Latest / Finding God at Work / 12: Hungry for More

Transcript

12: Hungry for More · Finding God at Work

0:06
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
0:08
This is Finding God at Work.
0:13
Okay, so this is going to be a
0:15
different episode than normal.
0:17
Normally you all get to hear just my
0:19
lovely voice, but today we have two very
0:22
special guests.
0:24
So would my guests like to maybe introduce
0:27
themselves?
0:27
You could say your name, what you do
0:29
at the food bank, and yeah, maybe a
0:32
fun fact or something.
0:34
Sure.
0:35
Sure.
0:36
Guess I'll start as you're looking at me.
0:39
Well, I feel like I guess I'll start.
0:41
I'm Weijia Chang.
0:43
I work as a service design lead on
0:46
the innovation team here at the food bank.
0:50
Fun fact about me, oof, I, well, I
0:56
don't know if it's a fun fact, I
0:57
think it's fun, but I actually am not
1:00
very into sweets.
1:04
So I know, I know that is a
1:05
common default, but you could put an entire
1:09
Portillo's chocolate cake at my desk and I
1:14
probably will not eat it.
1:16
Wow.
1:17
You could leave it there.
1:18
I would probably not touch it for weeks.
1:21
Yeah.
1:21
And that would not be a problem for
1:23
me.
1:24
If you left it there for weeks, I
1:26
don't think passers by with you.
1:28
I don't think any, I know, I think
1:29
other people would, and I would welcome them.
1:32
I would probably give them a pleading look.
1:34
Now that I know this too, if I
1:36
ever see a chocolate cake by your cubicle,
1:39
I will come relieve you of happy, sweet,
1:41
sweet.
1:41
Please do.
1:42
So I, I'm, I'm happy to let others
1:45
enjoy cookies and cake.
1:48
I have very random cravings, like once a
1:51
year.
1:52
And then I only really like, like gummy
1:55
bears and ice cream.
1:57
Those are still good though.
1:59
Those are like my only.
2:00
At the same time.
2:02
Like ice cream with gummy bears, like froyo
2:03
style.
2:04
Sometimes, but you know, like it, it gets
2:06
hard, the gummy bear.
2:07
You have to like eat it quick on
2:09
the ice cream, otherwise it, it changes it.
2:12
Awesome.
2:13
So yes, random fun fact.
2:14
Thanks for joining us today, Waija.
2:16
Thank you, Chris.
2:18
I'm Rose Brukhal, and I'm a database coordinator
2:21
here at the Food Bank.
2:22
And my fun fact is that I love
2:25
sweets, so we're the exact opposite in that
2:28
sense.
2:29
So while you ignore, while you would ignore
2:32
the Bartillo's cake, I would just devour it.
2:35
My thing is that I always have to
2:37
have dessert almost every meal, but I'm trying
2:40
to get away from that.
2:42
So it's not working out so, so far.
2:44
All right.
2:44
And so I feel like you're telling me,
2:46
do not come to you for help for
2:48
yet to try to, no, no, cause I
2:51
probably have sweets all over my desk or
2:52
like I try to find some, so, but
2:55
I mean, if you have sweets and you
2:56
want to give it away, yeah, come to
2:58
me.
2:58
Okay.
2:58
All right.
3:01
And I mean, regular podcast listeners already know
3:03
who I am, but at the Food Bank,
3:05
I, at the time of this recording, uh,
3:07
I'm about to switch into a new role
3:09
at the Food Bank.
3:10
So I'm going to be a development officer
3:11
on the corporate foundation organization team.
3:14
Yeah.
3:15
I'm excited about, got to, got to do
3:17
some fundraising.
3:19
So yeah.
3:20
And if you're listening to this podcast and
3:21
you're like, Oh, I want to learn more
3:23
about the food bank.
3:23
You could also talk to me about the
3:24
food bank, not just about mission central.
3:27
So in our last episode, I, um, I
3:31
talked about, uh, creating a curiosity context that's
3:37
communal and at the food bank, we have
3:39
one of those and we call it hungry
3:41
for more and wager and Rose are my
3:43
co-conspirators in creating hungry for more at
3:47
the food bank.
3:47
So my first question is, uh, tell your
3:51
perspective of how hungry for more got started
3:54
and what it was like for you.
3:58
I feel like you should start.
3:59
Oh, sure.
4:00
Okay.
4:02
Well, I think when you approached me with
4:04
the whole concept, I thought right away, Oh,
4:06
that'd be so cool.
