Witnessing Collective Power and Strength through Volunteering
Tina L. is a people and organizational development leader who cares deeply about inclusive cultures and career development.
I first learned about Empower work, an organization focused on providing confidential in-the-moment support to workers at critical work moments, in the fall of 2018 when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do after graduate school. My sights were focused on finding opportunities that would allow me to coach clients in cultivating their leadership skills. Empower Work seemed like the perfect opportunity to leverage those same skills in-between clients to ensure that my coaching and active listening skills didn’t get rusty. Due to unexpected changes, I didn’t get to actively volunteer on the line that fall.
Fast forward to 2020 and the news of COVID broke in the United States. Overnight, leaders were asking us to begin remote work and the government began issuing sheltering in place mandates. I instinctively knew that the world of work was going to experience shock waves from turbulent unknowns and limited decisions. Ultimately, it was going to impact and potentially worsen situations for many different front-line workers out there. I knew I had to do something. I’m grateful for my stable 9 to 5 role but have greatly missed seeing the immediate impact of my work when I supported clients through coaching. This was when I reached back out about volunteering.
I am one of the few volunteer peer counselors who experienced different delivery iterations of Empower Work’s robust training curriculum and platform - before and after they launched a digital learning management system. Volunteers now go through interactive modules to learn skills followed by group practices. Both times my biggest learnings came from the group and live practices with fellow peer counselors and mentors. It takes intentional effort and practice to deeply connect and hear those reaching out because all we have are the words that those reaching out share with us.
Once I finished training, every hour that I spend on the line gives me an opportunity to expand my skills while giving a lifeline to texters who are in the middle of a hard situation. Each time supporting a person connecting with Empower Work challenged me to slow down and shift away from the internal desire to “solve” the problem. The more people I supported, the more I saw a pattern. When I lean into the challenge and hand the conversation steering wheel to the texter, the more impactful they experience the conversation to be. They are able to find and discover their own solutions through the connection that we are able to develop in a short time period. As a peer counselor, the only responsibility I have is to see them as the full person that they are. Simply remembering: this conversation is a part of their journey of expanding their sightline to new possibilities.
“It gives me hope to know a group of people are selflessly offering their time, talent, and resources towards realizing solutions and leveling the landscape for workers; especially front line and underrepresented workers whom are most vulnerable in these systems.”
The past year’s social and political turmoil created a need for empathy, kindness, and humanity to show up at my own workplace. I’ve been able to meet those needs by integrating the skills learned at Empower Work on my projects and with my team members. My choosing to show up and embrace them as humans first created safe spaces where we could sit together in our vulnerability. Collectively, we were able to create a new path forward which allowed for deeper connection and higher level of engagement. I couldn’t imagine fostering an elevated team dynamic without the tools sharpened from my Empower Work volunteering.
This journey of volunteering with Empower Work has also been a blessing for me in that I’ve also found a personal community of cheerleaders and supporters. On the days when I’m waiting on the line to support a texter, I have the opportunity to chat and to know fellow Empower Work volunteers and team members. These relationships gave me access to different perspectives and a safe community to turn to when I found myself faced with similar struggles in my own professional journey. Some of the team were generous in making introductions to people within their network when I was exploring career next steps.
Volunteering has always allowed me to grow and this experience with Empower Work was no different. In fact, volunteering with Empower Work far exceeded my expectations because it gave me a sense of belonging and being seen that I had seldom experienced. Even though each volunteer and staff member are doing this work for different reasons, we are all grounded in a desire to affect positive change in the world around us. While our individual influence and impact is limited, collectively, there is power and strength. The reality is that - the broader socio, political, and economic - systemic landscapes within the United States are challenging and often designed in an inequitable manner. It gives me hope to know a group of people are selflessly offering their time, talent, and resources towards realizing solutions and leveling the landscape for workers; especially front line and underrepresented workers whom are most vulnerable in these systems.
