Social Change Values

The four most important social change values are as follows:

• Change
• Commitment
• Common Purpose
• Congruence

Each of these shape how I interact with the world around me in different ways, and they have transformed how I view leadership.

• Change
  • Change is the drive that pushes people to do better, become better. Without change the world would be at a standstill. For a millennia groups of people have gathered together and created a plan to make a change. From political leaders, to civil rights movements, athletes, military personnel, and first respondent’s, people have always wanted to improve the world around them.
  • My first huge memory of creating positive change happened in high school. I was attending a work camp and was assigned a homeowner that had a large hole in his roof. He had covered it with a tarp but rain still leaked into his home. He didn’t have the ability to fix the roof himself or the resources to pay someone to do it. In a week my group had fixed the hole in his ceiling and roof. Once he saw the finished product, he started to cry. I did this trip six times, and his reaction to having a complete roof made me realize that I wanted to help people for the rest of my life. 
  • Change drives every action. Whether it is something that personally affects you, or something that helps the community, or something that helps people half a world away, change is what motivates us. Without the drive to make a change, the world as we know it would not exist. Change is what motivates me every day. Change pushes me to be a better person every day. 

• Commitment
  • Commitment is what allows projects to succeed. Without the drive to follow something through, teams fall apart, assignments don’t get finished, change does not happen. Between people slacking on group projects, coworkers not giving two weeks, and professors giving up teaching, commitment is easy to ignore. To counter that, people going above and beyond the commitment they have made is wonderful.
  • My parents raised my brother and I to follow through with commitment. My brother’s sophomore year of high school he signed up for the wrestling team. He had enjoyed it the year before, but this time he was continually getting injured and, honestly, wasn’t great at it. He wanted to drop, but my parents reminded him that he made a commitment. When he was injured he still showed up to practice to help the coaches and managers get done what needed to get done. I was 13 at this time and it instilled in me that if a commitment is made, it needs to be followed through. 
  • I take people at their word and am pretty upfront with people about that. If someone tells me that they are going to do something I expect them to do it, excluding extenuating circumstances. Telling others my expectations during group work and letting everyone know that if they need help they can come to me lets people know that I am there to help, but I expect them to put the necessary energy into it.  

• Common Purpose
  • Having a team that has different goals in a project leads to a worse project. People will focus on what they want and cracks can appear. A common purpose during an activity or project allows for people to work towards the same goal and leads to better results. People tend to be self serving, which is not inherently a bad thing, but in important work that involves multiple people, the end goal needs to be the same. Working with the same common purpose to an end goal allows for the best work to be produced.
  • I have learned this in classes and in work. Work is the one that stands out in my mind, as that is all group work to achieve a common purpose. I was an intramural referee at Virginia Tech for flag football. Each field has three referees that work to direct the game. Working on a crew where one member is not paying attention or doesn’t care can drastically affect the outcome of the game. In contrast, a team that is on their a-game and being attentive allows for the team that is most successful to win. 
  • Without a common purpose things don’t get done and if they do it is not the best quality of work. When putting together a team as a leader it is important to make sure everyone is on the same page with what needs to be done. Most work is done in groups, and I will continue to apply the ideals of common purpose in team work to get the best end result we can.

• Congruence
  • Meaning what you say and doing what you state you will is incredibly important to me. Congruence falls under integrity for me. I pride myself on having integrity and surrounding myself with people who do the same. Congruence is an issue that comes up in group projects frequently. Someone will pick a job to do and not do it, under the assumption that someone else will pick up the slack. I have seen this happen since elementary school up through college. Sometimes life happens and a section does not get completed, but frequently someone decides to not do the work because they don’t want to.
  • One of my first memories of learning about congruence was picking my neighbor up from the airport. Another local friend of theirs said they would be able to get them, and when the plane landed my neighbor could not get a hold of them. In a slight panic my neighbors called my mom to come get them and my mom tossed me in the back seat and we went to the airport to get them. On the way there my mom was explaining the situation and reminded me not to promise something if I wasn’t going to follow through. She also told me that she had offered to grab them before they left on the trip, but they assumed the friend would be able to get them. Since my mom had offered to pick them up when she got the call she went. Sticking to your word and walking the talk is important to building deep relationships and trust with other people.
  • I try to live my everyday life by doing what I say I will do. As stated earlier I try to find people who will do the same. Once I set this standard for the people I befriended, my relationships became a lot deeper. I knew I could put my trust in these people and they would be genuine with me. In a work setting trust is incredibly important. Weather it be filing paperwork correctly, working on a proposal, or literally helping you move supplies, congruence matters. When creating a team I will try to find people who will be upfront and honest, even if they are not the best “fit” for a job. Congruence helps people grow.

Let’s build something together.

---