I took a long time to decide on how to approach my report this year – my 20th AGM. I usually spend time talking about the high points of the year, the achievements and accomplishments, the great and good things we did.
Many good and amazing things did happen this year - However 2019 took a dark turn right off the bat on January 3rd. And we started down a difficult and often devastating path. As I tried to wrestle all that this year has thrown at us I came to see it in terms of POWER. As with many things POWER has both positive and negative connotations and we have faced both aspects of POWER this year. Come with me on an exploration of our journey alongside POWER this year.
POWER OF ALLEGATIONS
An allegation is a story someone believes to be true. But an allegation has to be investigated and proven for it to actually be true. What I learned this year is that an allegation in and of itself, with or without investigation, and even after an investigation proves this allegation to be unsubstantiated – an allegation has the POWER to destroy. Truth becomes a victim to the allegation and the allegation becomes the truth people hear and often believe.
This awareness of the POWER of allegation has made me very cautious of the words I use. Cautious of the stories and words I hear or read about and determined to seek the truth in all circumstances.
POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA
I don’t think anyone needs convincing that media generally and social media specifically have immense POWER. In the social media world fact and truth are often distorted or completely ignored and the viral, sensational photograph or sound bite is fanned by every share and like. Even knowing this I was completely unprepared for the devastation of a social media campaign against us would cause. In early January I was up monitoring social media for 48 hours straight, received over 160 personal messages and watched over 500 comments being made about our organisation which included threats of violence against me personally and against members of our staff. I won’t dwell on this aspect of POWER as it is extremely painful to do so but I will record one moment of victory in all this mess was when the combined power of parents and a legal challenge caused Facebook, in a very rare move, to remove the post.
I am more aware than ever that social media is a powerful medium for positive and negative and we all have a responsibility to be good digital citizens and consumers.
POWER OF COMMUNITY
Let’s move on to a more positive aspect of POWER. It is such a truism that when the chips are down you find your people, your community. Just as the barrage of threats and vitriol reigned down on us we saw our community showing up. Firstly I will forever be indebted to the Centres families for how they showed up for us in those dark days. They not only showed up… they fought hard for us, loved us in practical ways and not one family left. This is a testament to the staff at the centre. They had solid, trusting relationships with families and it paid off BIG TIME. Our colleagues in stood by us, stopping by with chocolates and cookies – the love language of all ECE’s, the Board showed up, the staff teams across the society stood in solidarity, parents from other centres sent letters of support, past parents and past staff spoke up, colleagues near and far sent messages of concern….it was humbling and my gratitude for all of it is hard to express.
POWER OF REPUTATION
I have always know how important reputation is – how important the reputation of an organisation is. I have seen our reputation grow over 20 years – heard people say they heard about us from their sister, friend, colleague, neighbour. They heard we were “good”, that this was a good place for young children to be. I saw those years of good reputation pushed right to the edge of the cliff this year but we did not go over that cliff. We did not lose that reputation. And why is that? Because you cannot erase over 2 decades of moments of building relationships, of coming alongside families, of encouraging creativity, curiosity, supporting competence. The sum total of all that incredible, hard, messy work done by every ECE that has every worked for us equaled the power of our reputation when we needed it most.
Let us never underestimate all those moments spent making us who we are – they matter.
POWER OF ADVOCACY
Advocacy is standing up for something you believe in. It’s fighting for what you believe is right. I have done this many times on many topics from being an anti-apartheid activist, to being a member of the Coalition of Child care advocates fighting for a national system of early childhood education in Canada to a new role I am learning about being and advocate for the planet and environmental issues. I have no doubt there are many advocates for many different issues in this room tonight. Advocacy is powerful and I had a ringside seat to some profound advocacy this year. The Board of Directors was called on to advocate hard this year and they never flinched. They spent hours, many late at night and on weekends, reading, talking, writing and all in pursuit of advocacy for our work. In particular the Board Executive have stood firm in defence of us and they continue to do so as the battle continues, the appeals and reconsiderations are ongoing and so is their advocacy. I, on behalf of all of us, are deeply indebted to them for their time, their wisdom, their determination and their unflagging advocacy.
