Growing Together: The Value of Shared Learning and Leading
While the COVID-19 pandemic caused many students to take a step back from organized clubs and activities during the 2020–2021 school year, Marney O’Connor, then a junior at George Washington University, decided to join GlobeMed, virtually. “I was initially drawn to GlobeMed’s focus on forming sustainable grassroots partner relationships,” Marney shares. “I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of.”
Marney started as a general member and quickly became co-chair of the Awareness Team where she organized and led fundraisers to raise money for GlobeMed at GW’s partner organization, Set Her Free, based in Kampala, Uganda. After that experience of leading a committee, Marney will be serving as a co-president alongside classmate Annie Roberts for her senior year.
With the new school year just around the corner and many schools still offering online or hybrid experiences, joining a new student organization and taking on a leadership role during the pandemic is not without its challenges. “The online environment is very isolating for all students for obvious reasons. They want to socialize and meet new people but that is nearly impossible in a virtual space,” Marney points out. To rebuild the sense of unity and belonging in her chapter, Marney is excited to create more opportunities for people to connect and get to know each other through social gatherings, discussion groups, and interactive ghUs.
The social disconnect between chapter members poses additional challenges for new recruits. “I think I had a lot of imposter syndrome taking on a leadership role for an organization that was primarily made up of members who had been working together for multiple years,” Marney says. “However, I was able to work through that by having conversations with my peers, and I quickly found that they were really eager to help me learn.” This mindset of working to get everyone on the same page regardless of their formal title or experience level is what carried GlobeMed at GW through the difficulties of virtual fundraising and event planning.
Like all chapters across the network, GlobeMed at GW wasn’t raising money for their own purpose, but to support an organization that does essential grassroots work. In recognizing the strain of resources placed on Set Her Free during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, GlobeMed at GW pushed to provide additional financial support. “During this difficult time, we felt a lot of pressure for us to get good outcomes from our work with Set Her Free. However, I think that sense of urgency caused us to take a step back and think about what we were doing and how we were doing it,” Marney says.
One initiative in particular that prompted this reflection and reevaluation was GlobeMed at GW’s bake sale. Inspired by the TV show “The Great British Bake Off,” the fundraiser advertised GlobeMed members competing to sell the most of their baked goods with the goal of becoming the “Great GlobeMed Baker”. However, the process of baking, packaging, and delivering proved to be more difficult than it was worth. “We learned very quickly that it was a lot of effort for not a lot of money raised,” Marney shares. “But it was such a great learning experience because it really showed us how much time, effort, and moving parts are involved in fundraisers.”
Looking ahead to her role as co-president, Marney plans to use all she’s learned from the last year to inform her approach to all chapter operations. “Going forward, it’s important that we determine what we can realistically get done in order to best utilize the time and resources we have.” Marney explains. “We need to have spaces for all members to question things so we can step back and reevaluate. I’m hopeful that this will ensure that we’re doing what’s best for our partner.” With members coming into the fall with different levels of knowledge and experience, this strategy will serve to get everyone on the same level of understanding of who they are and what they do.
After learning the ins and outs of her GlobeMed chapter over the past year as a new member, Marney seeks to promote an environment that encourages shared learning and growth, regardless of their membership title. “I want to create an environment where people feel comfortable admitting when they don’t know something,” Marney says. “Asking questions allows people to better connect with and learn from each other. No one in our organization is an expert, but we’re all very curious and we’re all very committed to the work that we do. We can yield great results if we are all patient in the process of listening and learning.”
This process of shared learning extends to GlobeMed at GW’s interactions with their grassroots partner. As part of her vision as co-president, Marney wants to get as many people as possible involved in conversations with Set Her Free so they can learn how to build sustainable relationships and engage in honest discussions. “I want to show new members that the most important thing we can do is learn from our partner organization. There’s always another person’s story to hear and other questions to ask. It’s important that we let the organization we’re working with speak for itself and let the people who do that real work speak for themselves while uplifting them at the same time,” Marney says.
