President’s Message

FROM THE CONGREGATION PRESIDENT

Tanya Solomon I am lucky that I can work a paying job that I genuinely enjoy. I work as an assistant manager at a retail clothing store, and what I enjoy about the job is so much more than just selling clothes. Every day is different, determined by who walks into the store and what they need. I have an extremely limited amount of time to make a personal connection with each customer, find out what they are looking to accomplish, and then make that happen. All the while I must balance the desires of my customer, manage my co-workers, and set expectations for both customers and staff. As I go about this, I must follow the rules of the company and understand its data which drives the sales. If I expect everyone in the store to achieve a certain goal, I must first break that goal down into manageable segments. Then I must communicate how to achieve those segments and offer feedback on how to improve them by analyzing the interactions my salespeople have and showing them how to learn from the successes of everyone else. To achieve positive results, I find that it is best to lead by example. I make sure everyone understands that although each stylist needs to do the best they can every shift for their own success, that success is for the good of the team. We need to work collaboratively for the good of both the client and the business. If the store does well by doing this, we all share in our success. Over the years, I have learned many things related to retail business from my company - how to read sales reports, how to determine the data needed to drive the store’s business, product knowledge, efficiency, and how to see the big picture just to name a few. However, many aspects of the job cannot be taught - enthusiasm, willingness to learn, how to be an ambassador for the company, authenticity, honesty, and compassion. Those are qualities which each person brings to the job and if a potential team member has those, we can teach the rest. I have found that so much of being President of the synagogue is the same as my retail job. I came into this volunteer job with enthusiasm, willingness to learn, wanting to be an ambassador for the congregation, authenticity, honesty, and compassion. I have learned many things over the last years (and truly, all my time on the Board of Trustees) how to read our budget, how to set expectations, how to balance communication and collaboration to work as part of the team. I have found that, just like at my store, when our lay leaders, staff and the congregation all come together aiming for success, we cannot help but grow and change for the better. I have often said that my theme for the two years of my term has been to “live our mission, together”. Never have I seen that carried out more successfully than in the last year- our staff have not missed a beat going from physical to digital offerings with lay leader support, and we remain committed to meeting the spiritual, educational, and social needs of our members in an all-inclusive manner. Our youngest members are learning in religious school and having fun while doing tikkun olam in USY. Our young families are coming together through parents’ night out events, family Shabbat-on-demand and ”crafternoon” activities. Our adult education and general programming have never been more successful. Morning and evening minyans are thriving, holidays are being celebrated, and we are now returning to the building for Shabbat mornings. As president, I have had a limited amount of time to lead by example, but as a board member, executive committee member, and soon a past president, I can see the big picture and continue to work towards our community’s successes as we grow and change. I continue to work collaboratively with staff and lay leaders for the good of each member of this community. And finally, I have learned more about being a leader to take back to my “real” job to continue to improve and grow there. It has been my honor to serve as President of Congregation Beth Shalom and to serve all of you. Tanya