4:07
Just to get a bunch of people to
4:08
get together and talk.
4:09
I mean, I love connecting with people, um,
4:12
outside of work or outside of just the
4:14
work environment, so we will talk about topics
4:17
that kind of, we all kind of think
4:19
about, but don't have time to discuss in
4:21
our day to day at work.
4:22
Thought that was great idea.
4:24
And you coming to me and asking me
4:25
to be a part of it.
4:26
I thought that's exciting, but the same time
4:29
I was kind of like kind of hesitant
4:31
because I'm like, what can I offer in
4:33
terms of that?
4:34
But, um, when we first started, it just
4:36
kind of like became organic and kind of
4:39
flowed, so, and then here we are today.
4:41
I think it's what ours, we just finished
4:43
our second.
4:45
Third series.
4:46
Third series.
4:48
And I feel like we've covered a lot
4:49
so far and I feel the, the response
4:53
from the people that have been coming have
4:54
been great.
4:55
So yeah, it's been a great journey so
4:58
far.
4:58
Awesome.
5:00
And Rose, have you ever done something similar,
5:02
like in a different context, like at your
5:04
church or?
5:05
Yes, I have.
5:06
Um, we've done, I've been a part of
5:08
Alpha.
5:09
Which is kind of like a Christian, um,
5:12
type, um, program where they introduce the concepts
5:17
of God and faith.
5:21
So, um, and being part of that and
5:23
being a leader in the different groups, it
5:25
has kind of opened my eyes to different
5:27
perspectives, um, because the people that go there
5:30
are people of faith and, um, people that
5:34
are kind of searching and some people that
5:37
are not, are different denominations also.
5:40
So just coming together and trying to get
5:42
wrapped their head around those important questions about
5:44
spirituality, um, and getting together and to discuss
5:47
it and to share our experiences, I think
5:49
is such a powerful thing.
5:52
Um, a lot of it, um, kind of
5:54
reiterated the fact that we're not alone in
5:57
our seeking, um, in terms of the purpose
6:00
in life.
6:01
So that, so when you brought up home
6:04
before more, I just felt natural, like, okay,
6:06
this is going to be great.
6:08
More, more talking, more connection between people and
6:11
in the workplace, I feel that that's something
6:15
that needs to be discussed, whether it's a
6:17
topic that's spiritual or not, I feel like,
6:19
um, the only way that we grow together
6:22
is by connecting and by just talking about
6:25
a certain thing.
6:26
So it's been great.
6:28
Thank you.
6:29
Sure.
6:30
Cool.
6:30
So what I remember this conversation of, of
6:34
when you approached me, Chris, I think, I
6:37
think you had, you were excited to find
6:39
co-facilitators for this group and you had
6:44
talked to me about how you wanted to
6:45
find a place for us to, to not
6:50
really walk on eggshells, um, and having more
6:53
honest conversations about, um, about our belief systems
6:59
and, um, and where people felt faith and
7:04
religion played a role.
7:06
And I remember this conversation distinctly where we're
7:09
downstairs by the front desk, cause I had
7:11
actually shared with you then, um, that I,
7:15
I'm an atheist and it's taken me a
7:18
long time to also be more in sharing
7:22
that cause I did not always feel safe
7:24
and felt okay to share that.
7:28
And so I remember I, I was interested
7:30
in this idea and I'd also, at the
7:33
time you approached me, I don't think you,
7:34
you knew this, but the time you approached
7:36
me, I was also having other conversations with
7:38
just friends about how like our world is
7:42
so divisive and it's just like, there's, there's
7:46
just a lot of confusion and misunderstandings.
7:49
And it's like, how do we create communal
7:52
spaces that is really open to everyone?
7:57
And I remember I was a little, you
8:01
know, I really, I really liked the idea
8:03
of kind of creating a space for these
8:06
kinds of conversations, but bringing my own experience
8:11
of being hesitant to share that, you know,
8:13
I don't, I did not always, um, share
8:17
others or share with others so publicly.
8:19
I wanted to make sure that we, we
8:21
were very intentional about creating group agreements and,
8:26
and, uh, and designing the space specifically.
8:31
And so, um, if you're not familiar with
8:34
service design, that is very, very, very service
8:39
designing.
8:40
And also I became a service designer.
8:42
It's about being intentional.
8:44
And so I love, um, facilitation.
8:47
I like the idea of having thoughtful, um,
8:51
facilitation and, and kind of guiding people in
8:54
conversations and discussions.
8:57
And there's definitely things that I wanted to
9:01
better understand and also think through and reflect
9:05
on my own.
