Getting to know people better

I volunteer my time with the Charlotte Running Club and having even stepped up to fill the role as President this year. Giving back to the community through an all volunteer organization can be both rewarding and challenging.

The Charlotte Running Club does a lot of good work. We help provide volunteers for races. Members of the club are active across a multitude of community organizations.

The club is just awesome all around.

Working with people can be interesting. This is especially true when I don't know them very well. Our club's board changes every year with potentially 4 to 6 new board members being added.

This year we had 4 new members join our board of directors. Some of them, I knew well. Some of them, I knew through running circles. Some of them, I didn't know at all.

The only way to get to know someone is to spend time around them. This is what I did this past weekend. Each year our club's holds a one day working session. Typically, our club's board meetings last about an hour and occur one time per month. There is very little time for any type of interaction beyond covering the business at hand.

We spent nearly 11 hours talking about many topics affecting our club and changes that we would like to make and things we would like to do. There was also time between these discussions where we talked out ourselves and our lives. I walked away seeing these people in a new way. I liked hearing their opinions and seeing their commitment to their ideas. I also learned more about them as person. Learning about someone helps me understand why they do the things they do and say the things they say. Also I feel like I can better work with them because I am able to better relate to them.

Knowing each of the board members better will help me perform my job better as President.

 

Sharing one thought at time,

The Cool Down Runner