True Collaborative Culture

The highlight of this week was going to one of our buildings, and working IN-PERSON with the Mission Advancement Team on some work. We currently switched databases for where we store our constituent’s information and had to get together to discuss a default for how we want to address our constituents in emails, newsletters, on envelopes, etc. and work together to plug in all of that information onto the new database. I was looking forward to meeting the newest member of the team who I hadn’t met yet. Once we all arrived, we jumped right in. The culture of VSH shined through. When I’ve talked to other VSH employees I’ve heard a lot of them talk about the organization being collaborative and open.

I felt a bit nervous at first about inserting myself and sharing my opinions, especially since it took a lot of question-asking to fully understand the task at hand. I pushed through my nervousness and asked the necessary questions. I was then able to participate and contribute a lot to the conversation. I felt very invited to ask questions and provide input. We spent hours just bouncing ideas off of each other and really unpacking the task at hand together.

When we landed on some set rules for addressing our constituents, we went straight to work on revising the database. We had a list of names and split them up evenly and got to work. Some of us were faster than others, but we all worked together and helped each other when needed. As a younger person that grew up around electronics much more than the new member on the team, I got the hang of the task pretty quickly. The new team member even asked me for help and allowed me to explain how I grasped the task which ended up helping her a lot.

I was impressed that the values the organization speaks of are truly visible. I got to witness and be a part of the true collaborative attitude that so many organizations talk about having. I realized that this true collaboration will be something I value highly in my next job and in my career.