POWER OF GOOD WORK
Hard years come and go, they follow great years, precede ok years, are interspersed with awesome years. What never changes – has never changed in my 20 years of being in this organisation – is the good work.
This isn’t just any work. This is life changing, world changing work – our vision statement is no joke, no letterhead tag line – it is the real guiding light of our everyday work – Changing the World by Honouring Childhood.
This honouring childhood means SO MANY things – it’s how the classroom looks, it’s the books chosen, the art supplies offered, the songs sung, it's the tears wiped, the knees bandaided, the hard conversations with families, the collaboration with colleagues, it’s wiping noses, giving hugs, setting boundaries, it’s laughing and taking deep breaths, it’s reading articles, preparing for family Fridays, it’s quietly rubbing backs at nap time and it’s running in the park…it is ALL OF THIS and it is everything in between all of this – the seen and the unseen, the obvious and the extra mile and is done by the incredible women sitting in this room. They do the good, hard work everyday. They are committed to the vision and do the work to move us towards it.
Staff come and go and sometimes we are worn down by those changes but when I look out at the room tonight I am grateful for the role each ECE takes in our story.
We do good work. It is powerful.
POWER OF VULNERABILITY
Dr Brene Brown says “ Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It’s tough to do that when we’re terrified about what people might see or think. When we’re fueled by the fear of what other people think or that gremlin that’s constantly whispering “You’re not good enough” in our ear, it’s tough to show up. We end up hustling for our worthiness rather than standing in it.
We’re hungry for people who have the courage to say, “I need help” or “I own that mistake” or “I’m not willing to define success simply by my title or income any longer.”
I walked this very hard path this year and I came to a point of vulnerability – I had worked myself to a standstill fighting for the organisation, for the centre, for my colleagues. I was determined and relentless in showing up … until I couldn’t do it anymore. Until I shed some of the first tears in my career at work and I needed to step aside and show up for my own sanity. Sending an email to the Board and my colleagues saying I needed time to rest and process, and some help to do that was a moment that brought me to my knees... but in a powerful way it brought me back to myself and to my WHY. When I gained some perspective on long walks on the dyke, in my therapists office, in the embrace of my family and friends I found my strength renewed. I found my strength in seeing the work you all do, the way you all show up, day after day. I was humbled and I was grateful. I want to read this well known quote by Theodore Roosevelt and I am putting it up for you to read it as I do.
We were all in the arena this year and no doubt 2020 hold arenas for us all but let’s dare greatly together and keep showing up for ourselves, for one another and for the children and families counting on us to do so.
POWER OF HOPE
Willpower, determination, and strength alone will not help to overcome whatever we are struggling with. Sure, they are important characteristics. However, the key ingredient that makes everything else possible is hope.
Hope seems so intangible, easy to say but hard to really grasp. “I hope things get better” is a platitude we easily pass on to anyone struggling. And we should offer that because hope is a life preserver thrown into rough seas that we can cling to and I know I did.
In our work there is SO much to HOPE for – it is the powerful driving force of all we do because we hope for the very best for our Educators, for every child and the people attached to that small person, parents, siblings, grandparents, aunties, uncles, godparents, friends… Hope is the pebble thrown into a pond that sends out rings that carry us forward.
I am filled – to the very top of my fast greying head – with HOPE for our organisation. We have work to do and such amazing ECE’s to do it and Families who have given us their great trust and support – just imagine what we – TOGETHER - can accomplish.
I am with Barbara Kingsolver when she says “The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof”
FINALLY – The POWER OF STORY
2019 told a story of life in this organisation – but it is only 1 chapter in a 22 chapter book so far. 2020 will tell a new story and so far as we can we will build on all that we have learned in 2019 and write a new story – a hopeful, joyful one that moves us to live into our vision of “Changing the world by honouring childhood”.
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