A Matter of Perspective

I once heard the story of a farmer who lived on the outskirts of a village.  One day, as he was working around his house, a stranger came up to him and asked what the nearby town was like, as he was looking for a new place to live.  The farmer asked this stranger, in turn, what his previous community was like.  The stranger replied that it was a negative place whose citizens were rude, bitter, and mean.  The farmer told the stranger that he would find the nearby village to be very similar to his previous town, to which the stranger determined to keep on going, searching for a better town.  Later that day, another stranger came up to the farmer and asked what type of community was nearby, as he was looking for a new place to live.  The farmer asked this second visitor what his previous community had been like.  This second stranger responded that his previous community had been very supportive, friendly and caring, and that he was hoping to find a new community to live in.  The farmer responded to this second stranger that he was in luck, that the local village was much as he had described his former town to be like.  This second stranger determined to enter the village and become a new resident there.  

This story reflects the impact that your perspective can have on how you perceive things.  I was reminded of this story last week, as I had the opportunity to listen to Shawn Achor speak while at the International City Manager’s Association meeting in Seattle.  Shawn is an author, speaker, and founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research.  During his presentation in Seattle, he focused on the impact that our perspective has on how we view and interpret the world around us. 

He noted that our brain can process about 40 bits of information per second despite receiving 11 million pieces of information coming in from all sources, including nerve endings.  This means that we end up being selective in which pieces of information that come our way we choose to pay attention to.  This selection process is often unconscious; if we choose to listen to a series of negative news stories in the morning to begin our day, that negative attitude, or perspective, will lead us to evaluate the day’s events based on our morning attitude.  As we confront those 11 million pieces of information each second, the negative morning attitude we developed will be an unconscious selector of the 40 bits our brain chooses to process.  Achor’s point was that if we, however, make a conscious decision to pay attention to positive items at the beginning of the day, that choice will impact our ability to see the day’s events in a positive light.  We will unconsciously be more inclined to process more positive pieces of information throughout the day.

Shawn Achor noted that this simple process of consciously influencing our beginning perspective each morning, of choosing a positive lens to view the world through, will not only influence how we perceive the events of the day, but will have a ripple effect on everyone we come in contact with.  The attitude that we display to others is noted by them, whether consciously or not, and as we display a more positive attitude towards those around us, we can have a positive impact on them as well.  To demonstrate the impact that this type of change can have, Shawn talked about a hospital he worked with that asked its employees to make a practice of smiling and saying “hello” to anyone who came within 5 feet of them.  Over a period of time, this simple behavior change had a significantly positive impact on patient care results, as well as employee workplace attitudes.

Shawn also spent a significant amount of time discussing the factors that influence long term happiness and success.  He talked about how 90% of long term happiness is determined by how you process information.  He also discussed how 75% of job success is determined by the belief that your behavior matters, having a solid social network to support you, and learning how to deal with stress in a meaningful way.

The session left me wanting more.  As a result, I bought one of his books:  The Happiness Advantage:  The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work.  I want to read this for myself, and take the time to think through how I can apply this concept in my life.  In addition, I plan on using it as one of the books that our Leadership team devotes to discussing over the coming months.

I wanted to conclude by revisiting the story of the farmer who was questioned by two new potential residents.  The farmer was wise enough to know that his local village had its strengths and weaknesses, and that the two strangers would likely view those strengths and weaknesses through the same perspective they had made previous evaluations.  Achor would note that the two individuals have very different mindsets on how they view the world around them.  Shawn Achor would also note that the two strangers, and you and I as well, have the ability to consciously choose to use a new perspective to view our community through.  I have been challenged to evaluate how well I am doing at having the appropriate lens as my focal point.

Mission Guatemala

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to participate with two of my sons on a mission trip to Guatemala through our church.  There were 18 of us who participated on the week-long trip, and I think we learned a lot, including about Guatemala specifically, other cultures in general, and about ourselves.  We were able to spend the week based out of SETECA, Seminary Theological of Central America, located in Guatemala City.  SETECA reaches out to hundreds of students in various formats, students from all over Central America and beyond.  

