Like noticing you breathe

I sit here now, as we near the beginning of a new school year and look back at this blog.  It has been many months since I have posted and I pondered why.  The answer came after a few minutes. 
We weren't doing 'nothing' this whole year.  In fact we were busy and it turns out that just like breathing, we were leading and teaching leadership without realizing just how much of it can be written about.  Have you ever wondered what you would blog about?  Most people think there is nothing of note in thier lives, and yet, the most popular blogs are about the simplicity of life, everyday. 
The leadership program is just like that!  We are so immersed, so used to, so natural to leading now that we fail at times to identify what may be of interest to others, and in that, we fail to even identify the basics as well.
This realization was nearly mind numbing for me... momentarily.  Now, I suddenly see so many things you need to know, about the program, about leadership, about mentoring, about leading in everyday life. 
A wise person once said the deepest lessons of life are caught, not taught.  Just like with our children, we teach in our actions and words while we are least aware that we are a living lesson for others.  
How are you leading today without knowing it?  When you least think you are leading, you may amaze yourself with the answers. 

Eleven Hundred Torches

"Our eleven hundred torches burn as bright as the rising sun." ~Christie Brungardt

"Jana Lynne Mackey was the kind of woman that inspired others.  She inspired through her words, her song, her actions.  Jana was beautiful, intelligent and kind.  She was an advocate, a friend, a sister, a daughter.  Jana was the kind of woman that would never miss an opportunity to inspire you to create social change.  She was magnetic.  She was a bright spot in an ordinary day.  She was a hero.

Jana’s spirit glowed with the light of 1100 torches. 
It’s time to return the favor."

-excerpt from Jana's story on http://www.1100torches.org/janastory2.html

July 2, 2008 changed everything because on July 3, 2008, Jana was found dead at the hands of her boyfriend.  She may have died a victim of what she had fought so hard against,  but in her tragedy she has become an even brighter light to so many, bringing awareness of the epidemic nature of domestic violence. 

Recently I had the opportunity to share a personal tragedy of the same nature with Jana's mother, Christie Brungardt.  In the course of our conversation, she asked a very poignant question:  "How do we help everyone understand that violence against women is not only common, but prevalent. This equates to a societal public health/public safety issue - which means everyone. But how do we make it real for everyone?"

Answer: We keep working.  We keep trying, talking, sharing, encouraging, railing against the defeats and pushing forward. In that spirit, the new Mentoring Program at Fort Hays State University has selected "Jana's Call to Action" as the organization where The Leadership Brothers & Sisters of FHSU can do their part to help make a difference.  


Please take the time to visit http://www.1100torches.org/home.html
and learn more about Jana's story and what we can do now to make a difference in her memory- and that of all who have been lost to violence- by reaching out and doing positive, good, uplifting, and worthy acts within our community. 

Whatcha Readin'?

Summer was long and hot- begging to be filled with days by the beach or pool with a good book in hand.  The question at hand is this: what did you read this summer?  Did it have anything to do with Leadership?  I have been listening to John Maxwell and his Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, but the other day I picked up a new book by Tony Dungy, the famous coach.  The Mentor Leader.  It has debuted its second week out as #2 on the New York Times Bestseller List. 
Anyone who has read or heard of him knows he is a great leader and has amazing input on how to integrate leadership into your daily living.  This time he is really focusing on the idea that we are all mentors and leaders if we are either at all. 
What do you think about this idea? Can you be a leader without mentoring?  Can you mentor without leading?  I am quite eager to share his ideas with you here and look forward to covering how this ties into the new mentoring program at Fort Hays State. 

Here We Go!

The countdown is nearing the end.  Classes officially begin for fall 2010 in 2 days!  The good news is we are almost ready to launch the Mentoring Program- the great news is the passion and interest shown in the program! Kathy (Nordyke) tells me the staff at the briefing on the program really responded positively to it!  As a member of that group of students who helped to birth this idea, I have to tell you that this support from the staff is a huge pat on the back and encouragement that we are doing the right thing. 

• The website is fully functional now and the interactive forms were so easy to fill out and submit.
• The final revisions on the toolkit have been made and are in for publication on the website- the final step to being 100%!  
• We have more requests for mentors than we have volunteers to fill- that is a fantastic problem to have.
• The staff in the Leadership Department are up to speed and ready to roll with this program.

So now it is time to wrap up those last days of lounging in the sun and get your college brains back in gear.  I know I have been jealously guarding my final days of the summer break- but soon you will see me on here more often with more updates than you can imagine and we will rock this program all semester long.

*raising my glass of iced tea* Here is to the beginning of a great semester and HUGE success in the Mentoring Program at FHSU!

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

Can you believe the summer is almost over already? Neither can I. Time has flown away and I realized it is time to let you in on the secret we have been working on behind our closed office doors!

While you may think the last thing we want to do is sit at our computers when we can be laying by the pool, you are only part wrong. We are so passionate about this project that we eagerly take our laptops to the beach so that we can work on it and get a tan. (Okay, I may be the only one who can actually get to a beach since Kansas is a bit of a drive, but you get the drift!)