9:07
Um, and I, I had been listening to,
9:12
I think it was a different podcast.
9:15
Um, where it was about, uh, workplaces and
9:21
how most of the time you actually engage
9:24
with more diversity in workspaces that anywhere else
9:29
in your network in your life, because most
9:31
of the time in your communities, you are
9:33
kind of like in your own, um, you're
9:36
connected and that's your safe space and there's
9:39
nothing off with that, but, uh, workplace, work
9:42
colleagues and the people you happen to meet
9:45
and work with.
9:46
You get, you get a chance to, to
9:48
kind of, um, learn about a different perspective
9:51
and a different experience and a different thinking.
9:54
And so I thought it would be really
9:57
cool to, uh, figure out how do we
10:00
engage?
10:01
And, and, um, I, a lot of ideas
10:04
that about facilitation and you seem like a
10:07
great space for me to test out or
10:11
kind of just like practice.
10:13
Yeah.
10:14
You had a lot of great ideas.
10:15
It was things that you led us, you
10:17
know, just a lot of good ideas and
10:19
people were engaged and open.
10:21
So thanks for us.
10:23
Thanks for your contribution.
10:24
One of your, one of those ideas was
10:26
the group agreement, um, that like we actually
10:28
form together kind of a set of commitments
10:31
of like how we were going to have
10:32
these conversations.
10:33
I should have brought the handout, but like
10:36
off the top of my head, some of
10:37
the things we came up with were like,
10:38
agree to disagree, like we're going to have
10:41
different convictions and that's okay.
10:44
Um, listening, uh, respectfully to each other.
10:47
Um, what were some, everyone is welcome, right?
10:49
All the perspectives, welcome.
10:51
Yeah.
10:51
Keeping it fun.
10:52
Yeah.
10:53
Kind of just like, you know, you're, you're
10:55
here to listen and understand someone else's experience.
11:00
It's not your, so speak your truth.
11:02
Um, that's a very, very important one for
11:05
me.
11:06
Um, yeah.
11:06
And I use it commonly in, in my
11:09
work now with the food bank.
11:11
And cause I, I do a lot of
11:13
things where we engage with, with people who
11:16
use the services and, um, and we want
11:19
to make sure people feel comfortable.
11:20
I think about sharing and, and I think,
11:23
uh, highly recommend, especially in, in spaces where
11:27
you're, you know, the conversation is going to
11:30
be a lot of different opinions and a
11:34
lot of strong feelings.
11:35
Um, that it's important to kind of have
11:38
everyone understand, um, how we, we can be
11:42
respectful because I, I will also say, I
11:44
think like, um, you know, growing up and
11:47
being in other facilitated conversations, like I, I
11:53
enjoyed when facilitators said it themselves of like,
11:56
Hey, we, we need to be respectful, but
12:00
I think group agreements really breaks it out
12:03
of like, what does that look like?
12:04
What does it actually look like to be
12:07
respectful to each other?
12:10
Cause right.
12:10
If we're like, Oh yeah, be respectful.
12:12
Everyone's like, yes.
12:13
Yes.
12:16
What is like, what does that look like?
12:17
Like, what does that mean?
12:19
And how, how do I know if someone
12:21
is not being, you know, respectful?
12:26
Yeah.
12:29
Uh, just to kind of like give people
12:31
maybe more of like a visualization.
12:33
We're actually in the room where we often
12:35
have our meetings right now, but like Rose,
12:37
could you go over like, what is a
12:38
normal meeting of hungry for more?
12:41
Sure.
12:42
Um, well, I guess we pretty much just
12:43
bring our own food, but we kind of
12:45
have like a meal, um, but not too
12:47
hungry.
12:48
Right.
12:48
Not too hungry.
12:49
It's just, just in the name, um, we
12:52
come in and we kind of just, you
12:54
know, do a little small talks here, just
12:56
kind of chat.
12:57
And then when the actual meeting starts, we
13:00
go over the ground rules, which is, you
13:02
know, and we always have the, you know,
13:05
which is a good reminder.
13:06
And we do have people that come in
13:07
that are new or just come in once
13:09
in a while.
13:09
So it's good, kind of like a good
13:10
reminder to have that.
13:12
Um, and then someone introduces the topic, whether
13:14
it's, you know, one of us.
13:16
And then we kind of just kind of
13:18
go around the room and kind of talk
13:20
about different topics.
13:21
Though the last session we had, it was
13:23
a storytelling kind of, um, format, which was,
13:25
I think kind of a cool concept.
