The strangest advice I read about in the Five Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni was to “choose uncertainty over clarity.”  After all, isn’t the job of a leader to provide clarity and direction to the team?

After considerable reflection, I realized that Lencioni’s advice encourages us to take a leap and make a decision – to set a direction – even when we may be wrong or don’t have enough information to be entirely certain.

The health benefits and insurance industry has historically experienced only incremental changes over the last 25 years.  In today’s market, we find greater uncertainty due to the continued increase in health care costs and the complexities of national health care reform which will bend the cost curve and reduce the number of uninsured.

Although trends point toward probable future scenarios, health reform and the roles of players in the delivery of healthcare continues to change and evolve with tremendous frequency.

As the CEO of Delta Dental of Idaho, a long-standing dental benefits carrier in the state, I have concluded that it is not possible to be certain regarding the future direction of the company. While some on our team may crave more directional certainty, most understand that identifying a course of action and being open to asking tough questions to improve that “certainty” are more important.

As a team, we invested time determining what “is known” to lay a strong foundation for the best decision-making possible.  An important step in this process was the ability to probe and challenge one another’s thoughts and ideas.  Not only did this improve the decision-making process, it also helped increase buy-in and accountability…all essential factors in achieving successful results.

Creating a culture that openly talks about conflict and demonstrates a comfort with conflict is not easy. Defensiveness will occur and trust will be challenged – anticipate it. Team members who risk vulnerability to raise questions and benefit from a supportive environment for constructive conflict will increase their trust in one another.

It’s important to seek “the stories at the water cooler” that reveal on-the-job realities to determine how an increased acceptance and support for conflict impacts the organization. While maintaining a positive and supportive team environment is always desirable, we must challenge ourselves to address those issues that are not always pleasant to discuss with openness and courage.

It is difficult for almost everyone to experience the fear of being wrong. The tendency to hesitate before setting a direction until certainty or unanimous agreement have been achieved can cause the decision to be made too late to be successful.

As leaders, we need to take a position and seek feedback, both internally and externally from our customers, stakeholders and board, before moving forward with a plan. Next, we must move fearlessly into action, then measure results and improve future direction after giving the plan an opportunity to succeed.

After several months of reading and developing a new strategic planning process, here are the steps that I plan to use in moving forward “in the face of much uncertainty:”

1. Identify strengths of our management team and improve the way we work together in using these strengths.
2. Mine for conflict and allow time for discussion when developing a strategic plan.
3. Set timelines for developing strategies and tactics that have definable goals and measures.
4. Manage to these timelines and create accountability for the results.
5. Revisit the goals and results quarterly (if not more often) and adjust the goals as needed.

As uncertainty moves onward towards certainty, it’s important to have the courage to evaluate past goals, perhaps determine that the old goals are no longer working, and engage your team to work together thinking out of the box, to innovate, and improve your collective results.

Does your business face uncertainty? How comfortable are you and your team with conflict? And, finally, do you have the personal courage to ask the tough questions that might indicate your direction could be wrong?

The ability of human beings to make assumptions is both powerful and dangerous.  At their worst, assumptions are the basis of stereotypes and biases that are harmful, dangerous and sometimes deadly.  On the other hand, assumptions are useful as they allow us to quickly categorize situations based on experience.  Our ability to assume and its risks and rewards are interesting, but even more powerful is our ability to investigate our assumptions.

The ability to check our own assumptions is a critical leadership capability.  It is especially powerful as a leader takes on increasingly responsible roles in an organization and begins to build influence across an organization.  What often puts leaders in new and challenging roles is the ability to make accurate and timely decisions and to think strategically about the organization.  What distinguishes a leader from the rest is the ability to periodically investigate their assumptions about the organization, its markets, products and people.  This ability allows for an organization to mature as well as grow.

The past month has been full of strategic leadership work for me.  In that work it has been fun to share with leaders the capabilities of strategic leadership and, in the process, help them use those skills to investigate their current assumptions about their organizations.  Their assumptions about the capability of their own teams, the quality and reach of their products and services, the nature of their industry and competition, the depth of their operating systems have all come into view.  In some cases their assumptions were accurate, in others flawed.