So much has been achieved by the Leadership Mentoring Team. Melanie Kich has been up til all hours of the night partying with website creation (now that is the kind of college party I am into! *grin*) You really should check it out. From interactive forms to team bios, it has it all!

Here is where you need to go: http://fhsuldrsmentoring.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

Kathy and I have been quite busy getting forms formatted and creating a toolkit for both mentors and mentees, as well as working on those little things that add up when you are starting a new project.

The best news of all is that even with the short deadline to begin August 23, 2010, we have done it! The team as a whole has been very active and together we have built a program to be proud of. Now it is time to share it with YOU!

Keep up with the blog as things really start to roll now. Don't forget to bookmark this blog as well as the facebook page and the website.

If you are considering mentoring, please let us know right away- we already have a wait list for mentees. If you wonder whether you are mentoring material give one of us a shout- or even better- check out the website- I promise I will help get a quiz for potential mentors on there if it isn't already ( I am serious when I say this team is cohesive, it is like our brains are linked and we are able to anticipate suggestions and ideas like you would not believe.)

Please come be a part of this amazing, fun, passion-filled experience. We would love to have you!

how do you connect shooting stars?

As I began to type today I realized I needed a way to identify what it really is like to connect all these people. It is like trying to connect shooting stars. As soon as you see one and note it, another zooms by, you follow it for a second, look back for the first and it is gone.

So, how DO you connect people in so many different places? This isn't a company that can arrange identical software and fancy media connections. This is a mish-mash of students, stay at home moms, working parents, teachers, travelers... you get the idea.

We started off with Google. I had heard of Google docs and had experienced Google groups before so it was a sensible starting place. It is difficult to find options that do not require downloads and Google kept us free of that concern.

Let me say, Google docs is great and easy for live-time editing. Kathy and I whipped out several documents that way. Sadly though, Google docs does not connect directly to Google groups. It also does not play nice with format translation. So, we had a break in communication and extra steps to share with everyone and track what was up.

Enter Malissa. She told Kathy about www.tabup.com. WOW is all I can say. Does it have a few things we wish were a little different? Yes. Do they really matter in the daily stuff? No. It is free, easy to sign up, doesn't require a certain type of email and holds all that we need in one place.

Within minutes we were up and running, with titles, documents, calendar and to-do list all sporting our mark.

So far we have about 9 documents in the final draft stage, a web page in construction, a blog, a facebook page and a great way to connect those shooting stars.

We are eager to share with you our time lines and progress as we move along- as well as our frustrations, since no road well traveled fails to have moments of distress.
Please comment on our fb page or here and ask questions! I would love to answer a few.

Please Allow me to introduce you....

Many of you reading this will already have some idea of what this project is about. A few of you will know who is involved. Even fewer will know both so I would like to take a few minutes to introduce you to the collaborative team and explain our purpose in really brief layman's terms. I am sure this will help many readers out as I understand we are gaining a following that are not tied to either Fort Hays State University (FHSU) or the Leadership Department there. I am not doing this in any particular order so don't anyone get your panties in a twist. If I have forgotten someone or gotten information wrong, PLEASE let me know so I can adjust the blog to reflect accurately.

Here is our Leadership Mentoring Program Development and Collaboration Team:

First up, we have Christie Brungardt, PhD., Instructor of Leadership Studies at FHSU and teacher of the class that brought this idea to bear. Christie is, in a word, Fantastic. I do want to take a moment and plug her passion now. She lost her beloved daughter to domestic violence and now fights on in Jana's name to establish ground- breaking laws to protect and eliminate this horrible blight on our society by encouraging and promoting a public policy response to domestic violence. You can learn more at www.Janascampaign.com.

Next up, Kathy Nordyke, grad- student, Adjunct Faculty Member, and best of all: Program Coordinator of this project! Kathy is a truly inspired woman with a passion for leadership and she really has taken this to heart, spending countless hours bringing it to fruition. She is one of the students from Christie's class that just couldn't let go of the bond we had created through discussion and learning- thus this project.

Brent Goertzen, PhD., Chair and Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies Department at FHSU and faculty advisor to this project. Brent has been our biggest Devil's advocate- really making us jump through hoops to get things right- because there is something here that is really worth doing right. He is also a great supporter!

In addition to these key players we also have the founding collaborative mentors: Keely Brown, Lisa Lutey, Julie Kelly (me!), Cami Kesinger, Melanie Kich, Lindsey Miller, Alana Riley, and Malissa Streeter, all members of that class who just couldn't walk away from the support they had found in each other.

I cannot even begin to list the additional players in this- all supportive and excited just like us. From professors to students and many in between, they are what helps this to come together.

Now, what ARE we doing and why? We realized that many virtual college students do not get a critical component of leadership studies when they are not present in a classroom. Sometimes a class gels online in discussion boards but more often than not, they don't. We realized how reassuring it was to have found that experience- in essence a peer support and mentoring- and wanted to find a way to share that with other leadership students. So, we are creating a mentoring program to achieve this.

I hope I answered a few questions, gave you a few names to remember and watch for and have piqued your curiosity to keep reading.

Next time: how do you collaborate from farms, cities, colleges, homes, and offices? We tried a few things and finally hit on success!