Our very own Deborah Smith has begun her leadership training through LHR here in Harrisonburg Virginia! Founded in 1979 this program strives to encourage aspiring leaders to grow in communication skills and encourage community involvement through monthly sessions. We are incredibly proud that our introverted architect survived a full day of team-building activities, and learned and retained more names than ever before thanks to the help of those games!
The first session of the program was held at Horizon’s Edge and focused on team building within the cohort and identifying qualities of good leaders and teams. The day was filled with group activities that helped everyone get to know each other and also taught lessons on communication, working in large and small groups and leadership. The activities ranged from rock, paper, scissors tournaments where everyone that lost had to cheer on the winners (Deborah won a round!), to building towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows (she also won!).
Throughout the duration of these activities, it was important to listen and understand the leadership style of every single person involved. While some were more naturally inclined to step forward to lead the group, others held back while still offering helpful advice on how to improve strategy. Overall these exercises proved just how important it is to make your entire team feel heard and appreciated, especially through group challenges. Afterwards, the teams sat down and reflected on their core values and discussed how vital small and large decisions can be to the end goal at hand.
I had the pleasure, for the second time this year, of attending the Young Architect virtual conference. This conference is different from most industry-related conferences as it focuses more on personal and professional growth rather than architectural materials and assemblies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvi2JOoAE0M
We learned about productivity tips and tricks, mentorship, personal finance, how to tackle procrastination, marketing, communication, and study tips and tricks. One particularly gripping keynote was given by Seth Davis, a recently licensed architect who advocated to run from your problems. His talk was about how he went from not running a 5k, to running a 50k in three months and the strength and determination it took to keep running. At one of his stops on his ultramarathon, he was advised by a nurse to “beware of the chair” as many runners would take a quick break and jump right back up, but those who sat too long might not make it to the finish line. This was a poignant reminder to not get comfortable, challenge yourself, and just keep running.
There were panels on architects making a difference, diversity, alternative careers, and designing a support group. One of the panelists on the making a difference panel was Andrew (Ace) Houston who is running for mayor of Seattle. He reminded all of us that architects have a unique perspective that is well suited for public service. Another panel featured a group of five young mothers from across the country who met during a virtual study group and who have continued to champion each other as they passed the exams, became licensed, and launched their own businesses. This was a great reminder that while balancing motherhood and a career can be tough, success is achievable, especially if you find like-minded people who can lift you up and encourage you to keep going.
The conference is made, however, by the networking events sponsored by Amber Book and hosted by Marli Williams. These networking events provide a unique way to virtually network with other professionals, and they work even better than in-person events for this introvert. At in-person events, it can be daunting to look at a room of people and try to determine who to talk to and how to introduce yourself. Marli takes care of that by giving prompts before sending everyone into breakout rooms of 3-4 people. You don’t have to figure out who to talk to, and you don’t have to insert yourself into a conversation, as the prompts allow time for each person to speak. The final networking event of the conference deals specifically with establishing goals and setting up accountability partners. This way, you can take the things you learned during the conference and apply those things to personal and professional goals. You are encouraged to take a screenshot of each room so that you know the names of the people you spoke with and can follow up with them later. Instead of exchanging business cards, all attendees are added to a directory that allows you to follow up with them on social media, or by e-mail. I have already added a number of people to my social media networks so that I can check in with their goals and stay accountable to my own goals.
Now that the conference is over, the learning doesn’t stop. The sessions are recorded so now I have the opportunity to go back and revisit sessions that were particularly helpful, or sessions that I missed due to work emergencies and childcare issues. I have already signed up for the 2022 Winter Series to continue on this path of personal and professional growth.
The energy and positivity of the diverse group of attendees are exactly what I needed to refresh and revisit where I am and where I plan to go in my career. I’m thankful for Gaines Group Architects who recognizes that the firm is only as good as their employees, and who sponsors opportunities for us to continue our education through conferences and in-person events like this one. According to Charles “We have to keep learning, evolving, and working on our craft and ourselves to best serve our clients.”
This past weekend The Gaines Group team had the privilege of supporting the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) through some competitive mini-golf. Everyone was thrilled to get out of the office and enjoy the sunshine while learning who could really talk the talk and walk the walk.
Architect, Deborah, wiped out the whole team and accepted the title of ‘Gaines Group mini-golf champion’. Marketing Executive,Matty, came in a close second, only knocking her ball into the pond once. Golf-pro/ Architect, Charles, came in third, not being able to back up his pre-game smack talk. And finally, Interior Designer, Maggie, shocked us all with a record of 3 shots into the waterfall with a final score of 78 strokes.
I have decided that this coming year I am going to do 365 intentional acts of kindness. Please join me in making our world a little brighter for others. #rocktownresilient #365actsofkindness
This year has been filled with a lot of negativity and challenges. On a personal level, I know I am blessed to have enough, maybe even more than enough. I did not go hungry. I have a home. I have stayed healthy. While work slowed tremendously for a few months our small business is surviving. While 2020 was filled with negative things, there were lots of silver linings and blessings.
