Chesapeake Environmental Leadership Fellowship: Let the journey continue…

A little history about this blog: I started writing this blog, when I received my Archibald Bush Leadership Fellowship back in 2011.  We were asked to report amongst our peers and larger network in some mode, and I chose a monthly blog.

A quick browse through my posts will reveal a mixture of writings about leadership development, building self-awareness, notes on self-care and balance, as well as articles I’ve written about community-based social marketing and understanding behavioral nudges in order to advance sustainability.

Looking back, it was all pretty abstract to me.  I understood the concepts of effective leadership, I could explain how different strategies and practices might work and why they were effective, but I did not know them myself.

Today marks 3 years since I arrived in Washington, D.C.  I can’t say it’s been the easiest experience.  These last three years have challenged me in ways I could not have expected – some of my experiences out here in DC have left me deeply disappointed, and even hurt.  I’ve questioned my own abilities (and had them questioned publicly), I’ve had to re-affirm my interests and passions, and more than once, I’ve put myself out there only to be beaten back.  I wouldn’t wish these experiences on anyone else, but they have made me stronger and I have grown in unexpected ways from them.

Today, I am challenged, inspired, and feel supported in so many ways.  Montgomery County is such a wonderful place to be working in energy policy. My current work moves rapidly, is evolving every week – it seems a new challenge and opportunity presents itself on a monthly basis, requiring me to re-calibrate my expectations of my time, my abilities, and my goals.  It is both exciting and exhausting.  I also have the pleasure of working with very talented and passionate colleagues and am blessed to have the time and flexibility to also focus on my own health

The lessons I learned through my mentors and my Bush Fellowship have given me tools  to survive (when the challenge is threatening), thrive, navigate, and dig deep.   I have come to know and understand that leadership is indeed a practice and it is one meant to sustain the work, grow the work by engaging others, and take care of myself for that work.  

My MoCo teammates and me at a tree planting

Out of these last three years, in both the inspiring and challenging times, I’ve experienced great reward and richness. I’ve met amazing friends, inspiring mentors, found new things to love, ended up at an amazing job, and learned so much about myself and what I am capable of adapting to. I must say, I am GRATEFUL for it all.

Which is why I’m very excited to announce the next iteration in my leadership path: I’ve been accepted into the Chesapeake Regional Environmental Leadership Program.  Over the next 7 months, I’ll be working with 19 others in small groups, meeting over the course of 3 retreats, to strengthen and hone my skills, vision, and path as a leader (in my own small way) to advance sustainability and environmental issues.  I am excited to have this unique opportunity to learn and (hopefully) grow in new ways, to find new connections in my work and how I conduct my work.

And I am especially excited to take another step to further integrate myself in my new home.  The mid-atlantic/Chesapeake Bay region is still a strange place to me, but I’m looking forward to learning more about the larger environmental community that is at work here, and to learn from them about their vision, and how I might fit into it all.

Thank you to Montgomery County DEP for providing me this opportunity, to my chief/supervisor for his support in this and daily endeavors, to my Bush Fellowship cohort members and mentors, and my Minnesota colleagues (CERTSies!), and family for inspiring, supporting, and still cheering me on.

Like with my Bush Fellowship, I will endeavor to post some updates about my experience.

Let the journey continue…

Energy efficiency and behavior change struggle on…

For several years, I’ve been writing about, working in, or incorporating behavior change methods to encourage energy conserving behavior.

And I guess this post is to say: Don’t let up.  We haven’t gotten there yet…perhaps not by a long shot.

In our bag of goodies, we have new arsenal: thermostats that beg us to interact (such as Google’s Nest), smart meter interval data available at our finger tips (see Pepco’s My Account), home displays that happen on our phone (see the latest example in the news), and games among games to play with our family and community to encourage reducing energy.

A survey from KSVC, a marketing firm that appreciates the challenge of this task, has revealed that we’re not too far from where we were back in 2012.  Essentially they found:

“…higher utility bill is easier to cope with than the price of a solution.”

In other words, we haven’t made it harder to cope with a higher utility bill than implementing a solution (whether technological or behavioral).  “Energy efficiency” in the home is still a technology, not a state or category of behavior.

Still need time to turn this ship around… (by james_wheeler via flickr)

What energy efficiency means to us is:

• 53% – Energy Efficiency means efficient products and/or technology.
• 20% – Energy Efficiency means an expensive investment.
• 16% – Energy Efficiency means conservation.
• 10% – Energy Efficiency means not measurable savings.

Maybe it’s still about the words we use (as I noted from Dougherty’s work several years ago).  KSVC tried using the term “energy saving solution” and apparently we found that to mean something different:

• 35% – Energy Savings Solutions means easy-to-implement, DIY tips.
• 32% – Energy Savings Solutions means financial savings.
• 23% – Energy Savings Solutions means conservation.
• 8% – Energy Savings Solutions means immediate savings.

What does this mean for those trying to nudge greater energy savings out of our community?  We need to continue to find the most salient ways to approach the concept of conservation, find ways to ingrain behavior into habits, and continue to build the social norm by making the invisible visible and sharing stories about one another.  In other words, it’s back to the basics of community based social marketing.

Keep on, keeping on….

Read more about KSVC’s survey and their work at: http://www.ksvc.com/blog/2015/3/5/customer-perceptions-of-energy-efficiency-may-surprise-you

Eating my own advice – Open up, Trust change, Make something.