As leaders, it is not only our responsibility to provide direction, align resources and execute plans but to periodically stop and review our own assumptions.  The ability to honestly ask ourselves whether our response to a situation is based on our assumptions is paramount to great leadership and great organizations.

When facing your leadership opportunities, this month I want to challenge you to ask yourself this question.  “To what extent is my response to this situation based on assumptions?”  Because our assumptions are powerful, emotionally charged and long-lasting, they can begin to feel as though they are concrete constructs.  Rather they are really just paradigms chosen to make life simpler, more predictable and easier to navigate.

Congratulations.  You have distinguished yourself with excellent performance, proven integrity, and steadfast determination, and been rewarded with a progressive career into management and leadership.  There’s one thing you may be forgetting: what it’s like to be in the beginning of your career, when you had less authority and less experience.  When an issue or problem emerges from the workforce and reaches your level, you may have lost some of your empathy for how the employee(s) involved really feels, and your actions could result in a severe negative impact to that employee’s engagement in your organization.

You didn’t intentionally lose your empathy for your coworkers as you climbed the ladder, but you have evolved into such a different person due to your experience in the workplace that it can be hard to remember what it was like to be in their shoes.  Your work life is marked by decision-making, direction-setting, strategic planning and meetings with clients and other executives.  You have the ability to influence your work world and the experience to know how to adapt to challenging circumstances.

That’s not necessarily the work world that your staff lives in.  Most employees have less influence and less ability to deal with difficult situations (especially with other coworkers).  When they have an issue, they typically try to ignore it and hope it goes away (it never does). When whatever they do to try to deal with the issue doesn’t work, they talk to coworkers.  Coworkers offer suggestions and “I’m on your side” support.  They may escalate it to their supervisor, if the supervisor isn’t the one creating the issue.  And then they may go to HR.  Employees continue suffering with the issue while going through a weeks- or months-long resolution process.  By the time the issue is brought to your office, it’s because no one else has the authority or know-how to resolve it.

When the issue arrives at your desk, remember: It’s worse than you think.  That employee is intensely unhappy about a chronic issue.  When an employee is dissatisfied or distracted, hours of productivity will be lost.  Coworker or client relationships may have been damaged.  The employee may be looking for another position, putting at risk all your investment in their training and development.

It’s also a big deal to the employee’s supportive coworkers, who are all on the employee’s “side” and watching you carefully to see how you’ll handle it.  Will you walk your talk and demonstrate how much you care about your employees?  Will you deal with everyone fairly?

So when an employee issue works through the process, and you are asked for an action, remember what it was like to be in your employees’ shoes.  Address the issue promptly.  Take action to relieve your employees from a highly dissatisfactory situation.  Don’t wait until you come back from that business trip, or let it slip off your priority list in favor of another high-level meeting.  Demonstrate your integrity by respecting the employee’s perception of the situation and devoting the time that your “most important asset” deserves.  Promote your employees’ engagement in your organization by showing that you care about the quality of their work world as much as you care about a strategic plan.

It has been a long, cold evening, and as lieutenant for the shift, you have monitored the efforts of officers throughout the city. The temperature has remained well below freezing, and snow has fallen steadily during the swing shift. Not the heavy, thick snow that drives people indoors to warm fires and warm drinks, but rather a soft, light snow, drawing people out, only to discover the streets had become ice rinks and every intersection an adventure. Calls for service have been steady throughout the evening, with officers responding to a multitude of collisions, particularly in the icy intersections. It is almost time for the night shift to report, and you know officers will appreciate the assistance and the chance for a break.

You are reviewing the events of the shift with pride in your officer’s efforts when your phone rings. You recognize the number as one of the night shift sergeants, a young, up and coming leader in the department who takes his job and responsibilities seriously. He excitedly informs you that he just checked on a group of swing shift officers who were taking a lunch break. He recognizes they have worked hard all evening, but numerous calls are still holding, and these officers have extended their lunch break from 30 minutes to 45 minutes, which is clearly outside policy. He has ordered them to clear from lunch, but is calling to let you know they were not pleased.  He is seeking assurance that his actions were correct.  The answer you provide to this sergeant will have impact far beyond the officers on break, and will certainly identify the leadership philosophy of yourself and the organization you represent.

