Reflections and Learnings from Impact Denver

I was lucky enough to participate in the Spring 2022 cohort of Impact Denver. If you’re not familiar, Impact Denver is a six month course that brings together professionals in many different stages of their careers who are civic minded and leadership focused. We met once a month and our time was split between leadership activities, where we uncovered our authentic and unique leadership styles and learning about community issues. Each cohort was also split into smaller working groups to continue our leadership journey and work on a community project.?

As I dove into my Impact Denver work, I worried about a host of things, but specifically:

• Being out of the office one day a month. Working at a growth stage tech company, things move really fast and I was nervous my absence would strain my team and possibly delay work. ?
• While I tend to be an outgoing and extroverted person, I’m rarely in situations where I don't know anyone or don’t have a group to gravitate toward. Walking into a room full of strangers was somewhat nerve wracking. Would they think I was a fraud? That I didn’t belong there or didn’t have anything to offer?
• Would I really be able to contribute to the conversation and to our small group project? Are my experiences, both in life and in work, valuable to the larger conversation and the community project we would work on??

From day one of Impact Denver, all my worries faded away. I felt support immediately from my team at Ibotta, in their encouragement for me to participate in the program and the acceptance in my time away from the office. I also felt support from the leaders and other participants of the group at Impact Denver, and I was quickly reminded that we all have something to offer – unique experiences and viewpoints – and all of that is valuable.

Every month, I returned home from Impact Denver sessions feeling energized and talking non-stop to my partner not only about the leadership activity we had done that day, but the community issues we were learning about. I consider myself to be a fairly civically minded individual. I listen to NPR and follow along on local issues, I vote in every single election. But Impact Denver allowed me to get deeper, understand more of the nuances and challenges facing our community and most importantly, Impact Denver uncovered more ways to get involved.?

At first blush, the leadership activities made me uncomfortable. Was I really going to share personal experiences and stories with people I didn’t know? The answer was yes, and being able to share those experiences, and in some cases be vulnerable, made the experience all the more valuable.?

There was one exercise toward the end of the program that really drove the leadership work home for me. The activity was to deliver meaningful feedback. Throughout my career, I’ve struggled with feedback. I strive to be that person who accepts feedback in all its forms and to see the benefits of it. But many times, earlier in my career, feedback wasn’t constructive, but critical, and that backdrop made me want to avoid feedback in many instances. My small group, made up of people from many different backgrounds and career levels, brought to light opportunities that I had felt under the surface, but hadn’t been able to put my own finger on. It was like a lightbulb moment. It was a reminder of all I have to offer, and how easily I forget that and assume my knowledge and experience is general and well- known by many. The feedback was highly constructive, and left me feeling empowered, well-informed, and with actionable ideas for the future. I hope the rest of my group left that session feeling the same.?

I’m especially grateful to Ryan Arpin , who leads the Ibotta Learning and Development team, for flagging this opportunity for me, and for the conference and training allowance from Ibotta which paid for the course. It was a unique opportunity and one I'm deeply grateful for as it allowed me to expand my personal leadership style and network, and deepen my understanding of my community at large.