The core project that we did was painting at the seminary itself, but we also had the opportunity to travel around Guatemala City and other areas of the country.  These “visits” allowed us to see three distinct communities.  One was a daycare near SETECA that was begun as an outreach to guajeros, the name given to residents in the area of the City dump, who make their living sorting through trash.  This daycare was located a few blocks from SETECA’s campus, and we nightly smelled the odor from the dump.  This odor was particularly harsh the week we were there; we learned that a few people died while picking through the trash when a wall of garbage collapsed on them, and the smell of their decomposing, possibly burning, bodies was in the air.  You can begin learning what life is like living next to the dump here (http://climbforsight.org/blog/entry/guatemala-city-dump) and here (http://www.vice.com/read/the-basurero-is-burning-life-at-the-gates-of-hell-in-guatemala-city).  We had the opportunity to tour the graveyard mentioned in the second linked article as well, watching the vultures flying over the dump immediately adjacent. 

On another day, we had the opportunity to travel to a church in another community, Escuintla.  From there, we traveled by pickup bed into the rural mountains, among the sugar cane farms, to a group of Mayan families that had been settled by the government in the late 1990’s.  The church group was trying to build ties with this Mayan community of approximately 100 families, living in a remote area.  This small community was spread over the side of a mountain, had electricity, a source of water, and dirt/rock roads, and little else.  The context of how this community fits within the larger Guatemalan society is complex; for those wishing to understand how this group is treated by Guatemalan society, you can begin your background research at the following link:  http://www.minorityrights.org/2555/guatemala/maya.html  .  This group has a history of being treated as less than equal in Guatemala, and has suffered tremendous persecution throughout their history.  We saw this lived out in a community that has little access to the world beyond their local hills and survives primarily off of what they can raise in their gardens and through some day labor when it is available.

And finally, we had the opportunity to travel to a tourist area, Antigua Guatemala.  Antigua served as the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala, and is filled with colonial architecture.  During this trip, we also were able to participate in the outreach ministry of a couple who have provided a dinner to children in a small community on the outskirts of Antigua, the community of San Juan del Obispo.  This couple has provided food to underprivileged children for 22 years, largely on their own.  We helped with the meal and game time, largely providing some back-up support (and a bit of a respite) to this couple’s ministry.

Our time visiting these various communities, and travelling around Guatemala in general, demonstrated stark differences with life in the United States.  There were significantly fewer conveniences.  There were armed guards at a majority of the stores.  Traffic was crazy.  Ditches were dug by hand.  We saw modern conveniences, but few people could afford the things that were present we often take for granted.  We had many takeaways that are too numerous for me to take time to mention, let alone that very many people would want to read about.

There were some highlights, though, that stood out that can be applied in our daily life here, though.  As we went about the activities arranged by our church as well as by the staff at SETECA that we worked with, the interactions that we were involved with continued to come back to the philosophy espoused by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert in their book When Helping Hurts.  The authors, who are associated with the Chalmers Center (www.chalmers.org), continually stressed to recognize the brokenness of all of our lives, and the need to work together as community.  SETECA has relationships with several organizations that are performing outreach efforts throughout Guatemala as a result of their role as a seminary.  They are careful, though, to try to balance the need of being supportive in these relationships, but not doing so much that the various outreach efforts become dependent on SETECA’s resources.  SETECA also structured the work performed by our Mission team in a way that was designed not to get any agency dependent on the assistance we provided, but was rather complementary to the efforts they were taking.  This is a difficult task; too often, we as individuals (or groups) see a problem and want to fix it, rather than partnering with others in a way that helps them address and overcome any problems that are there.  Something else that was pointed out in this process was that just because we see something as a problem that needs addressed, does not mean that the other person sees something as a problem.  As we come in and try to fix something that someone doesn’t want fixed, we too easily put ourselves in a position of authority/superiority over the one we are trying to help, and destroy any possible foundation for relationship.

Relationships were the final issue that I wanted to address from this trip.  We spent a significant amount of time building relationships, within our team, with staff at SETECA, and with other individuals that we came in contact with throughout the week.  Getting to know each other, share in each other’s struggles and successes, built a level of community that is an essential platform for trust.  When Helping Hurts put a significant amount of emphasis into the need for trust, and treating each other as equals.  Without a recognition that each of us is a broken individual in need of assistance and restored relationships, we cannot have a platform of mutual respect where we can work together for long-term, positive change.

