Executive Director’s Message

For 2022, Dump Out the Buckets

If you feel like me at the beginning of a new year, you’ll make comments like, “How is it 2022?! Where did the last year go?” Rather than doing the same ‘ol resolution statements that last as long as new gym memberships - which fall to the wayside by February - let’s flip it to say we are going to realize the change we want to see.

Realizing means turning a thought into action into reality. You could surmise I’m playing semantics but I promise it’s a different approach. One doesn’t need a new year to make a big difference, and it’s more about mindsets and substantial shifts over time than the limited goalbased ideals. Goals are really subsets of realization. They are steps we’d endeavor to make on the way to a measurable change.

How I’ve been looking at the first step is like my kiddo’s toy room. If you are a parent, then you know what it’s like to just pick up the things in the middle of the floor for months, shoving them into overflowing bins of mismatched items, then have a breaking point where the full cleanout needs to happen. Every item gets dumped out, individually examined for the real estate it takes, and what is useful is kept and what is not is donated or given to friends.

If you’re not cleaning out a playroom, think of it as the shop floor. There are no doubt antiquated pieces of equipment, storage areas of unused items or even people who just aren’t on board with continuing education “cluttering” the workflow. No different to this are the processes no longer serving efficiency or efficacy. Every piece of this is a straight-line equivalent to the space it all takes in your mind. We may not think we “see” those things, but they’re nagging your subconscious. Another visual that’s been repeated in our office is the proverbial bucket of tasks. It’s overflowing, so you just skim off the top. It looks like only being able to address what’s currently a fire that day but never really getting to the body of the load. This is the place to dump it all out. A New Year’s coming gives us all the opportunity for reflection and what we want to see in the change categories of our lives. This is easily a personal discussion, because my experience is that all members of our industry could use some individual attention to work life balance, and categories like family, faith, finances, volunteerism AND career. The regret of many is the lack of meaningful accomplishments year over year, which can lead to depression or at least a negative attitude.

Let’s meet this with our intention to clean out the playroom, dump the bucket, and promise to refill our spaces with realization to bring renewed life, meaning, improvement and excitement. Regardless of the issues this industry is facing, success is not just possible but attainable by all! H&D

Jordan Hendler

(804) 789-9649 jordanhendler@wmaba.com

Check the WMABA website and newsletters for regular updates and reports from the Executive Director’s perspective.