges without YOU!

-Burton Ward, Development Director

Photo from www.americanloggers.org

* Building Teams * Employee Engagement * Leadership * Strengths-Based Development * Workplace

by Tom Rath and Barry ConchieAdapted from Strengths Based Leadership (Gallup Press, January 2009)

Gallup has been studying leadership teams for nearly four decades, and we have witnessed some telltale signs of strong, high-performing teams:

1. Conflict doesn’t destroy strong teams because strong teams focus on results. Contrary to popular belief, the most successful teams are not the ones in which team members always agree with one another. Instead, they are often characterized by healthy debate -- and at times, heated arguments. What distinguishes strong teams from dysfunctional ones is that debate doesn’t cause them to fragment. Instead of becoming more isolated during tough times, these teams actually gain strength and develop cohesion. One reason great teams are able to grow through conflict is because they have a laser-like focus on results. Top teams seek out evidence and data and try to remain as objective as possible. As a result, while people may have different views, they are united in seeking the truth. Team members can argue, but in the end, they are on the same side. In sharp contrast, failing teams tend to personalize disagreement, creating territorial divides that continue to grow.

2. Strong teams prioritize what’s best for the organization, then move forward. While competition for resources and divergent points of view exist, the best teams are able to keep the larger goal in view. Members of high-performing teams are consistently able to put what’s best for the organization ahead of their own egos. And once a decision is made, these teams are remarkably quick to rally around it. One team we worked with had a long, drawn-out debate over whether they should invest in a major new idea. After months of intense discussion, it would have been easy for John, who technically “lost” the argument, to sit back and sulk after the decision was made. Yet the exact opposite occurred. Like other great team members we have studied, John got over the debate quickly and asked, “What resources do you need from me to

make this work?” Once a decision is made, members of great teams rally around to help one another (and the organization) succeed.

3. Members of strong teams are as committed to their personal lives as they are to their work. The best teams we studied seemed to live a contradiction. Some of the most productive team members work extreme hours and endure amazing levels of responsibility. They sometimes work 60 hours a week and travel frequently. Yet they consider their lives to be in balance. They seem to have enough time to do the things they want to do with their families. As hard as they work for the company, they seem to bring the same level of energy and intensity to their family, social, and community life. When we interviewed Standard Chartered’s Mervyn Davies, he told us that he takes as much pride in the amount of time he spends with his wife and two children as he does in his bank’s extraordinary performance. While this may seem surprising to an outside observer, Davies described how he strives to dedicate 100% of his attention to his family throughout the weekend. Davies extends this philosophy to all of his bank’s employees, always encouraging them to put family first. Our evidence suggests that the most successful teams have members who are highly engaged in their work and highly satisfied with their personal lives. By setting this expectation, which so many others perceive as unattainable, they attract new members who want to do the same. This high level of engagement then sets a powerful example for the entire organization.

4. Strong teams embrace diversity. Our work with the leadership teams of some of the most innovative and successful companies in the world reveals a simple truth: Having a team composed of individuals who look at issues similarly, who have been the product of comparable educational backgrounds, and who have experiences with similar track records and approaches is not a sound basis for success. The most engaged teams welcome diversity of age, gender, and race, while disengaged teams may do the opposite. Our research shows that leadership teams need a diversity of strengths -- ideally, including individuals who demonstrate a balance of strengths in different leadership dimensions. But diversity goes well beyond team strengths. We have also discovered that the most engaged teams welcome diversity of age, gender, and race, while disengaged teams may do the opposite. For example, Gallup’s research revealed

that actively disengaged team members are 33% more likely to plan on leaving their job if they have a manager of a different race (when compared to having a manager of the same race). However, when we study engaged teams, people are actually a bit more likely to stay with the company if they have a manager of a different race. So whereas a disengaged employee is more likely to quit his job if he has a supervisor of another race, an engaged employee is less likely to leave under the same circumstances. The most engaged teams look at individuals through the lens of their natural strengths, not at physical characteristics. This keeps the team focused on the potential within each person and minimizes the influence of superficial barriers.