Building a Wall

There was a country that was overrun centuries ago, and were carried into captivity by their conquerors.  They lived in exile for several decades.  Eventually, they began to be allowed to return to their homeland over the course of several more decades.  As they resettled their homeland, they found their capital city virtually unprotected, as the wall that protected it had been destroyed.  One of the citizens who returned to the homeland, named Nehemiah, decided to take steps to alleviate this problem.  His homeland was still a subject nation and was surrounded by enemies.  As Nehemiah tried to get a protective wall established around his capital city, he had to build support not only from the ruling authorities, but create an organized group that could work together locally on what seemed like an insurmountable task when surrounded by enemies.  Nehemiah encouraged the residents of his country to work in family units, and divided up portions of the overall project of building a wall among these various family units. 

Nehemiah was able to break up a daunting task into smaller, more manageable components, and organized the various groups so that together they were able to complete the task of building a wall of protection.  I recently witnessed a similar coordination of effort in Burlington.  On the weekend of July 18^th, I saw a group of churches attempt to take on the task of meeting needs in Burlington in response to the bus tour that their pastors had taken a couple months before.   These churches worked with the South Hill Neighborhood Association (SHNA) along with another group called Sustainable Urban Revitalization and General Empowerment – One Block and One Person/Family at a Time (SURGE-1).  Together, they spent a Saturday morning with 40-50 people involved working to clean up three separate properties in a small, two block area. 

Their goal, spurred by the bus trip of Burlington they had recently undertaken, was to take small, systematic steps to improve the Burlington community.  On this day, they were successful.  They were able to pull multiple groups together to make a visible impact on a neighborhood.  The larger task, though, is still outstanding for them.  Can they have a long-term, significant impact on the Burlington community and the lives of individuals and families?  That remains to be seen.  The goals that these groups are trying to accomplish require a long-term vision and a willingness to continue moving forward to succeed.  I will stay tuned to see what additional steps they may take.

Traveling Around Burlington

I recently had the opportunity to take a bus tour of Burlington with over 20 pastors from our community.  We spent over an hour driving around various neighborhoods, talking about the condition of the housing, condition of the streets, police incidents that have occurred, building projects that have occurred are that have been considered by developers, industries, individuals, and the city, and about changes that have occurred in our community’s general economic conditions over the past few decades.  It was a great opportunity for me personally to share insights of what has happened to our community over time, and I think it was an eye opening experience for the group of pastors to take a significant part of their morning to truly focus on what is happening in Burlington. 

 

As we drove through various neighborhoods, I heard comments made about areas of our community that some of the group had never seen.  I provided a backdrop of statistics about our community from the U.S. Census Bureau, using their 2007-2011 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates.  Employment in our community tends to be more in the areas of service and manufacturing, and less in managerial and professional roles, than the rest of the state.  This matches who we are as people, but it also has an impact on wage distributions; mean household income statewide was almost $64,000 while Burlington’s was less than $55,000.  

This disparity can be seen in several other statistics as well.  One category of disparity has to do with the age of housing stock.  Statewide, 45% of the housing stock was built prior to 1960, while in Burlington 68% was built prior to this date.  One consequence of this statistic is that there a multitude of beautiful older homes in our community in a quantity and quality that cannot be found in many places.  Another consequence, though, is that we have aging houses that require a significant amount of maintenance that is very costly to perform, with several areas of our community that reflect a need for significant maintenance efforts to occur.  A related disparity has to do with our community having a more difficult time paying for its housing; for homeowners, on a statewide basis, 17% of residents are spending 35% or more of their monthly income on their housing, while in Burlington over 22% of residents are spending this high portion of their income on housing.  The situation for renters is similar; statewide, 36.5% of residents spend more than 35% of their income on rent while in Burlington the percentage is almost 43%.  We as a community are more stretched financially than the rest of Iowa, and as a consequence have a more difficult time making ends meet.

The final category I focused on with this group of pastors had to do with poverty.  Statewide, 7.6% of all families fall below the poverty level, while in Burlington 12.1% do.  Comparably, on a statewide basis, 51.5% of single female head of household families with children under the age of 5 are in poverty while in Burlington the comparable percentage is over 75%.   

