Lessons in Leadership: Celebrating Milestones in the Midst of a Pandemic
It is well-established that 2020 has been an unprecedented year. A year full of uncertainty, unrest, political division, and extreme stress. For me, it has (so far) been a year of grit, courage and commitment. It also happens to be the year that marks Girl Up’s 10th Anniversary. It looks different than we thought it would last year, but somehow has been one of our most successful years over the last decade. This summer, we hosted our annual global Leadership Summit as a virtual experience and, with tens of thousands of attendees worldwide, it was the biggest event we’ve ever seen.
Reflecting on Girl Up’s success through so many uncharted waters these last few months, I am taking these key lessons with me as we build our new “normal,” look ahead to the next decade of Girl Up, and as I consider the next steps in my own leadership journey.
1) Embrace New Opportunities: The strength of our movement is in the connection to and between the girls, which typically happens at in-person events. Protecting our movement and keeping our network of girl leaders engaged demanded that we find a way to shift.
With the decision to strengthen our digital tools to host important virtual conversations around topics we knew our girl leaders were still dedicated to and focused on (even amid social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic), we saw an immediate increase in engagement.
Then we looked to our marquee event of the year – what did this challenge of not being able to gather in person present to us as an opportunity? Online instead of in-person meant we could invite partners across all the years of work of Girl Up. Key voices that suddenly didn’t have conflicting travel or commitments were also looking for outlets and optimism, experiencing all the same desire for dialogue as the girls of Girl Up. Plus, we weren’t limited by the budget and space constraints of an event space in DC.
Most of the Girl Up team is based in the U.S. and in the middle of planning our summer Summit, we stopped to stand with the Black Lives Matter movement as we were confronted again with the reality of systemic racism, inequality and violence in communities of color in the U.S. and around the world. What opportunity did we have to use our platform, this event, and our global movement of young changemakers to contribute to important dialogues on all areas of equality and justice?
The result was incredible – more than 30,000 registered attendees from 170 countries, 3 billion impressions and more press and media coverage than we’ve ever had. Everything aligned and almost a decade of momentum led to a true milestone moment for Girl Up.
2) Engage New Audiences: Being a girl isn’t the same everywhere in the world. Being an activist isn’t the same everywhere. Girl Up was founded in the U.S. as an American initiative and our global presence has recently accelerated. Just three years ago, we were only about 20% international, now we’re almost to 50%. That, too, comes with challenges. Our team, our infrastructure, and our expertise is outpaced by our rapid growth, but we’re racing to keep up with and support our global network.
Although it doesn’t always feel like it for those of us who work here every day, Girl Up is still growing in awareness and reach. Somewhere, there are people, girls, parents, companies, and influencers who don’t yet know about Girl Up. By expanding our reach in the shift to virtual engagement, we are introducing Girl Up to new audiences and engaging more girls than ever in our global movement.
New audiences mean new opportunities for impact, but also new obstacles. So, while we’ve seen great success, we’ve also unearthed new challenges. A big lesson going forward for us is to consider where we are as much as where we’re going. That includes addressing and mitigating our pain points and finding solutions for problems we see coming. We are focusing on the organization we need to become given this incredible growth – growth that sprung up again coming off the incredible Summit.
3) Enact New Approaches: As we think about training, educating, inspiring and connecting young people today, we also have to think differently about access and scale. Virtual engagement assumes that communities have access to technology, internet data, compatible devices, and takes for granted issues of literacy and language translation.
Girl Up has always had a hybrid approach to engagement and training. Of course we’re leaning all the way into our digital engagement right now, but it’s not replicating virtual versions of events, it’s about creating virtual experiences. From the virtual-reality approach, to our Summit experience, to intimate online boot-camps and breakout groups, as well as chat groups and live content – the conversation topics may not change, but how we facilitate meaningful dialogues from here must.
We’re also focused on what we need to invest in for 2021. What used to be wish-list items – video, apps, online learning management and digital functions – are now urgent needs. A renewed focus on structure and operational needs has been brewing, but has now bubbled over. We’re not just looking at one-year band-aid approaches; we are working through the blueprint for the next decade and beyond for how Girl Up will operate as a movement that’s truly global, inspiring girls to lead well into the future.
4) Explore New Learnings: Girl Up has been through so many evolutions over the last decade. 2020 will have its own chapter in that journey, as is the case for so many organizations this year.
My personal learnings and our organizational learnings over these last eight months have reshaped me as a leader and have changed who we are as an organization. As we’ve embraced these opportunities, challenges, and audiences – what we do with what we’ve learned will determine if the success milestones in the middle of a pandemic will ultimately be the spark of our transformation as an organization.
One of the best parts of leading through uncertainty is that, in some ways, you’re not expected to have all the answers. It’s okay to get it wrong here and there – and frankly, I think that is expected. I’ve had to learn to lean on my broader leadership team, to look for engagement and perspective from various members of my team regardless of position, and to learn to lean on my #workwife as my friend and advisor instead of a partner in decision-making.
Though I can pull advice from lots of people of smart people, I must have confidence in my leadership instincts. There are absolutely a few very specific things I wish I could go back and do differently, but overall, I know I’m a better leader than I was in January. Girl Up is a stronger global movement than it was in January. Our team is more effectively positioned to make an impact today than it was in January. We have learned A LOT.
My greatest reflection of what success means – for an organization like Girl Up and during a time when we’re experiencing a pandemic as a global community – is that it’ll be measured by the impact of what we’ll do next.