Police departments, like other organizations, seek strong leadership, clear direction, and an understanding of the department’s mission and vision.  This provides the basis for a strong commitment to organizational excellence, but is this excellence based on shared core values and vision (transformational or intrinsic), adherence to strict policies and procedures (transactional or enforcement based), or some balance of both?  Ultimately, good organizational leaders seek to develop a workplace which is constantly moving the vision and mission of the organization forward while not neglecting the requirements of procedure and policies.  The real concern is not that the sergeant brought forward a dilemma, but rather the concern whether the lieutenant will appropriately address the issue based on organizational leadership philosophies. His response will represent the organizational leader’s intent if the philosophy is clearly understood.  The response should address the employee error while congratulating the good work.

Enforcement-focused leadership often follows a transactional style that meets the daily operational needs of the department, through strict interpretation of policies and regulations.  Intrinsic-focused leadership depicts a transformational leadership style based on core values, an identifiable mission, and an attainable but challenging vision.  Both leadership styles are needed and coexist in successful organizations.  However, too much emphasis on either style damages the operational culture and hinders progressive thinking.  Organizations with too much emphasis on transactional leadership will see workforces unwilling to provide five-star service or think outside the norm for fear of repercussion.  Too much emphasis on transformational leadership creates organizations that follow many different paths and always seek the latest fad as a new direction as there is not a clear commitment to a vision, and the values and mission drift with the times.

The situation brought forward from the sergeant is common in organizations, as individuals do a very good job, but stop just short of doing a great job. In this case, they congratulated themselves for a productive shift by taking an extended lunch.  The lieutenant’s response becomes very important, as it not only identifies the organization’s leadership philosophy to the sergeant and involved officers, it sets a clear direction through action for all members.  The lieutenant demonstrates understanding of the department philosophy when his reply addresses the core mission and values of the organization.  In our example, the officers have fulfilled their mission to the citizens on this evening, which should be recognized by the sergeant.  However, the values of the organization also include the mission to support other officers and the needs of the department.  An explanation of this principle to the sergeant generates a clearer understanding of the organization’s values, and as the sergeant addresses the policy violation with the officers, the values are enforced again.  The officers are still accountable for their actions and adherence to policy, but they learn why the policy exists, and how it benefits themselves and their peers as well as the citizens.

Leadership based on values, vision, and a strong commitment to the core mission results in empowered individuals striving toward the same end, and accomplishing great tasks for the betterment of the organization.  Empowered individuals need fewer policies or procedures, because they see organizational success as their own success, and expect excellence from themselves and their peers, regardless of policies or procedures.  Organizational leaders determine organizational culture through their example, their clear delineation of adherence to mission and values, and by communicating a challenging vision.  This process is enforced through interaction and relationships, which are built on clearly identified expectations and operational outcomes.  Organizational leaders can accurately predict the lieutenant’s response to the new sergeant when they have correctly passed on the values, mission, and vision to the lieutenant, who has adopted them as his own.

Many organizations struggle with intrinsic-based leadership as it requires time and energy to fully explain and develop the organization’s mission, values, and vision throughout all levels of the organization.   It is simply faster to focus on additional policies and procedures, but which, while they are necessary, continue the legacy of enforcement-based leadership.  Transactional leadership is vital to an organization’s health, but if it overshadows transformational leadership, the department will not function at full strength.

Organizational leadership is an often-used term in the workplace which usually generates as many questions as it answers. What is it?  How do you recognize it? Can it be taught to others?  How will you respond to similar situations in your organization in ways that will create both high adherence to standards and high performance toward shared mission and vision?

H. E. Smith considers the knowledge gained while earning an M.S. in Leadership, Disaster Preparedness, and Crisis Management perfectly complements the experience and skills gained from over twenty years in law enforcement.  Now serving as a command-level officer in the Boise Police Department in Boise, ID, he remains an avid student of organizational leadership and multi-agency emergency responses.