I was recently asked by a new graduate how I “fell in” to my career and any advice I have for her in her career journey.  These were pretty broad questions, but I began to reflect on the different mantras that I go to when I’m in that place of infinite decisions.  In fact, this inquiry couldn’t be more timely — I am currently transitioning out of a position doing energy efficiency and behavior research and into a management position in county public affairs.  I’m very excited about this opportunity and feel I will be happier working on local issues and gaining new experience.

But this decision was difficult.  This new position means switching to a sector where I don’t know the “geek speak” or lingo, where energy issues may be peripheral, and where my knowledge that Minnesota has 187 electric utilities and how to measure behavioral programs will be irrelevant.  Needless to say, I’m a bit frightened to not be working on energy, I wonder if I will be happy, and whether I’m closing doors behind me.

I was expressing this worry to a second young woman, a high school junior, the other day (I always enjoy speaking with young enviros wherever I am) at a volunteer event. We were talking about career stuff and I mentioned these worries, and she laughed at me and said, “But Michelle, you JUST said — if you’re ever not happy, you can make a change.  You also said that it’s up to you to make the most out of every opportunity.  Listen to your own advice.”

So, this post is as much for the two young women I have encountered this week as it is for me as I embark on yet another change and transition.

These are three mantras that I tend to fall back on when making hard decisions or feeling a bit lost.  They give me instruction on how to act and refocus my energy.

Open doors, as many as you can and whenever you can…
From: This one clearly grew out of my parents, encouraging me to first get all the options at the table and then go from there.  Whether applying to college or exploring career options, expanding a network or going after resources, anytime is not the time to be closing doors.  This mantra encourages me to say “yes” to opportunities to develop new and nurture existing relationships.  Typical professional advice, but taking new meetings and keeping up with your network takes time.

This mantra is a reminder that relationships can’t be taken for granted – your relationships are your doors: to new perspectives, new ideas, new relationships, and new opportunities; that they can end in an instant and irreversibly fade if you don’t make an effort to show you care.  If you’re thinking of someone, let them know.  If you feel grateful for someone, write them a note.  If you are wondering how someone is doing, don’t just think about it, call them up or schedule coffee.  That’s how you keep up with those you care about.  And when you meet someone new, get to know them and follow-up to let them know your enjoyed connecting.

Whether is applications to school or a job, or your network, these are doors of opportunity, learning, exchange, and growth (and even luck?).  Open them, and keep them open.  Without them, you’re just sitting in a dark room alone.

Trust a good change.
From: This one grew out of my own experiences.  There have been times when making a big change was super scary and uncomfortable.  My first serious break up; deciding not to go to graduate school right out of college; this latest career move.  But the lesson was not lost on me.  When faced with being unhappy and too afraid to change, you are resigning yourself to something from the past.  You’re giving into inertia.  I feel like we often fall victim to our own inertia, and that this can limit us in ways we can’t even imagine.

If you’re ever going down some path and you realize it’s not at all where you want to be or should be…or if it’s simply time to go, don’t simply ignore or discount the need to change just because change is difficult.  The best things only come about through change.

Make something from every experience.
From: This mantra is something I’ve built over time. Through trying experiences and helpful perspectives (from The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo and the passage below).  I have learned that while there are a lot of things you can’t change or affect, there is a lot that you can do to make a situation better or worse; and you can get something out of it.  Some people may reduce this mantra to “see the silver lining” but it’s more than that.  This is about creating something out an experience that wasn’t there before.  It means being open and humble enough to see new opportunities, taking advantage of them as they arise, and recognizing that such an opportunity may not come around again for awhile.

This mantra also says you must have the courage to believe there is value in it.

“Faith is the opposite of superstition. Faith means believing in the boundless possibilities of the universe and setting out to explore them. It means knowing that if you leap off a cliff, you’re bound to land somewhere. Faith means trusting that the world is wider and richer than you could possibly see from where you are, and therefore not feeling pressure to plan out the rest of your life from here. You might be better off just sketching a route to the horizon: from there, you’ll be able to make out new vistas and make new plans accordingly.

Heaven help those who make long-term plans today and stick to them, whose lives will never be greater than what they can imagine right now!

Faith means embracing your desire: knowing what you want, that it is good, that it will come true. Faith enables you to act freely and learn from the consequences. Faith is the engine of the self-fulfilling prophecy. It equips you to rely on your intuition and grants you power over your fear… Faith is indispensable for capital-L living.” — Expect Resistance

While this all might seem like blind optimism, it is at times when pessimism and doubt is taking over that this level of optimism is necessary to re-balance our sense of possibility, that when paralyzed, a solid shot of hope is necessary to get up and get moving.

And these are the three mantras that keep me going, like the momentum of a good song or a good hike. Sometimes it’s good to eat your words  🙂

Do you have the lucky attitude of a leader?

The more I am learning about practicing leadership, how we identify it, how we define it, and how we cultivate that practice, the more I see that it’s less about the technical skills (you can teach someone how to budget) and more about the person themselves.  It’s about emotional intelligence (see post) and relationships.  This article “How Leaders Lose Their Luck” from the Harvard Business Review talks about seven traits that make up a “lucky attitude” that leaders tend to bring to their personal development.  Do you have the luck of a leader?

Skating Lessons: An artist date on ice

A couple weeks ago, I wrote that I had begun the Artist’s Way by Julie Cameron, and was trying out free journalling and some solo adventures.  I’ll confess that I’ve dropped some of the “curriculum” laid out in the book, but that I continue the practices which led me this last week back to the rink.  Like other instances I’ve experienced since the beginning of this fellowship, I once again was led in a direction that I never could have anticipated and learned something that I didn’t realize I needed to be reminded of so badly.