Taking Villager Training By Storm
Vast amounts of information and updates flow between various groups in a large organization like ours. For this reason, there are elected leaders in each residential neighborhood in our community, who serve as the communication liaisons between the people who live here and the people who work here. We call these villager-leaders Village Council Delegates. Not all Village Council Delegates have previous life experience with such responsibilities. Some are born leaders, possessing natural abilities to take a leadership role. Others may not be so confident in their leadership skills but still willing to take on the challenge.
Residential Living Administrator George Turner heard last year that Council Delegates and various committee heads would appreciate some refresher leadership and communication training. He shares: “They wanted a clearer understanding of what is expected of them when communicating to their neighborhoods.” As is the custom at CKV, we looked inward first to see who could best take on village leaders training. George quickly came up with the perfect resource: Melanie Storm, our Staff Education Coordinator. A 28-year veteran at CKV, Melanie jumped at the chance. “This was a unique opportunity for me, quite a change of pace,” she says.
Village Council Delegates, committee leaders from dining, building and landscape, wellness, mentors, finance, and other areas were encouraged to attend the one-hour training this past fall. Of the 60 villagers invited to the initial session in our Theater Classroom, three quarters attended. “It’s different teaching villagers,” Melanie shares. “They show up early, they stay late, and they ask many more questions than team members usually do. They’re eager and engaged to learn.”
The topic of the first session was Gathering Accurate Information. Melanie shared tips on how to act like a pollster when gathering data from fellow neighbors, explaining that non-verbal body language and one’s tone, cadence, and inflection could (yet shouldn’t) influence opinions. Sometimes we may intentionally or unintentionally sway someone to agree on a particular issue. “Instead, we want to create impartiality on the part of the leader,” says Melanie. “If you want valid data, you’ve got to be consistent.” Melanie recalls some of the students having aha moments, always a good thing during such a presentation. “Self-awareness is step one to practicing fair information gathering and sharing.”
Village Council Chair Larry Rohrbach attended the first training and recalls, “Melanie did an outstanding job in making us more aware of how we may come across to others, be it verbal or body language.” He said they used role playing to show the importance of stating who you are, the group you represent and what you are trying to accomplish. “She got us thinking about how we ask questions when seeking input from others.”
“We are hoping to do another training in the spring as a follow-up to this one,” says George. “Then hold sessions annually in the future to train those new to council or to a committee responsibility.” Further modules are expected to cover more topics. Living in a close-knit community during a polarized and partisan age, we know that there’s intrinsic value in people that cannot be defined by or limited to their opinions. Melanie and George’s collaboration helps neighborhood leaders understand the importance of their role in fostering harmony throughout the village and ensuring that everyone feels safely heard.