Second Leadership Academy focuses on member conversations

Members attended the second Leadership Academy last month. The focus was on relational organizing with workshops on making the ask, using conflict to build teams and regional turnout planning for the upcoming April 8 Membership Blitz. 

Local 801 President Joe Lehman said the Leadership Academy "was especially helpful regarding having hard conversations and I now feel like I have a game plan.”  

Members also spent time discussing how to use conflict to build teams. “How do you deal with conflict? And work through it in a productive way? We engaged in exercises showing how conflict can lead to compromise and collaboration,” said Organizing Council Chair Zac Echola, one of the lead organizers of the Leadership Academy.    

Region 19 Negotiator Jovae Priebe was one of the presenters for the Making the Ask session. “One-on-one meetings are the backbone of union organizing and one of the most important things we can do. It’s easy to ignore an email; it’s harder when someone is making an effort to set up a meeting and find out what’s important to them,” Priebe said. “Connecting with members and finding out about what they value is more important than the member agreeing to do something. It’s up to us as leaders to find out what motivates our members so we can all join forces and fight for it.”   

She added, “Just because you have a conversation and didn’t get your ultimate goal met, it doesn’t mean it’s not a win. Sometimes it takes several conversations before succeeding in getting a member to join, participate in an event or share their story about what matters to them,” Priebe said.  

Echola, Priebe and Lehman agree that values are an important part of connecting on a deeper level with members. Lehman worked on political campaigns before entering state service as a senior transportation planner. He recently talke with a member who had reached the union to negotiate for an automatic COLA. “We made a plan on what we could do to get people involved next year. The conversation was key to relationship building. I also got him to join our local Contract Action Team,” Lehman said.    

Leadership Academy participants met with their regions to plan for the upcoming April 8 Membership Blitz. “Knowing your values is important because if you're wishy washy in what you want, members won’t be motivated to come along with you. Being solid in what our values are also opens us up as leaders and opens us up to finding what other people’s values are, and the unique opportunities we have of connecting with them,” Priebe said.