We’ve received some interesting questions – or reflections – about our jobshare. A few people have told us that it will never work: “Two people can’t share a position. At one point, you are going to disagree over something and this partnership will break up. Then what’s going to happen to PFund?” Another question we’ve heard multiple times, “No, really, who’s the main ED?” When we reply that there isn’t one, the follow-up has sometimes been, “Yes, I understand that symbolically, but seriously, which one of you is mostly in charge?”
There have been other flavors of reflection as well including the most common: “How come no one told me I could jobshare?” And the second most common, “You are going to write this up, aren’t you? It’s a great idea. I want to know how to do it.”
Jobsharing is just another form of collaboration. And collaboration is something that we ask our children to do (share that toy!) as well as our grantees (organizational partnerships are very good things). Collaboration is not at all hard, when it’s really truly something we want to do. Our experience is that the challenges arise when we’re not completely invested in collaborating.
Almost weekly, the two of us look at each other and marvel: sure, it was our idea to jobshare but even we weren’t prepared for exactly how awesome it would be. A good example: we were talking about a challenging phone call we had just received and trying to determine what to do. In the way of reactions, we each had responses to the phone call that came from past experiences and patterned ways of thinking. Our responses to this phone call were not the same, and as we sat there going back and forth, listening to each other and then asking questions, we ended up at a conclusion that made us both wiggle with glee. “Oh my goodness,’ said Kate,” that is so much smarter than either of us could have figured out by ourselves.”
And that, more than any other sentence, reflects jobsharing. A few things help make that happen: we have shared values about how the world works, how change happens, and how a foundation is part of that change. We also deeply respect and truly like each other. And our commitment is to the work – to an LGBT community that is celebrated and is free from discrimination and violence – rather than to our individual careers.
This blog posting is not intended to be a back-slapping aren’t we great kind of moment. On the contrary, this is a blog about collaboration and some reflection about what makes collaborations function well.
No single individual or aspect of our community has the answer for how to support all LGBT individuals, families and communities in living full and unchallenged lives. If anything, what’s going to help us get to that point is the same thing that helps the two of us jobshare: an understanding that our different experiences form different perspectives and that those perspectives are both valid. And in every situation, some perspectives have more airtime than others. It’s hard to listen with fresh mind but it’s a skill to always build. Collaborations, like jobsharing, are about practicing the skill of actually liking each other and constantly feeding a deep grounded respect. And then it’s about being willing to engage in the back and forth sometimes struggle of wrestling across our different ideas and commitments.
Really, collaboration is just about showing up with heart, with love and care for the community, rather than an assertion of our individual egos. On some days, we do that really well. On other days, well, it’s a bit harder. But that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? It’s this place of creative tension that we call learning.
There have been other flavors of reflection as well including the most common: “How come no one told me I could jobshare?” And the second most common, “You are going to write this up, aren’t you? It’s a great idea. I want to know how to do it.”
Jobsharing is just another form of collaboration. And collaboration is something that we ask our children to do (share that toy!) as well as our grantees (organizational partnerships are very good things). Collaboration is not at all hard, when it’s really truly something we want to do. Our experience is that the challenges arise when we’re not completely invested in collaborating.
Almost weekly, the two of us look at each other and marvel: sure, it was our idea to jobshare but even we weren’t prepared for exactly how awesome it would be. A good example: we were talking about a challenging phone call we had just received and trying to determine what to do. In the way of reactions, we each had responses to the phone call that came from past experiences and patterned ways of thinking. Our responses to this phone call were not the same, and as we sat there going back and forth, listening to each other and then asking questions, we ended up at a conclusion that made us both wiggle with glee. “Oh my goodness,’ said Kate,” that is so much smarter than either of us could have figured out by ourselves.”
And that, more than any other sentence, reflects jobsharing. A few things help make that happen: we have shared values about how the world works, how change happens, and how a foundation is part of that change. We also deeply respect and truly like each other. And our commitment is to the work – to an LGBT community that is celebrated and is free from discrimination and violence – rather than to our individual careers.
This blog posting is not intended to be a back-slapping aren’t we great kind of moment. On the contrary, this is a blog about collaboration and some reflection about what makes collaborations function well.
No single individual or aspect of our community has the answer for how to support all LGBT individuals, families and communities in living full and unchallenged lives. If anything, what’s going to help us get to that point is the same thing that helps the two of us jobshare: an understanding that our different experiences form different perspectives and that those perspectives are both valid. And in every situation, some perspectives have more airtime than others. It’s hard to listen with fresh mind but it’s a skill to always build. Collaborations, like jobsharing, are about practicing the skill of actually liking each other and constantly feeding a deep grounded respect. And then it’s about being willing to engage in the back and forth sometimes struggle of wrestling across our different ideas and commitments.
Really, collaboration is just about showing up with heart, with love and care for the community, rather than an assertion of our individual egos. On some days, we do that really well. On other days, well, it’s a bit harder. But that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? It’s this place of creative tension that we call learning.
- Kate and Susan
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