Every community has its issues, and during the tour of Burlington, this group of pastors was able to look at our town with this specific information in mind.  I was impressed with the heart shown by each of these pastors to look at the needs and opportunities present in Burlington, and heard a lot of discussion about needing to find ways to make concerted, coordinated efforts to have an impact.  I was encouraged that they will do their part to be involved in meeting needs in Burlington, and look forward to seeing what impact the day may have on them individually, within their congregations, and within the community at large.

How do We More Effectively Meet Human Service Needs in our Community in a Dynamic Manner

In May I went to Redlands, CA on behalf of the International City Manager’s Association (ICMA).  The purpose was to be involved in one of an ongoing series of visioning exercises being undertaken by Esri,a company that specializes in mapping systems.  I have been used to Esri as a company that creates the software program that is the basis of our city/county maps that I use to look at property information in Burlington.  Their product is part of what you see when you go to Des Moines County GIS.  But what Esri has become over the years is much more than this.  I encourage you to learn more about their company by looking at their website, a link to which is included at the end of this post.  After my trip, I was asked to provide a summary of my experiences to ICMA.  The text of my summary to ICMA is as follows, in bold italics:

This spring I had the opportunity to visit Esri at its headquarters in Redlands, CA as part of an Esri-ICMA White Boarding Exercise with a focus on Human Services.  We spent a significant amount of time learning about the amount of data that is already available, and the ways it is being manipulated in various communities across the country already.  Yet there is a significant potential to improve on this at the community level.  The focus of the session was to look at how we coordinate the various forms of data we have on our community in relation to human services; what are the characteristics of our community demographics, what are the services that are provided by different social service providers from counseling to food banks, and where are there mismatches based on population distribution/demographics.  We had a small group breakout that allowed us to focus specifically on the potential to create an application that would allow us to map services and needs, with the idea that it would be a tool for our government agencies along with community groups and nonprofits that we interact with.  We looked at the potential to use this application as a device that tracked requests for services over time in a spatial manner.  This would allow us to see where resources were either lacking or in overabundance, as well as to see if their location was not consistent with the locations of who was using the services.

During the course of the day, I realized just how much can already be done.  As we worked on our core exercise, and talked about what it would be nice to be able to measure or display, ESRI staff was able to talk about how they already have the platform built (and often the information available) based on other applications they have already developed for governments, nonprofits, and private sector entities.  Our world has changed dramatically over the past few years; I have been aware of how private sector entities have used community demographics as they make decisions on where and when to invest.  The placement of a retail store, for example, needs to know community demographics to determine if there is sufficient density of their target market to justify locating a store in a given location.  This same process can be used as we think about whether a given location might be a good location for a park.  This same process can assist in running “what if” scenarios on whether a mixed use development in a given neighborhood has the potential to have long-run success. 

I have learned I need to ask more questions through this process; I need to ask my staff what they already know.  I also need to realize that some endeavors that we consider can be run through trial runs with the assistance of ESRI, or other groups as well.  GIS is a tool with so many untapped benefits.  The data is already there, and constantly expanding.  We need to take the time to learn how to apply it.

I was struck, during the course of my trip and in the ensuing couple of weeks, by how much data is collected in our country.  This data can be used in ways that I can’t even imagine.  You can get a small idea of how it is used and by whom by reviewing Esri’s website.  I get the image of infinite possibilities, uses that can be both positive and negative.  We talked about the ability to use a system of cameras to monitor traffic flow through a community or region, to provide information on congestion that could be used to adjust traffic signal timing while also allowing motorists to access the data in an effort to find alternative, non-congested routes.  Applications based off this technology also would allow parking spaces to be monitored, again with the ability for motorists looking for a parking spot in a downtown area to located the nearest vacant parking spot through their smart phone or other device.  These are applications that are already being used.

I want to note, as I close this post, that this kind of ability also raises a lot of concerns for individuals.  There are an increasing number of ways in which are daily activities are monitored, and used to feed predictive analytics tools to predict how we will act (or how we could potentially be influenced to act) in the future.  These are concerns that should be part of the conversation.