Values

I believe that the majority of our values are cultivated by our parents, siblings, and family members, as they spend the best of your first 18 years with you. Most people have various "second homes" at their best friend's houses so that could be a place that values develop. If school is a place where children feel at home, teachers or principles can have an impact on growth and value formation as well.

I think where values come from is undoubtedly important, however, I think the strength of instillment to the point that these values can hold on through 21 years is far more important. Sometimes we do forget what we stand for and who we are in the midst of schoolwork, work, petty drama, but at the end of the day it is important to be able to go to bed and say that you, and your values, were present in everything that was done.

 I am very bad about dedicating time to myself if there are other things that need to be done. I love deadlines, even though I procrastinate sometimes. I love being busy because it makes me feel like I am doing something with my life. I think that for me, my values are renewed when I make time for myself to reflect. I really love to drive. It clears my head like none other when I hold the wheel and just go, sometimes in silence,  sometimes listening to music that forces me to get some tears out. When I am truly alone, my values come back into focus. Who I am and what I stand for is clear. When I reflect on what I value, I can again work towards achieving tasks that align with my values, which also align with my organizations values. Sometimes it takes completely removing myself from the day to day to truly take  in life; I used to think that was time that could be used studying. I now know that is time that I need to keep me sane!

This week: I commit to GIVING MYSELF A BREAK! geesh. I have been sick for 8 days and counting and I'm really tired of laying in bed. I am ready to enjoy life and take a me vacation.

Becoming a Change Agent

The most important C to becoming a change agent, in my opinion, is consciousness of self.

Consciousness of self seems to sometimes be confused with "confidence IN self"; although they can and do ultimately work together, they are not one in the same and can sometimes work against each other. Confidence IN self is  just that- you are confident in your beliefs and values, you believe in the character that you hold yourself to and that you portray to other people, and you stand by who you are when tested (and tested..and tested..).  Consiousness of self, however, is the foundation for all of the other C's to be built on.

To define change in a top down manner, as the Seven C model challenges us to do, those trying to create change must be aware of as well as comfortable with the aspects of their individual identity. In the process of inspiring change, the individual is the first thing that is challenged. Your character is torn apart by those who are afraid of change. Your values are criticized and thrown in your face as soon as you gain your footing. You fall to the point where you ask yourself, who am I- am I really what they all say? When I reached that point, I listened to Fly by Nikki Minaj (its awesome. seriously. listen.) and said no. I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise, to fly.

If you are not consious of your individual as well as consious of how you act while you are acting, none of the other C's carry any weight. You cant maintain actions that are consistant with conviction if you don't know the true and deeper WHY behind either of the above. You can't inspire a common purpose in others if you aren't confident in your own purpose, both within and outside of the organization. You can't handle controversy with civility if you aren't able to take feedback, analyze the meaningful kind, and throw out the hateful kind. You can be committed but you can't commit your entire being; you can be a citizen but you can't fully share your identity with those who share your world if you aren't even fully aware of your identity.

The fact that I believe consiousness of self is the most important element of change makes the jury sometimes say "youre selfish" or "youre making this about you". Funny thing is, this was never, EVER solely about me. If I made decisions for me, you bet your butt I would be out of this office quicker than you could blink. The consiousness that I have brought to myself holds that there are women that can and will be better. I will show them the way.

ARGH! VISIONING!

During my first quarter being president, I lost myself. I forgot how to be Kristyn, what Kristyn needs and wants, and why Kristyn desired so badly to be president in the first place. I am beginning to find myself again so my vision is still a work in progress- its a "me" overhaul :) hence the ridiculous title.

My mission in life is to cultivate faith, hope, and love in myself as well as all those who have contact with me. These three words can be given meaning in many different ways, all of which are meant to be shared. That being said, I have been searching for an answer as to why I want to be a doctor so badly and why nothing else would satisfy my life goal. The answer lies first within love. I believe that there is no greater gift in this world than to love with your entirety and be loved in return. I will love each of my patients, I have no doubt. I want them to be able to love their life enough to truly grasp each day as if the world were theirs; to do this, I dedicate myself to let my lyre send forth the chords of love, unselfishness, and sincerity in hopes that one person loving them simply for the fact that they are themselves will be enough to allow them to continue their life journey.

Hope is a concept that the healthcare world is familiar with. We hope that all will go well and that we can go about our day saving lives and all of that jazz. However, I believe that hope goes beyond this sort of simplistic concept of wondering if our wishes will come true. Hope is the driving force behind the pursuit of our dreams because it defines our possibility. If you have no hope, possibility is limited. If you have an abundance of hope, you may be knocked down a time or two but you will be able to stand up a stronger person and press on toward true achievement. I have hope that I will have the strength to endure medical school, to be a mom and raise a family in a loving environment, and to be genuinely happy in all of my endeavors. I will strike on the lyre of the universe only the notes of happiness, of joy, of peace to extend to each my hope for a better world.

