Response 4: Making a Change in the Community

This week, I made substantial progress  and large contributions to our efforts toward improving the Community Garden. I have been given the primary responsibility of fostering a greater sense of community, communication, and connectedness within the Community Garden. This week, Rob really let me take control of the project and trusted me to (almost) independently plan two events and create a weekly newsletter. I was given the freedom to reach out to a local gardening organization, Tricycle Gardens, to plan and coordinate a garden tour and intro to gardening workshop for those interested. I was able to hone my communication and planning skills and felt very empowered and comfortable with these responsibilities. Rob gave me consistent encouragement throughout the process and let me make decisions on dates/times/details/etc. Additionally, I have been tasked with planning our July garden potluck, which I have been able to do almost independently. This has allowed me to hone my event planning capabilities, communication skills, and management skills. Lastly, I am very excited to have learned a new skill/competency by using MailChimp to create what I think is an awesome newsletter for the gardeners this summer. This gave me an opportunity to explore a more creative side that I didn’t really know I had, and I’m very excited to make this a weekly task. I feel great about the final product, and have received a lot of praise and compliments for work I didn’t really know I could do before.

The atmosphere that is created in the office, which allows me to take on these responsibilities relatively independently, is mainly a product of Rob’s leadership style. He certainly has a transformational leadership style and puts a large emphasis on cultivating valuable, mature relationships between all colleagues and those we work with externally. His communication skills are top-notch, and I have been able to watch and also experience first hand his ability to communicate effectively, even in times of conflict or other obstacles. He has the ability to sit back and delegate tasks, while placing a lot of confidence and trust in us. He truly values an atmosphere of support, and this gives us all the opportunity to take on real responsibilities and make real contributions.