Throughout my experiences with BHLP, I've grown and acquired skills that shape who I am as a person and as a leader. I'd like to share a few of them with you including optimism, team-building, and facilitation.

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Optimism

You might be thinking to yourself, "optimism is a skill?". And the answer is a big ole YES. How we perceive the world and the future influences our decisions, our habits, and our lifestyles.  After repeatedly practicing an optimistic mindset my attitude, work ethic, and motivation changed. Coming into college, I was very much a pessimist. And what that does over time is that it shields you from opportunity for success and growth. If you are a pessimist, you believe that things won't work out and you will fail. After awhile, you won't even try. To succeed though, you need to be committed and able to overcome adversity, which is only possible with optimism, a hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something. As a leader, optimism is crucial to inspiring others to work towards a cause. After all, if you don't believe in the work you do, why should anyone else?

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Team-Building

Building an effective team is much more than just agreeing to work with each other and choosing who does what part. Unfortunately, too many groups for school projects and such follow this method. To produce great results, you need to effectively work together. This includes brainstorming, working together in person, getting to know each other as people, and at the center of all of this is trust. By trusting each other and implementing a common vision, it is easier to have productive conflict which leads to optimal results. Every team goes through the same building process of forming, norming, storming, performing, and adjourning, but different teams will move through those phases at a different pace. I've found that by getting to know your team outside of the work itself is a great way to build relationships and create an atmosphere of camaraderie. 

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Facilitation/Public Speaking

During my journey as a service leader, I had the opportunity to hone my facilitation and public speaking skills. Leading up to the trip, I gave multiple presentations spanning many different topics. During the trip itself, I facilitated reflections and activities to deepen our understanding of our service, our impact, and the community in which we served. It was difficult when I started facilitating because you really have to rely on interest and participation. Not to mention, also having the ability to listen, validate points, and ask thought-provoking questions that may or may not have an answer. Another crucial component was remaining neutral in circumstances that required you to pick sides.