Make a Splash

All day I've been watching as my Facebook has slowly been covered in HOBY.  Status messages have been changed to snippets of why HOBY has changed lives while profile pictures have become a colorful sea of HOBY T-shirts.  Fan pages have spread the message, and the pervasiveness of HOBY in even my "virtual" life has become all too apparent.

In a move initially led by HOBY Ohio West, today through Wednesday have become HOBY Social Media Splash Days.   It's not by chance all my HOBY friends are doing this, it is a coordinated effort to get a little publicity for what may be America's best kept, positive secret.  I think about my own life, and the friends I know who I don't necessarily give the full HOBY "elevator" pitch speech to, and it makes me realize I can still do more to spread the good word.

To steal from HOBY Washington, and offer some of my own favorites:

Raadha
Through HOBY I have come across some of the most amazing people who have inspired me to do more. My HOBY friends have become my HOBY family, they've laughed with me, they've cried with me, and they've all shared the amazing HOBY journey with me and for this, I am incredibly thankful. To my HOBY family, I love you guys!

Nick
was a HOBY ambassador back in 2005 and I met incredible people who quickly became family to me. If it wasn't for my HOBY family, I wouldn't be in New Orleans helping to bring families home. HOBY changed my life, ask me about it!!

Jacquie
Even though I didn't have the opportunity to be an Ambassador at HOBY when I was a sophomore, HOBY - Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership has changed my life by allowing me the opportunity to interact with hundreds of outstanding youth and volunteers who care about making a difference in the world and becoming true agents of change. Wanna know more? Ask me!

Rich
I attended HOBY - Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership in 1984 and it continues to change my life in profound ways. I simply would not be who I am today without it. Stop me and ask me more about HOBY and also check out the website at www.hoby.org!

Dionne
If you don't know about HOBY, I don't know why we are even Facebook friends!

Justin
When I was in HS, I went to HOBY, something I knew little about. Little did I know that it would lead me to some grand adventures and to some of the best friends I've ever had! Without HOBY, I would be less enthusiastic, have less of a positive mental attitude, and know less about the world and the people in it. Also, I'd be a horrible dancer! :) Ask me about it. :)

Learn more at:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135745076490488

In the meantime, I realize my blog has been fairly quiet.  That is not to say HOBY has been quiet -- quite the contrary -- but as I find the motivation to keep a blog difficult to maintain, and the list of tasks keeps growing, finding the appropriate time can be challenging.

We completed our January seminar committee meeting to mixed results.  Good in that I believe enthusiasm to be high, and my team to be on the right track.  However, slightly disappointing in that I feel I always have an energized core of volunteers, but getting the organization to grow is a challenge.  As but one example, Team Alumni applications were not as ample as we expected them to be.  It has not created problems for us, but gives but one more challenge where we will have to reevaluate for next year.

Meeting minutes are available at:  http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150128609755250

In the next two weeks, I have two important meetings.  The first will be with the board this week.   We will have important discussions about where we stand with finances, the AIP project, and overall seminar progress.  I believe things are in good shape, but their input for sure keeps me focused.  The second will be the more novel of the two for sure:  it will be my first meeting with Mount St. Mary's since we reached agreement on our new partnership.  We will be discussing programming details, and hopefully taking a look at some of the new facilities we have access to.

Recruitment is going reasonably well.  We're at 171 which places us 10 away from last year's attendance, and 30 away from goal.  I see these goals as achievable, but these last months are always the hardest.

I have also taken the project of the Career Lunch upon myself as I was not able to ever find someone to lead it; it is much too important a part of our local seminar program -- programmatically if not fiscally -- to simply abandon.  I have sent out initial emails to almost 100 people soliciting interest, including some personal friends who have never participated in HOBY before.  If even one of them were to come join me for the first time, I would consider that a win.

And lastly, in the project that perhaps I find the easiest to come back to time and again if only because of its relative novelty, progress on the Strategic Plan seems to be moving forward slowly but surely.  Our plan is composed, only the nuanced details to be worked out.  It makes for an exciting time that I find myself very pleased of which to be a contributing member.