5. Strong teams are magnets for talent. Another way to spot a strong team is to look for the teams that everyone wants to be on. For some people, it may be hard to understand why anyone would want to join a team that works longer and harder and that comes complete with sky-high expectations. This is especially true when these “it” teams are characterized by intense competition and extreme accountability for results. Yet despite all the consequences and pressure, it is your potential stars who most want to be on these teams. They see top teams as the most stimulating place to be -- the place where they can demonstrate their leadership and have a real impact. Instead of being intimidated by the challenge and responsibility, they seek out these teams. As former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan described in a leadership interview with Gallup, building a strong team within an organization requires the same basic ingredients of a successful soccer squad. Annan encourages the teams to “play in a coordinated manner,” but he is quick to point out that should not exclude “individual brilliance.” Annan explains that as long as the brilliant ones are pulling with us toward the same goal, this individual talent actually strengthens the collective team. As a result, successful teams often have an organization-wide influence. Building a strong team requires a substantial amount of time and effort. Getting the right strengths on the team is a good starting point, but it is not enough. For a team to create sustained growth, the leader must continue to invest in each person’s strengths and in building better relationships among the group members. When leaders can do this, it allows the entire team to spend even more time thinking about the needs of the people they serve.

10

What Strong Teams Have in CommonThe 5 sure signs of an excellent team

11

hoy and salutations, fellow Bridge Builders! My name is Jacob P. Call, and before you ask, no, the P doesn’t much stand for anything. At least not anything important. Feel free to guess what it is though -- the closest wins a prize. And, of course, as we all know, the best prize is a surprise, so no asking questions about what the prize is. However, you are allowed to ask me any other kind of questions you’d like -- after all, I am here for you. Perhaps in future editions of this periodical I can cover some of your questions and my answers thereunto (which I cannot do without you asking them, SO GET ASKING). Bridge Builder-esque topics would be most preferable (and most likely to make the column), but they’re not required. Anyway, I am getting away from myself. It happens far too frequently. Let me see, what is good to know? I like apostrophes, semicolons, compound/complex sentences, adverbs, conjunctions, and most other grammatical particles or punctuation. One of my passions in life is teaching, while in conjunction with this I try to follow Mark Twain’s possible adage to “Never let your schooling interfere with your education” (I say “possible” there because there is no actual evidence Twain ever said that;

however, since Twain himself is imaginary . . .).

Call and Response

. . .I try to follow Mark Twain’s possible adage to ‘Never

let your schooling interfere with your education’ (I say “possible” there

because there is no actual evidence Twain ever said that; however, since Twain himself is imaginary . . .

A

Another thing you should probably know about me is that I am obsessed with accuracy, especially as it pertains to historical materials. History was my primary field of subject at University, and it was the primary thing I taught when I was working in a junior high. Yet when I taught review labs for college students, History was never the official topic (even if it came up far too often). My interests are as diverse as my hairstyles: my collegiate course work covers the gamut from Ancient Near Eastern Religion to Jazz Improv, Youth Leadership to Beginning Gymnastics, and

Comparative Government to Sex Ed. In my life I have also worked as a nanny, a cook (Andrew Szymanski is better than I, before you ask), a teacher, a preacher, a custodian, a chauffeur, an editor, and several other things which are not so easy to summarize. Ergo, I know a little about everything important, and much more about the completely useless. You should know, though, that I am not as good at being meaningful as any of my esteemed coworkers. Please forgive me. Any other stuff you would like to know? Perhaps “Why did you start each of these paragraphs with the same first

letter?” What about “Which skill-building activities in the upcoming semester will J-J-Jacob be in charge of?” Maybe, “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” or “How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?” (to answer, “The Mongols would hoard all the boards the Mongols could hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored” and “Seven cord feet”, unrespectively). For this time and right now, I am signing off, but until next time, remember -- if you step on a Cheerio, does that make you a cereal killer?

“”

By Jacob P. Call

Tuesday, August 106:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

981 Ann Street

Saturday, September 116:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

@ The Shoppes at EastChase7274 Eastchase Parkway

1 Credit

Back-to-School Junior/Senior Mixer@ CiCi’s Pizza

Big Brothers Big Sisters Fitness Walk/Run ‘10

®

Please plan to pay for your own meal.