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Lessons in Service - Wayne Centrone

7/4/2018

Its Independence Day. A day of national celebration and reflection. It's a day when people work hard to put their differences aside and join together in a shared belief in the “American Ethos.”

I’m traveling home from Perú today. No fireworks and BBQ for me. I’ll spend most of my 4th of July on a flight. It’s amazing how a long flight provides space for deep reflection. I find myself reflecting on this past two weeks and the Team Perú outreach trip. Thinking about the work of HBI. And considering what lessons I gained from this past trip.

So, I’m going to write a list. A list of lessons. I’ll call the list HBI’s “Eight Lessons in Service.” So here goes:

Service without attachment. Giving ourselves through service means we give our gifts, talents, resources, intellect, and ethos. It means give – and once given, we no longer have ownership over outcomes. Let me see if I can explain, we have a strong commitment to build programs and projects that offer effective models. We seek to link all of our efforts directly with other organizations. We are 100% invested in collaboration. But, when all is said and done – we’re not doing this work for ourselves. We’re doing it to help others. We build bridges that enable others to cultivate the futures they deserve. All of this is to say, we help build the bridges that enable people to chart their own futures. We can't know where that path will take them. All we can do is assure the path is strong and steady.
The most important thing we can do is listen. A good friend of mine once told me “what people really need is a good listening too.” I believe it 100%. We spend so much time talking at one another. Its like we are in a communication competition. Taking time to sit, connect, and truly listen is a game changer for so many situations.
Slow and steady wins the race, but it’s rarely sexy. Slow, methodical, incremental efforts change the world. We believe in sticking with the work. It means we spend hours in meetings. We send hundreds of emails. And we commit to the long-haul of building effective relationships and powerful programs and projects. This work, the slow and steady work, it’s not super sexy. It’s not “made for TV” work. But it’s true change work.
People need people. Relationship is everything. I’ve witnessed, time and time again, how powerful relationship is in every aspect of our work. People don’t connect with programs or projects, they connect with people. This is why HBI invests so heavily in our staff and the relationship builders that make our work possible.
Changing the world is about changing ourselves. I want to change the world. I want to live in a world that affords opportunities for all people living in marginalized and underserved communities. I’ve eventually gotten over my egotism and realized the only change I can make is to change myself. We spend a lot of time at HBI working to really understanding who we are and how we impact or influence. We make every effort to clarify our intentions and identify our bias. We aren’t always 100% successful, but we always seek to understand our motivations. Questioning our motivations and attitudes allows us to walk alongside our partners and build a shared impact.
Being is more than doing. A mentor once taught me the Be-Do-Have paradigm. He taught me this significant lesson that informs every part of my life. He told me the vast majority of people live a life driven by the rubric Have-Do-Be. Basically, if I Have such-and-such, I will Do such-and-such, I will Be such-and-such. That’s a flawed system. It makes our focus ‘having.’ We spend much of our time focused on acquiring things or having specific experiences. What if we flipped the paradigm and lived our lives by Being the person that most embodies and encompasses our highest selves? If we lived our lives based on Being a person of immense integrity, we will Do things that are supported by our core beliefs and we will Have very different experiences. We use the Be-Do-Have paradigm in every aspect of HBI’s work. We live our work being fully grounded in integrity, compassion, and service. We then do things to support the expressions of these beliefs. And we have a rich tapestry of experiences.
Collaboration is the game changer. Diversity and creativity are so important. These ideals require people coming together. We, Health Bridges, believe service requires collaboration to be sustainable. Look around, there are so many organizations addressing any number of deep social, economic, and health challenges. There are NGOs working in every country in the world - and yet, have we developed effective programs and projects to eliminate health disparities? To curb economic disparities? To address social disparity? No - whatever outcomes have been generated from the multitude of NGO programs and projects - lack scalability or broad impact. What's missing? Collaboration. When organizations, communities, people work together – we gain a ‘sum of all parts’ impact. We compound our efforts and expand the impact. This is the work of HBI.
Cultural sensitivity is never enough. Culture is everything. It sets the tone for our interactions. It dictates our relationships. It forms our partnerships. We recognize that having cultural sensitivity, or awareness, is never enough. For us, there is a cultural humility that is so important. It's a perspective that has us always seek a deeper understanding. It means we enter into relationships with an understanding that we will have gaps in our awareness; and it drives us to be humble and unassuming in building the connections that drive our work.

This list, it’s not perfect. It is, however, a representation of our work and the focus we bring to the programs and projects we have dedicated our lives to developing. Thanks for continuing to support HBI and the people we serve.

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