Yes, HOBY days are certainly upon us.  My hope is like that of which we say of the HOBY message -- that I don't find myself simply making a splash, but creating a ripple that will resonate through others.

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The Strength in Discord

Last Thursday, Maryland's Corporate Board met for one of our quarterly meetings to discuss where we were at and where we were going.  While the major event in Maryland is the seminar, the Board functions to oversee all events, that they are meeting their responsibilities fiscally, and that they represent HOBY well.

While I don't want anyone to think that our meeting was filled with discord (it wasn't), what was perhaps most interesting to me is there were two disagreements during the evening that struck me in the same way that liberals and conservatives might argue in politics:  that there was discussion about what was in HOBY's best interest, a new approach, or a tried and true strategy.   In the simplest sense, what you know works is a good thing, but if you stick to it too long you become stagnant.  New strategies offer opportunities for even greater things, but they also come at potentially great risk or sacrifice.

In this particular case, the first issue was about our recruitment.  HOBY International has a program in place to allow potential alternate students to attend the seminar along with their primary selections.  Maryland has not typically participated in this program, but it was brought before the Board about the possibility because our participation would help increase our recruitment, outreach, and inherent financial incentives.  At the same time, it could decrease diversity in the seminar because of who could afford to participate, and it could change the seminar experience for all.  It also potentially puts greater strain to make sure there are adequate volunteers.

The second issue was about the money Team Alumni are asked to donate to participate at $180 to pay for their room and board.  There was a time where they were not asked for this money -- their place was paid for.  However, it was at great cost to the seminar.   The cost was brought on when HOBY Maryland was financially struggling.   However, now that we are not, are we potentially losing students who would be TA otherwise because they cannot afford the $180?

It wouldn't be appropriate for me in this forum to comment about the Board's decisions, and besides, that wasn't the point.  The point is that the discussion was good for all of us.  It reminded us -- reminded me -- of why things don't just happen.   Why I can't just make arbitrary decisions as LSC.  Why we have "checks and balances."  And it also reminded me that in the path we have chosen for each issue, what the other side is looking for in their concerns -- it gives us the opportunity to address those concerns as they are happening.

Leadership isn't always making everybody happy.  It's about doing something and trying to get a critical mass to follow you.  To work towards the goals you have set out.  They don't have to agree with what you're doing, or how you got there.  In fact, you may even have to push them outside of their comfort zone.  In this sense, together, only then might we achieve the true potential.

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The Balance of Information

Late last week I had to participate in one of HOBY's regional conference calls.  As LSC, I'm practically obligated to be on every one of these calls I can.  I know the schedule in advance, and I try to block off the time so that there aren't items that interfere.  I won't say I make them 100%, but I do my best.

The conference calls are one thing though where it makes me question about where the balance of information lies with my volunteers.  It doesn't make sense to ask my entire team to be on these calls -- the agenda isn't relevant for most of them -- but occasionally I've suggested to my Corporate Board or my key volunteer positions, such as the Director of Recruitment per se, that they join in.  They never have.  On the call has typically only been myself and often Carol, our Corporate President.

Similarly, I look at the things I prepare for my volunteers either because I feel they are necessary, or simply because I want others to have the information should they wish, and I am always left to question how much they might be using that information.  Mind you, much of this I do because of my own love of technology as a medium, but the point is still the same -- do people use it?  The conference call is but one example.  I lump Facebook, Twitter, emails, and all the like right in there too.  I can put the information out there, but I cannot force people to use it.

The challenge is always to keep the flow of information interesting and relevant.  Not overwhelm people with too much (which in all likelihood I do), and craft the information in such a way that people want to pay attention to what you say.  The same is true in every facet of my job -- with my volunteers, ambassadors, parents, and schools alike.

However, despite my own recognition that I must strike some kind of a balance, I know in the end, I'll probably tend to lean such as in the direction of this blog.  To burden people potentially with too much information, and let them choose what they feel is most important, than worry that perhaps they have not gotten enough.

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