To me, faith is not about religion. In fact, I am not sure where I stand when it comes to religion. I do believe in spirituality and the spirit inside of myself. Faith is the basis for both hope and love; if you have faith in yourself or in the process, I believe that what is meant to be will work itself out. I sometimes have a hard time with faith, which therefore affects my ability to love and hope to my full potential. I want answers to all of my questions. I'm not very patient and I am afraid of making a wrong decision that will lead to failure which by the way i am TERRIFIED of. In order to achieve my life mission I know that I must work through this fear so as to spread my philosophy on to others. I will continue to see beauty even in the common things of life and try to remember that everything doesn't have to go perfectly to be perfect for me.

Owning it: Back to the Beginning.

I'm asking you to own it.

Taking ownership for "the process" first requires a deeper understanding for the process itself as well as respect for other members of any organization and executive board. This is the first step towards collaboration, which is a concept that is far more complex than cooperation or compromise. The reason why collaboration is so difficult to achieve in diverse groups initially is because power takes precedent over purpose. What I mean by this is that in young leaders, a sense of importance in their role is derived from being powerful, being heard, and, usually, being right. These personal projections are a direct result of the fact that leaders typically bring an agenda to the group; the agenda is most likely valid and in most cases admirable, but will not lead to collaboration because it seems to ignore the central theme of collaboration- thinking and working through issues in a group effort toward change. One must come to the table with an open mind AND open heart and ask questions defined by our discussion last week: "what do you want it to look like" versus "how do you want it to go". True collaboration presents many challenges on my board because everyone has so much passion for their position, but little knowledge of the process that brings us together as a cohesive and functioning group. Voices must be given to those that need empowered and other voices sometimes must be near silenced to allow for each member to have an opportunity to feel as though they are capable of buying into decisions as well as making difficult decisions. As a leader, I must work to make each group member feel credible such that they actually will BE credible to the chapter while also generating buy in to active participation. It seems so simple when I type it out. However, the root of the problem is that people sometimes cannot move past their own agendas and see collaboration for what it is, instead of confusing it with other less worthy "c" words like compromise or, strangely enough, control. Visioning based upon common purpose (another great C word!) acts to bridge the gap between individual and highly effective board/group and at the heart of common purpose lies respect and a deep understanding of values that the organization holds as its own.

Common purpose is the underlying factor that develops more the more meaningful dialog mentioned. For fraternities and sororities, this should be simple, right? We all know our ritual, our creed, our motto. Our founders basically handed us purpose on a silver platter. Do we really get it though? Do our members REALLY understand why they were drawn to our organization besides the fact that we like the same TV shows? 


First, we must ask ourselves why do we exist. Most greek organizations were founded because there was a need that was not being met or because justice was not being served in society. For example, Alpha Chi Omega was founded because women were not yet highly regarded in higher education and the passion that these women had for music was pushed aside. They refused to be silenced in the pursuit of their true sense of self that came from the fine arts; Olive  (everyones favorite founder) and others took it upon themselves to create an environment where they could flourish as one AND as seven powerful women under a common interest that manifested as love. Tell me that collaboration is harder now than it was then. I think not with all of our resumes filled to the brim with leadership conferences! 


I have decided to start defining something in my LITBlog that I plan to achieve at either my board meeting or chapter. 

This week I commit to taking it back to our beginnings. How does our vision for the chapter align with the vision of our founders? Do our actions/the way we have been treating each other REALLY show that we have a true sense of our values? 

 

Citizenship

I think that when we are young, citizenship is a concept that we feel entitled to. Afterall, we are American citizens upon birth under the law of our country. As I have gotten older, I have realized that citizenship in a figurative sense is not a guarantee; it requires active participation in the community for not only the benefit of others, but for the benefit of ourselves. We must share a piece of our individuality with the community while at the same time allowing the concept of citizenship to BE us and to consume us in order to be whole in the midst of our individual parts. I think that the members of my chapter are moving toward the right way to think about citizenship. We have a philanthropy, we have a service requirement, we actively participate in the greek community and Ohio State community..the list goes on. However, I think what a lot of people miss amongst all of this activity is the fact that each of these events are not just made to be "mandatory" without reason. People go, they participate, and then they leave knowing that we are donating X amount of dollars or that they are 5 hours closer to their service requirement. 

Our involvement is aimed to make us better, more well rounded women but we cannot be 100% successful if we are just going through the motions. There needs to be a level of understanding beyond what is "required" in order for women to begin to be able to think of citizenship as a whole in a different way. We have the single order changes in place--how are we going to translate this to a second order change that actually begins to address the root of the issue?
 
