It’s the little things that go a long way

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to serve as a delegate to the Texas Democratic State Convention. At the convention, I spent a great deal of time observing – taking in all the different type of people that were present and watching how they did or did not interact with one another. As I experienced each day, I began to relate my observations to community engagement work.

We all know that trust is very important in community work and is something that takes a great deal of time to build, but takes no time at all to break down. Words, behaviors, and how we show up can affect how others perceive us and our intentions. While for the most part, people interacted well with one another, there were a few occasions I saw that demonstrated how truly fragile trust is.

As people were campaigning for national delegates or seats on certain committees, you often found them walking the aisles, talking to the people in the room about why they should be a nominee. Whether intentional or not, there were some times where candidates walked by, talked to one group of people, and overlooked the other group that was seated right next to them. The immediate reaction of the overlooked group was one of defensiveness and anger. Their reaction was “did you see that…they just walked right past us and did not take the time to talk or hand us their literature”. Perception becomes people’s reality and the little act of talking to someone about why they should be a nominee could have meant a great deal. As we engage in community work, it is important that we observe ourselves and who we do or do not interact with and what that means about us.

At other times, you saw people react out of frustration without taking the time to think about what they were about to say. And instead of taking a deep breath, re-assessing what was going on, and reacting in a way that was respectful of all…they reacted with anger, treating people with disrespect. Immediately thereafter, people disengaged, turned instead to their neighbor, and participated on a much lower level than before. Words are powerful and speaking with respect shows that you have high regard for those in the room and those you work with.

We all come to this work with great intentions. But intentions are not enough. We must tread carefully as we meet others for the first time, get to know them, and engage them in this work. And we must self-examine our own behaviors and interactions and make sure that we are interacting in such a way that builds and maintains trust. For it is the little things that go a long way.