In my book The Leaders New Clothes: The Naked Truths of Leadership there are seven Naked Truths of Authentic Leadership. The first and most important is about how you are perceived as a leader by those you lead. It states that:  “Perception is all there is – you are the leader you are perceived to be.” How you are perceived by your employees affects the culture inside the organization. Imagine being more than just perceived as but instead KNOWN to be an engaged leader that listens to, interacts with, and learns from the employees in the organization! That is the definition of authentic leadership.  The impact of such authenticity would be far reaching and better than any perception of one as a leader. So here’s a good question: Do you even know how you are perceived by your employees? For many of us the answer is “No, we really don’t know.” By the way you can go ahead and read that as, “I am naked.”

Yes. Yes you are!

Now more than ever there are great social enterprise networking tools that can create and nourish a connection with those we lead. Along with mobile access, these internal social networks afford leaders amazing a real time, all-the-time connection to their employees, to the issues facing the business, to new product ideas, and to every aspect of the business.  What an amazing opportunity to build an authentic relationship with the groups, division, and employees in the company!

Make no mistake about it however, there is risk. Entering into an authentic relationship requires new levels of transparency from the front-line to the C-suite. This is exactly why we see many leaders commit to providing the social network for the rest of the organization but exclude themselves from the conversation. They are content with providing transparency for the rest of the organization. This is more risky than actually engaging and setting the tone, direction, and authenticity of the conversation.

As they have with Social Media in general, leaders ask “What’s the ROI on the time commitment and costs?” And while that is a fair question, unfortunately ROI is the wrong metric for relationships. Instead leaders should be seeking the Return on Relationship, or the ROR.  What is the ROR on authentic leadership engagement in the social enterprise? It can be what all leaders seek: a motivated, inspired organization that is passionate about the company and its mission.

I firmly believe the ROR is worthy of the risk of engagement. Take a look at CEO’s that have embraced the concept and have seen huge benefits. Brian Dunn at Best Buy, Michael Dell, Tony Hsieh at Zappos, Gary Kelley at SouthWest and others engage socially with their employees and customers to foster a greater following inside and outside their companies.  Consider Bill Marriott, CEO of Marriott, who wrote this on his blog, “What’s the big deal? This is just another way for me to talk to my customers and listen to my customers.” He knows that having a relationship with his customers keeps him on top of their feedback and interests. His relationship with customers and employees cultivates social influencers and evangelists.

It’s no secret that the way we communicate inside the organization is rapidly changing with advent of social organizations. Leaders can authentically participate for a maximum ROR or they can be naked: perceived as disconnected, uninterested, or not present. Just remember that if you start down the authentic relationship path you must commit to it. Otherwise you will be in violation of Naked Truth of Leadership number three: “If you are not ready to act, don’t ask!”

This year I have watched teams soar and sink, and although there have been many unique aspects to each story, the one factor that is undeniable is that the character and competency of each leader was a determining factor in success and failure alike.

In thinking more critically about the specific competency in each situation, I have come to realize the single most important component in each story is the extent to which the leader had sufficient influence to move the people in a common direction, and the ability to facilitate that movement in a non-coercive way that was in the long-term best interest of everyone.  The influence, or lack thereof, in each situation was born out of the leader’s level of authenticity.  Being real as a leader means more than anything to those who follow you.  To be real you must know and cultivate your character.

Simply put, the success of any organization hinges on its leader’s ability to influence people.  The ability to influence is rooted in your authenticity, and authenticity is a matter of character.

My hope and challenge for you is that you will make this coming year one in which you cultivate your character to develop the authentic leadership influence your people need.

Hans Christian Andersen

Translated by Jean Hersholt

Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on being well dressed. He cared nothing about reviewing his soldiers, going to the theatre, or going for a ride in his carriage, except to show off his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day, and instead of saying, as one might, about any other ruler, “The King’s in council,” here they always said. “The Emperor’s in his dressing room.”

In the great city where he lived, life was always gay. Every day many strangers came to town, and among them one day came two swindlers. They let it be known they were weavers, and they said they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable. Not only were their colors and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.

“Those would be just the clothes for me,” thought the Emperor. “If I wore them I would be able to discover which men in my empire are unfit for their posts. And I could tell the wise men from the fools. Yes, I certainly must get some of the stuff woven for me right away.” He paid the two swindlers a large sum of money to start work at once.