 

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

Looking back:

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
-- Barack Obama

I think I have writers block due to the (kind of looming?) events of Greek Week so here is my best blog attempt for you all :) WAHOOOO

This quote by the President of the United States should be painted all over my house in big red and green. I am a firm believer in the fact that there are solutions to the problems that many people generate for leaders to deal with; these solutions should come out of the mouth of the person who has the problem in the first place but they usually don't. So commonly as presidents, exec members, leaders in our communities etc., we are served up issues daily, be it large or small. However, I have found that many times people want YOU to solve the problem so that they are once again content (hence the "waiting for some other person" part of this quote). In order for an individual to truly be able to create the change that he or she wants to see, it is vital that this "dumping and running" behavior that creates a quick fix change is ceased. This shift in thinking about solutions in addition to problems  is an example of second order change that must be upheld by single order changes that allow for new behaviors to occur while old behaviors are squashed. The leadership theory that our country is trying to uphold indicates that our organizations must function as cohesive groups where WE are the change, as Obama says, not where Kristyn Sturms and her exec board is the change. Voices must be heard in settings that are comfortable- where people can be honest yet hold a certain level of respect during heated dialogue.

I am still working out how I want to implement my single order change that will facilitate a more discussion based and collaborative organization that will create the desired second order change that is necessary for true growth as individuals. As each of our individual members find their own voices within the greater voice of the chapter, community second order change can occur from the unity that the development of solution-centered problem identification has brought about.

Thinking ahead: Ramblings of the Community and Me

• I am involved in the community by:
• Direct service, Socially Responsible Personal/Professonal Behavior, and Philanthropic Giving
• What is Citizenship? What is Community?
• Citizenship, to me, is being actively engaged in the society at large for the betterment of both myself and society through volunteer work, social functions, philanthropic events etc.
• Community includes a group of people that are linked together in some way (demographically, socially, economically) that share a part of their identity with others while maintaining their own individuality that upholds the greater good
• What communities am I a part of?
• I am a Columbus resident. I am a Buckeye. I am interested in health care. I am a Psychology minor and am active in the research community. I am a Greek woman. All of these aspects of myself describe the larger community that I am a part of as well.

Social Change- Sturms Style

You would be surprised how generating a mission statement can focus a person.

At my very first executive board retreat at the end of winter quarter, I asked that we come up with a statement for the year that encompasses who we are, what we do, and WHY we are unique as Alpha Chi Omega. Each board member sat silently writing, scribbling out words and inserting phrases into sentences that they could call their own, ultimately defining what Alpha Chi is to them. We spent hours reading our phrases to the group, picking out language that we liked and didn't, and trying to fit the pieces together into a cohesive statement that we could present to the chapter. In this moment- we were able to define ourselves as a cohesive board. The mission statement that we generated did, in fact, help us narrow our lofty goals to three achievable ones for our term in office- chapter efficiency, membership involvement (regardless of if you have a position or not), and development of community relationships. However, there was still a component missing in our plan. Our general membership. To truly be the collaborative and transparent board that we longed to be, we asked the chapter to read the mission statement and come up with two small goals, individual or chapter-wide, that will promote continuous "seeking of the heights" while still being able to have some sense of achievement over the course of the year. When I presented this idea in chapter, there were many confused faces- What should I write? Why are we doing this? I sat down and read each notecard, of about 100, and unparalleled honesty jumped off of the paper. They understood. I felt relief and excitement, renewed love for my sisters, and a sense of where my chapter wanted to go without my influence. We all, even the seemingly apathetic and unengaged, long for the same sense of sisterhood and community that the greek system was designed to provide.

This is where I began and this is where I will end next March- in the society of my sisters that will transform me as we work together to transform our chapter.


On the topic of change as a general concept, I consider myself a progressive individual that remains grounded by a love for the tradition that infects my being.

Let me explain in terms of our fine university. I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio- I practically came out of the womb in scarlet and gray and was dressed in head to toe Ohio State before I could even walk. Freshman year, I consistently walked around campus with the most ridiculous smile on my face and tears welled up in my eyes (seriously, I did this) because I was FINALLY a buckeye. Carmen, Ohio gets me EVERY time and I have jumped in mirror lake to wake up old Woody Hayes 3 out of 3 years. When I stand in the horse shoe, there is a love that we share defined by community and tradition that is easily sensed anywhere in the stadium. This is a feeling that my Grandfather felt 50 years ago when he was a student here, and I pray that never changes.

I compare buckeye nation to the beginnings of fraternity because there are many parallels when it comes to a relationship that is difficult to explain. Our rituals express our founders values; our present membership is living the legacy that those before us outlined. We are buckeyes because of those before us that developed this (insane) sense of belonging to something that is bigger than ourselves- yes, our football team is included in that statement. My point here is, there are some things that I don't WANT to change- the feelings of love and community that make our individual selves better simply by association. I can be very stubborn when it comes to people trying to change what I feel connected to. However, if I can see that change is necessary for  the cultivation of an encouraging environment, I can throw the phrase "this is the way it has always been" out the window. Change is most effective, in my opinion, if orchestrated in waves. I am an "Analyzer" in the CAPS assessment test, and I like to sit and think about all my options before making any big desision. Small, managable changes can be made over the course of a few weeks through a trial and error process as opposed to making one big change all at once. However, I do recognize that sometimes change must come on my terms and I am still growing comfortable with the concept that I can act on what I believe alone- it is hard sometimes when there are 120 women that you are deciding for that are not exactly like you!