First Day Questions
Do you remember your first day of work at Bethany? Most of us, on our first day at a new job, feel a lot of excitement mixed with a little bit of anxiety. (Did I set my alarm early enough? What will the people on my team be like? How am I going to remember all these acronyms!?)
We have a new employee, Greg Hovdebo, joining the Foundation this week as our Senior Development Officer. Having a new person join our team is fantastic for all kinds of reasons.
First and foremost, we have lots of work to do to engage donors in Bethany’s mission, so having more one more pair of hands on deck will make a big difference in our ability to attract donations to the important work that each of you do. I also know that bringing someone onto our team with skills that are different than the ones we already have will make our team even stronger.
One of the best things I think a new employee does is ask a lot of questions. Each new Bethany employee brings a fresh way of looking at what we do and the ways we do it. Sometimes (hopefully!) they’ll even ask ‘why’ we do something the way we do. That gives us a chance to take a fresh look as well. It’s easy to get stuck in ‘well, that’s just the way we’ve always done it’ mode. A new employee’s questions can help us break out of that way of thinking.
Questions can lead to new solutions for old problems. Sometimes we forget to take the time to be curious in the same way our new employees are when they show up for their first days and weeks on the job.
Whether you’re a relatively new employee at Bethany, or someone who’s been here for years, I hope you stay curious and always feel comfortable asking questions. Often, they lead to better answers!
Have a great week. Thanks for everything you do,
— Gail
Leave a Reply