They set up two looms and pretended to weave, though there was nothing on the looms. All the finest silk and the purest old thread which they demanded went into their traveling bags, while they worked the empty looms far into the night.

“I’d like to know how those weavers are getting on with the cloth,” the Emperor thought, but he felt slightly uncomfortable when he remembered that those who were unfit for their position would not be able to see the fabric. It couldn’t have been that he doubted himself, yet he thought he’d rather send someone else to see how things were going. The whole town knew about the cloth’s peculiar power, and all were impatient to find out how stupid their neighbors were.

“I’ll send my honest old minister to the weavers,” the Emperor decided. “He’ll be the best one to tell me how the material looks, for he’s a sensible man and no one does his duty better.”

So the honest old minister went to the room where the two swindlers sat working away at their empty looms.

“Heaven help me,” he thought as his eyes flew wide open, “I can’t see anything at all”. But he did not say so.

Both the swindlers begged him to be so kind as to come near to approve the excellent pattern, the beautiful colors. They pointed to the empty looms, and the poor old minister stared as hard as he dared. He couldn’t see anything, because there was nothing to see. “Heaven have mercy,” he thought. “Can it be that I’m a fool? I’d have never guessed it, and not a soul must know. Am I unfit to be the minister? It would never do to let on that I can’t see the cloth.”

“Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of it,” said one of the weavers.

“Oh, it’s beautiful -it’s enchanting.” The old minister peered through his spectacles. “Such a pattern, what colors!” I’ll be sure to tell the Emperor how delighted I am with it.”

“We’re pleased to hear that,” the swindlers said. They proceeded to name all the colors and to explain the intricate pattern. The old minister paid the closest attention, so that he could tell it all to the Emperor. And so he did.

The swindlers at once asked for more money, more silk and gold thread, to get on with the weaving. But it all went into their pockets. Not a thread went into the looms, though they worked at their weaving as hard as ever.

The Emperor presently sent another trustworthy official to see how the work progressed and how soon it would be ready. The same thing happened to him that had happened to the minister. He looked and he looked, but as there was nothing to see in the looms he couldn’t see anything.

“Isn’t it a beautiful piece of goods?” the swindlers asked him, as they displayed and described their imaginary pattern.

“I know I’m not stupid,” the man thought, “so it must be that I’m unworthy of my good office. That’s strange. I mustn’t let anyone find it out, though.” So he praised the material he did not see. He declared he was delighted with the beautiful colors and the exquisite pattern. To the Emperor he said, “It held me spellbound.”

All the town was talking of this splendid cloth, and the Emperor wanted to see it for himself while it was still in the looms. Attended by a band of chosen men, among whom were his two old trusted officials-the ones who had been to the weavers-he set out to see the two swindlers. He found them weaving with might and main, but without a thread in their looms.

“Magnificent,” said the two officials already duped. “Just look, Your Majesty, what colors! What a design!” They pointed to the empty looms, each supposing that the others could see the stuff.

“What’s this?” thought the Emperor. “I can’t see anything. This is terrible!

Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be the Emperor? What a thing to happen to me of all people! – Oh! It’s very pretty,” he said. “It has my highest approval.” And he nodded approbation at the empty loom. Nothing could make him say that he couldn’t see anything.

His whole retinue stared and stared. One saw no more than another, but they all joined the Emperor in exclaiming, “Oh! It’s very pretty,” and they advised him to wear clothes made of this wonderful cloth especially for the great procession he was soon to lead. “Magnificent! Excellent! Unsurpassed!” were bandied from mouth to mouth, and everyone did his best to seem well pleased. The Emperor gave each of the swindlers a cross to wear in his buttonhole, and the title of “Sir Weaver.”

Before the procession the swindlers sat up all night and burned more than six candles, to show how busy they were finishing the Emperor’s new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth off the loom. They made cuts in the air with huge scissors. And at last they said, “Now the Emperor’s new clothes are ready for him.”

Then the Emperor himself came with his noblest noblemen, and the swindlers each raised an arm as if they were holding something. They said, “These are the trousers, here’s the coat, and this is the mantle,” naming each garment. “All of them are as light as a spider web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that’s what makes them so fine.”

