Leading by Seeing and Being Seen

Why did I spend 30 days of the past 90 on the road visiting SpringHill sites and SpringHill supporters? Because of something I learned back in the day when I was a volunteer Young Life leader.  To do effective “contact work”, that is to build relationships with students, you need “to see and to be seen.”

I’ve continued this “to see and be seen” philosophy in my role at SpringHill. It’s what pushes me to visit as many SpringHill Experiences and be with as many staff, campers, parents and supporters as I can especially during the summer season

“To see” simply means to be in places where I can witness our ministry first hand, seeing our work and the people who do it and at the same time see those who also support it.  

“To see” gives me the opportunity to provide real-time feedback to our team as well as share in real-time the great things being done across SpringHill with our staff and supporters. When I speak about impact of SpringHill on the lives of campers and staff I do so from personal experience.

“To be seen” provides accessibility to these same groups of people – staff, campers, parents and supporters.  By allowing myself “to be seen” I become available.  By being available and accessible I’m able to build relationships and through relationships provide support, encouragement and at the same time hear firsthand the necessary feedback they may have.  

As we continue to grow I’ll become more stretched in my ability  “to see and be seen” as I was this summer. But thankfully SpringHill has fine leaders who now share this responsibility with me and are carrying out this philosophy of leadership in more places and with more people than ever before.