Things I will miss

This photo of London at night is a memento from a recent Greenlights consulting project - yes, in London. Greenlights works with nonprofits in Central Texas, which means every once in a while we work with a nonprofit heaquartered here but national or international in scope. In this case, I was facilitating a strategic planning process with an international board working on international humanitarian aid, and very much enjoying the cross-cultural communication and thinking.





On my way back to Austin I began to ponder what I will miss as I hand off my management responsibilities at the end of the month (or perhaps early January...looks like the transition process is moving quickly, but the holidays do interfere).

WHAT I WILL MISS - A BEGINNING LIST
**my wonderful office - it's a great view and a great space - I can see the elevator from my desk, or look into Austin's hills. Some of the best sunrises and sunsets happen outside my window. I know, it's odd to think I am in the office in these off hours...but sometimes those are the best hours for being productive, reflective, and inspired. My office is upstairs from good friends - and the ease of wandering downstairs to visit will be gone when I move out.

**my Greenlights files - my office is equipped with a terrific, fast, reasonably reliable computer, accessing all the files Greenlights has (and hosting some of my favorite music, collected over 5 years). Greenlights' reference files are full of fascinating articles on nonprofit management and an archive of all the trainings, consulting, and templates we've used. Yes, I know a 4 gig flash drive can whisk all this into my own world, but in Greenlights' office I can find everything I need (with a bit of searching) in hard copy. And as an oldtimer, I still prefer hard copy review.

And by the way, which of the files can I take with me? I've written and/or organized many of the files, but needed to review our policies re ownership just to be transparent. Luckily, most of our materials are shared free of charge to our audiences, and all of our contracts with our affiliates spell out that we share ownership of what we produce. So it's not an issue.

** the team spirit - year end activities have admittedly taxed Greenlights' team to the max (we try hard to meet growing demand, and have exceeded many of our targets for programs and services already this year so we are slightly out of breath). Despite this, the team spirit is alive and pops out unexpectedly in moments of grace and fun - from breakfast tacos and homemade baked goods appearing in the mornings to silly stories, sports motivational tips, and helping hands. I am hopeful that the work I'll continue to do with Greenlights will keep me in the loop with team spirit, and am encouraged when I look at how other "former" Greenlights staffers stay connected and are heartily welcomed when they stop by.

** the daily indicators of impact - We have had so many nonprofits stop by and share their thanks with us in the past weeks. I am happy each day I see another nonprofit item in the news, another report on philanthropy in unexpected ways, and get a call or email from a nonprofit colleague describing how Greenlighs helped them or explaining how they worked something out.

No doubt I will think of many more things to miss as I get closer to cleaning out my office and welcoming my successor, but I'll stop here.

One of the most spectacular images from my London adventure is The Eye - a slow moving, huge ferris wheel of sorts that was installed on the Thames for the Millenium.

The Eye is a marvel of color, structure, engineering and its sheer audacity, and sense of fun. When I get too caught up in the hectic details of closing up shop in my managerial role at Greenlights, I think back to the nighttime visions of The Eye - and try to remind myself that ultimately it's all about style.