The opportunity to work from home, spending more time with my girls this year, is incredible. I am still able to serve my clients and be with my family more than I ever imagined possible. The interactions I have had with friends this year have been special, whether through zoom or distanced in-person. Not having the ability to see anyone anytime makes the few meetings much sweeter. There have been so many positives in this year.
Finding ways to support others this year also has brought me incredible joy. Rotary Club of Rockingham County has not had in-person meetings since March and many of our service projects were cancelled. However, that did not stop our #serviceaboveself. I was fortunate to be able to deliver meals once a week to First Step on behalf of our club for a couple of months. I participated in a food drive for Our Community Place, cleaned up a highway, picked up trash along blacks run near Purcell Park, helped hand out food to Harrisonburg school families, and planted tulips at First Step and NENA Community Center. I supported local business by eating at locally owned area restaurants once a week at least and showing love to the servers and delivery drivers.
I also wrote positive online reviews for local companies, donated to local fundraisers and food pantries, purchased music and swag from local bands, and sent notes of appreciation to essential workers. I have tried to remember every day to wish a Happy Birthday to friends on Facebook and have sent out more thank you notes and gift cards this year than any other year before. I helped install solar panels at Eastern Mennonite School in a solar barn raising project. I found places to help others by creating online resources for home schooling, researched and published tips to make buildings safer, and created stress relief coloring pages. I also created amonthly young professionals networking group and hosted monthly education sessions for other architects. In order to support the local arts community I designed an outdoor stage that was used by both EMS and Harrisonburg High School.
I had not thought about all the good that these actions were doing for me until I watched this Ted talk that Nadia posted to Facebook.
So now after seeing this video, I am going to be intentional this coming year about putting #serviceaboveself. I will pledge to do #365actsofkindness over the coming year. Please join me and help spread kindness through the world and bring yourself happiness through action.
Join us for a SWEET Pints for Polio event at the Harmony Square Dairy Queen located at 1755 Virginia Ave. Harrisonburg, Va. This event is a fun way to treat your family and support Rotary in their fight to eradicate Polio worldwide. Just show up and buy dinner and a medium (PINT) blizzard for everyone in your entire family and bring your friends too!
Harmony Square Dairy Queen has generously offered to make a donation based on % of sales between 5pm and 8pm on October 22. Lets fill their restaurant and enjoy doing good in the world together.
Polio is a crippling and potentially infectious disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis.
Harmony Square Dairy Queen is located at 1755 Virginia Ave, Harrisonburg, VA 22802.
History of Rotary
Rotary International is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business professionals in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. It is non-political and non-sectarian organization open to all people regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, or political preference.
Blogging and Social Media use for the Construction Industry is an interesting topic for me that continues to evolve in how I see it. Social Media in our industry is brand new to some even today, a waste of time to others, and old hat to many. I used to do presentations on how to do social media in our industry years ago to help builders create an online brand. I was thinking about how I use Social Media this week a few different ways. What is Social Media etiquette? What blogs do I need to write? How personal should I be on my blog that has been in existence for 10 years – can I change direction on content? Am I adding to the noise in life or adding value with my blog and monthly newsletter?
Earlier this week at our Rotary meeting someone mentioned in passing that they followed me on Twitter. They were required to start an account for their job and don’t really use it, but followed me since they know me. He also mentioned that he was impressed that I have so many followers. It was an interesting comment since I don’t have many followers on Twitter compared to many that I follow. When I started my Twitter account ten years ago it was a lonely place – not many locals had heard of it or were using it. I basically used it to read the morning news subscribing to specific sources for the stories I wanted to hear. It was a way to filter information for me. Deb Van Horn and I used to have Tweet-Ups locally where we would invite the dozen or so local people we knew on the platform to lunch through the platform. It was a fun way to get to know people that we had only met virtually in some cases. Ten years ago Twitter was for me a calm place with the ability to create groups and build relationships. Now it seems there is simply too much information there to ever feel caught up leaving me not to use it as often or as much. Twitter’s growth locally reduced the usefulness for me somehow.
Facebook for me started as a way to connect to friends from the past. I eventually started a business page and now manage a couple of non-profit pages as well. The platform continues to change the way information is shown reducing the free views for businesses. It is a struggle for me to keep the pages all fresh with interesting content knowing that FB is throttling the views because I am not paying to “boost” them. However, it seems you must have a Facebook account as much as you need to have a website to be in business.
The amount of information that is available through blogs and social media can be or IS overwhelming. How you use those pages to benefit your business continues to evolve. For me there are questions that need to be asked on a regular basis to understand your audience and stay relevant. Where do you look for trusted and manageable amounts of information in the Construction Industry? How can you digest and share the right amount of information to stay relevant? How much should you share from your experience?
I have been doing online marketing for 10 years now. I have worked hard to stay authentic, build trust, and to stay relevant. My blog posts range from projects to building science to personal life stories. I have built a brand that people recognize in our community. I have readers and supporters of my work across the country. It is gratifying to see the work pay off. However, I continue to wonder how to improve. What should I write about next? How can I get better? Is there a better way of doing this online work? Am I being a good citizen online, in the construction industry?