“Exactly,” all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.

“If Your Imperial Majesty will condescend to take your clothes off,” said the swindlers, “we will help you on with your new ones here in front of the long mirror.”

The Emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put his new clothes on him, one garment after another. They took him around the waist and seemed to be fastening something – that was his train-as the Emperor turned round and round before the looking glass.

“How well Your Majesty’s new clothes look. Aren’t they becoming!” He heard on all sides, “That pattern, so perfect! Those colors, so suitable! It is a magnificent outfit.”

Then the minister of public processions announced: “Your Majesty’s canopy is waiting outside.”

“Well, I’m supposed to be ready,” the Emperor said, and turned again for one last look in the mirror. “It is a remarkable fit, isn’t it?” He seemed to regard his costume with the greatest interest.

The noblemen who were to carry his train stooped low and reached for the floor as if they were picking up his mantle. Then they pretended to lift and hold it high. They didn’t dare admit they had nothing to hold.

So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.

“But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said.

“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on. A child says he hasn’t anything on.”

“But he hasn’t got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.

The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on.” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all.

When I took the newly created job of Chief Information Officer in the City of Boise, Idaho six years ago, I did so assuming that I would be trusted to take the City in new directions regarding the delivery of Technology-related services.  The 32 people who reported to the CIO position at the time anointed me with positional trust to lead them in new directions.

This kind of trust is probably short-lived and needs to be replaced with a true reliance built on integrity, strength, ability and confidence that I will do what I say, when I say I will do it.

In the first few months on the job, I believe that this trust did develop in my ability to effect change.  We found funding to develop an Enterprise-level Technology Strategic Plan, and after presentation and buy-off from the various levels of management, we began to execute against that plan.

One of the most important tasks was to choose the leaders who could assist me in this endeavor.

We struggled to get the right people in the correct slots for the new organization.  I was working closely with Phil Eastman on the Change Management aspects of what we were doing.  He was also spending time with the newly appointed leaders to help them build their teams.

I remember talking to Phil and saying that a major issue was that my own leadership team needed help.  He and I devised an offsite workshop in which my leadership team could work on team-building and learn to trust each other.

One of the exercises that still sticks in my mind was one in which everyone was blindfolded.  One person would remove their blindfold and, by verbal instruction, would “guide” the others around a forested course… in snow shoes!  The point of the exercise came down to trusting the person who was the “eyes” for the group, and it was successful in teaching us that you didn’t have to be in front to “lead” the group.  You could actually “lead” the group from the front, middle or back of the line, as long as the trust was there.

Trust at the leadership level is not always a given.  Trust at the leadership level is about placing confidence in others, so that they will be supportive and reinforcing without taking advantage of you.  We worked on that aspect as a team, discussing openly what we trusted and when we didn’t.

Subsequent to that outing, we each had our hands full with developing our own processes, procedures and rules within our teams.  We did another day of workshops and retested our relationships via a Leadership Assessment that we had base-lined in the forest session.  It showed that our trust in each other was not even as high as when we first tested.  Obviously work remained.  Progress was elusive even as we had made tremendous progress in our work delivery.

I believe we broke through in the next few months when we tested the team one last time and showed remarkable progress.  We had come to the point where we assumed that other peers would not intentionally hurt or abuse you, should you make an error or mistake.

Have we arrived?  I don’t think the journey is ever over, as any one seemingly small thing can disrupt the balance.  Someone said, “It takes years to build trust and a few seconds to destroy it.”  We seem to be constantly challenging each other, and the team seems stronger each time we work through another disappointment.  And though the journey is not over, it has been an interesting ride.

I have learned as much about trust as the rest of the group; how it is a powerful friend or a hated enemy when trying to accomplish the enormous task of providing leadership for technology in the City.

As I am writing this I am thinking it may be time to do another assessment.  Maybe I shouldn’t ask the question, unless I am sure I want to know the answer. I think we would rate ourselves much higher than in the past several assessments.  I am the perpetual optimist.  My glass is most always full in Garry’s World.  Actually, Garry’s World is a nice place to be.