13:27
That was really fun.
13:28
Yes.
13:28
So usually it's like topic driven, but this
13:30
was like, you tell a story about the
13:32
topic.
13:32
So people prepped in advance.
13:35
And that was really great to see because,
13:37
um, kind of just people have their stories.
13:41
You know, we know that we each have
13:42
our story, but to give someone that kind
13:44
of that space to say, okay, what is
13:47
your story, you know, pick a topic, what
13:50
topic resonates with you and tell us about
13:53
your story.
13:54
And I was amazed by some of the
13:56
stories that people told and how open and
13:58
how vulnerable they were in, in sharing that,
14:01
but also not just the vulnerability, but also
14:03
the, the confidence and being able to share
14:06
that, you know, a lot of them were
14:08
stories of past traumas, but yet, um, through
14:12
those traumas, there was resilience and hope.
14:15
And to get to move to where they
14:16
are now.
14:17
Yeah.
14:18
Um, so just to see that, to see
14:20
that growth, you know, I'm not sure what
14:22
the same with you, all of you, I
14:24
learned a lot from that storytelling.
14:26
So I think that was very powerful.
14:28
Yeah.
14:29
Yeah.
14:29
What I really enjoyed about the storytelling series
14:31
too, because again, it's like, it just broke
14:33
down of like, what is not the surface
14:35
level?
14:36
Like so many people share, like you're saying
14:38
like so many of, of, you know, really
14:41
difficult, some very traumatic moments and define their
14:45
life.
14:46
And, and it's like, as coworkers, you may
14:48
not know that necessary.
14:50
You may just be like, oh, you know,
14:52
this is so-and-so who works in
14:54
this department and, you know, maybe, maybe you
14:57
cross paths with them in a project or
14:59
maybe you just see them in the hallway
15:01
and it's like, oh, hi.
15:02
And, but, but the storytelling really like broke
15:06
it down and it, it was like this
15:08
really, really welcoming and those very difficult stories.
15:12
But I enjoy, cause it seemed like this
15:14
welcoming moment of like, I wouldn't have known
15:17
that experience necessarily, um, because I don't know
15:21
if I would have crossed paths with someone
15:22
who was so willing to just share that
15:25
in conversation.
15:27
So, so I think we also high five
15:30
to us, but we like worked that really
15:34
well.
15:34
Cause again, it was like, I don't know
15:35
if we could have done that in the
15:36
first round.
15:37
Yeah.
15:38
It took some time.
15:39
You know, I think we, we, we built
15:41
it up to be that way for by
15:43
the time, like it happened, it was, and
15:46
you know, we still, not everyone share, which
15:48
is fine, but I think the ones who
15:50
did, they like felt, they felt they were
15:53
able to.
15:54
Yeah.
15:55
I think we've done a good job of
15:56
creating like a safe environment, not safe in
15:59
the sense of we can't talk about things,
16:01
right?
16:01
The whole point is to talk about things,
16:03
but like emotionally safe.
16:04
Yeah.
16:05
Um, and, and that took, I don't know,
16:07
we started that series after we'd done the
16:09
first two, which were each like seven or
16:12
eight weeks long, right?
16:13
So like we'd been meeting for several months
16:14
already before we kind of launched the more
16:16
vulnerable series, but yeah, we got to decide
16:20
what we're going to do for our next
16:21
series.
16:22
So besides recording for the podcast, we're also
16:24
going to try and brainstorm about that today.
16:26
You won't record that part of the conversation.
16:28
Cause it'll be like the silence.
16:30
Be like the rail behind the scenes.
16:33
Yeah.
16:34
Um, okay.
16:35
We're almost at time, which is hard to
16:36
believe, but, um, just one thing, um, I
16:39
know that like I've had conversations with friends
16:41
who are curious about trying to start something
16:43
like this at their workplace, but sometimes they
16:45
can be a little bit nervous, like, Oh,
16:47
like, would it take a ton of work
16:49
or a ton of time or like, so
16:50
I'm just curious, like, how has it been
16:52
for you two in terms of like the
16:54
time commitment, how hard it's been, what has
16:56
been good about it?
16:58
Um, and to me, it feels like we've
17:00
kind of had like a relatively simple recipe
17:02
we followed that still had a really good
17:04
effect.
17:05
Um, but we're just curious about your perspective.
17:08
Well, first off, Oh, big, bad.
17:10
Thank you to you, Chris.
17:11
Cause I think you're really the, like the
17:14
core to this.
17:15
So I think, you know, for anyone like
17:18
is, so it was, um, for my side
17:21
of things, it was really, really helpful and
17:23
kind like that you created the flexibility.
17:27
Because again, like, I know there, there are
17:28
just so many times where I was like,
17:29
I really want to, but due to my
17:31
other work priorities or scheduling, I had to,
17:35
I had to, um, Switch, you know, or,
17:39
or either I just couldn't attend.
17:41
So I think the flexibility as facilitators too,
17:44
I think like you are super smart and
17:46
trying to find more than one person for
17:48
you to do it.
17:49
Cause I think it's like, yeah, like why
17:50
not have, have all the three of us
17:53
and, um, kind of lean on each other.
17:56
And I, I found that super helpful.
17:58
Kind of like, Oh, I can't do it
17:59
this week.
17:59
And you know, somebody else facilitate, or, you
18:02
know, even us having a schedule that I
18:04
can plan around them where I can cause,
18:08
and again, that works really well for my
18:10
brain.
18:11
I love structure.
18:13
So if you're like, I need you on
18:14
this day at this time, I will be
18:16
committed and just plan other things around as
18:19
best as I can.
18:20
So that's been really, really helpful.
18:24
Um, I think it's, it's worked well to
18:25
take turns because like each of us, I
18:27
think brings different strengths to how we facilitate,
18:30
um, like your actual professional facilitators.
18:33
Um, but we each have our own styles.
18:36
Yeah.
18:37
I feel like I kind of get into
18:38
teacher mode sometimes.
18:40
Cause that's also facilitation, you know, yeah, I
18:43
also have teaching background.
18:44
So yeah, it's, it's, um, it's, it's how
18:46
you've adapted and what works for you.
18:49
Yeah.
18:49
I agree with Wajah, the flexibility really helped,
18:52
um, and not just with us three, but
18:54
also with everyone else.
18:55
You know, I'd be coming in like, Oh,
18:57
coming in from meeting like maybe 10 minutes
18:58
later, but that was okay.
18:59
They were still able to, once they got
19:01
settled, be present.
19:03
And I think that's what they appreciated because
19:04
you know, we still are in a workplace,
19:06
everyone has meetings, but people say, okay.
19:08
Um, and how you send out the reminders.
19:10
Hey, hungry for more.
19:11
Um, tomorrow, this Thursday today in this, this
19:14
room, um, come make it if you can.
19:18
So to have the flexibility and people would
19:19
miss, or they'd come back like two weeks
19:21
later and as if like just continuing the
19:24
conversation and also in terms of the flexibility,
19:27
in addition would be the, just the easy
19:30
going nature of it, there wasn't any pressure
19:32
like, Oh, you have to, you know, participate
19:34
or we have to say the right thing.
19:37
I like that kind of flow where it's
19:38
just kind of like a casual conversation.
19:41
Sitting down, having a meal with some fans
19:44
or colleagues and just seeing what's saying, what's
19:46
on your mind and, um, having that safe
19:48
space that we kind of established in the
19:50
beginning really helped.
19:52
So, you know, I think that's what made
19:54
it successful so far is just all of
19:56
those factors and you know, you of course
19:58
keeping us organized.
20:00
Having somebody who can run a spreadsheet, that's
20:01
always good.
20:04
Oh, and yeah, I feel like, you know,
20:06
it's, it's paid off to be intentional, but
20:09
it's also not rocket science, right?
20:10
So it's like just simple things to be
20:12
intentional about, we've kind of built up a
20:14
little mini subculture in the food bank where
20:16
it's like, okay, it'll listen to other people
20:18
and to share what's on your heart, you
20:20
know, cause for me, like listening is so
20:23
important, but I also want to share it.
20:24
Like I, I believe there's good news about
20:25
Jesus to share with people.
20:26
You know, I made you, you've seen me
20:28
go into like evangelist Christmas.
20:30
Um, and, uh, you know, I, I just
20:32
love that we've created a space where I
20:33
can do that too.
20:34
I can share what I believe and what
20:36
everyone can, everyone can share where they're at
20:38
and that's, uh, that's what it's all about.
20:40
So, well, thank you friends.
20:44
Yeah, hopefully the pool, uh, we'll edit this
20:47
into a usable podcast episode for people so,
20:51
and for, for podcast listeners, we are planning
20:53
to sprinkle kind of interview style podcast episodes
20:56
like this every once in a while into
20:58
what we're doing.
20:58
So I'm not sure when the next one
20:59
might be, um, but thanks for listening.
21:05
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21:12
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