Garry Beaty – Thirty years as Senior Executive of Information Technology for two leading retail chains and most recently as Chief Information Officer for the City of Boise, Idaho.  Beaty has continuously focused on improving productivity, enhancing visibility to data and information, and improving the bottom line.  He has served as a strategic partner and trusted advisor to C level executives while identifying, defining, designing and implementing key initiatives and solutions through the application of technology.  At the City of Boise, Beaty embarked on an enterprise-wide information-technology strategic plan, resulting in a centralization of the IT function across the enterprise.  This effort allowed leverage of hardware, software, money and, most importantly, talent to achieve the goals outlined in the 4-5 year plan.

Currently, several enterprise-level projects are under way, including replacing the ERP system, time and attendance capture, and rollout of an imaging and document storage system.  Several department-level projects are also active, including records management for the Police, electronic submittal of blueprints, replacement of a utility billing system, and others.

Rebecca Lovelace has been the Executive Director of the Family Justice Center in Nampa, Idaho for the past seven years.  As Director, Rebecca oversees the daily operations, financial management, sustainability, and fundraising activities of the FJC. She uses many interpersonal relationship skills to keep the Nampa Family Justice Center operating successfully.  Since the opening of the FJC in November 2005, the Center has provided over 5,500 services to clients living in the city of Nampa and its surrounding areas.  Services include protection order filing, counseling (adults and children), legal aid assistance, safety planning, case management, State self-reliance benefits assistance, forensic interviews and many other much needed services regularly needed by victims of abuse. All housed under one roof at the FJC.  Police, prosecutors, Legal Aid attorneys and several other community-based agencies work on-site at the FJC; coordinating their efforts with other off-site and/or part-time agencies to meet the needs of adult and child victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.

Rebecca was awarded the Outstanding Victim Services Award by the Idaho Victim Witness Association in 2010 along with a Woman of the Year award presented by the Idaho Business Review. Rebecca is a presenter for the National Family Justice Center Alliance’s International Family Justice Center Conference for the past three years and has provided technical assistance for other cities across the United States for the Alliance on FJC operations.

A few weeks ago I was eating lunch at a Chinese restaurant, and when I was finished, I opened my fortune cookie.  It read, “If you have HOPE, you have everything.” I had already agreed to write this article for Leadership Advisors and was struggling on how to begin the article.  The minute I opened and read this fortune, I knew this was the opening statement for the article.  The word HOPE really sums up the vision of those who work tirelessly everyday with victims of abuse, including incident response and prevention. These workers’ efforts reach beyond the initial victim to secondary and tertiary victims through outreach, education and awareness.

The word Hope is present so much in the daily work of the many people working with at risk populations. Hope is what drives our commitment and work in helping people. According to Dictionary.com, the definition of Hope is: The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. Those who come to work every day to help others in need or who have interaction in response to or prevention of abuse all have Hope. We have to. If we didn’t have Hope, we couldn’t gain the inner strength needed to help those in need. There are those who have no hope because of the circumstances they face, particularly harmful and/or dangerous situations that place themselves and their children at risk on a daily basis. This is what victims of domestic violence and their children face every day, Without Hope, they cannot survive, and those called to serve in many different ways cannot survive either. Survival,  like Hope, looks different for different people, based on the perception and inner strength that a victim and those who care for them all define differently.

The month of October has been deemed the month of Hope by many who participate in Breast Cancer awareness activities or recognize Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  Both of these very different,, very personal, often life-threatening, “diseases” are treatable and curable.  With the help from family, friends, the community and the criminal justice system, this “cancer” known as family violence can be purged from society.  All we need is HOPE!

As one survivor said, “Hope has rewritten my story.  I no longer focus on the violence that ripped through my family like a wrecking ball, leaving shattered souls in the wake of its destruction. Instead, I invite others to join me where life is real, bittersweet real.”

The struggle to emerge from the oppression of abuse is serious and quite arduous. It cannot be done alone. Every day at the Nampa Family Justice Center, I get to be part of an amazing team of people who offer hope, help, and healing. Something happens when a survivor chooses to move from darkness to light; a life is broken open to reveal unseen possibilities. Therein lies our Hope.