Michaela Doelman, LT'22
How did LT influence your leadership journey or approach to leadership?
LT influenced both my philosophical and direct approach to leadership. At a philosophical level, it helped me to re-think about leadership not just with regards to the people side of things but also at a systems level. I traditionally thought about leadership as how I lead people. Through LT, I now also see it as how I engage with community and create partnerships with other sectors to help achieve greater outcomes and impacts in my work and the community I live in. At the same time, it also influenced how I lead people, as I now have a much greater appreciation and focus on relationships. I previously saw leadership as one-sided, where my role was to be authentic but to focus my energy on supporting that people I lead. What I’ve learned lately is that authentic relationships are equal and so you can’t lead with relationships unless you’re willing to be vulnerable and accept help from others as well. How I show up to my work after LT is with much more humility and willingness to connect both on a systemic and personal level with the people I work with.
How did your experience in LT contribute to your understanding of the region’s challenges and opportunities?
As a State government employee, I went into LT thinking I had a fairly good understanding of our region’s challenges and opportunities. LT helped me understand how little I actually knew and has instilled in me a curiosity to keep listening and learning as I also now realize how much more there is I don’t know. Specifically, LT helped me see how important it is to listen to the community that is most impacted by challenges as the ones who have the best insight into future opportunities that will work. I also developed a greater understanding for why partnerships between public, private and non-profit sectors are vital for addressing big problems like affordable housing, environmental justice, public safety, etc. LT helped me go from a baseline of theoretical understanding of problems and opportunities, exposed me to people who shared lived experiences, impacts and successes, and helped ignite a curiosity to stay involved at the community and government levels to make impact.
Can you tell us about a connection you made in LT that influenced your career and/or your ability to make an impact in our community?
I live in a fairly homogenous neighborhood and the busier I get with work and raising kids, the less I am able to find opportunities for new experiences and ways to connect with broader community. One of the most valuable parts of the LT program was our racial caucus groups where I got to build friendships with people who I never would have met in my day-to-day routine. People who see me, who believe and understand my experiences without having to explain myself and who can offer insight and connection in a way I’d been yearning for. Having my LT community saved me from extreme burnout and compassion fatigue during one of the most challenging times in my career so far. Additionally, LT’s emphasis on volunteering within your community and method of sharing out opportunities to support small non-profits helped connect me to the Voice of Pacific Island Nations (VOPIN) and non-profit in Kitsap county that I’d never heard of before but after learning about it is fulfilling a mission that is closely aligned to my values. I’ve been a board member for a year now and am so fulfilled by the work I do with them.
Why do you think LT is important in 2024 and for the next 40 years?
We’re having a lot of conversations right now on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to drastically change how society functions. We’re at a crossroads right now where as a society we are going to make decisions that impact whether we leverage technology to further perpetuate the disparities that exist in our society allowing technology to make things much easier for some and widen the gap for those who do not. Or, we can be purposeful and strategic about using technology in a way that closes those gaps, identifies where disparities exist and creates purposeful interventions and finds ways to ensure that everyone has access to basic resources, health and an opportunity to be an engaged and contributing member of our community. The ONLY way we’ll be able to achieve that goal is if we have leaders who understand what our complex community challenges are and are willing to engage in the difficult work to bring people together to imagine a better way that doesn’t yet exist and co-create it with the right people in the room. LT is creating a space for those leaders to come to build relationships, question what could be, imagine something better and more beautiful for all, and then fostering that work to continue beyond the cohort years.
Did you experience unexpected benefits or outcomes from your participation in the program?
I left LT with way more questions than I had answers, which was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Because with all of those questions also came a comfort in the uncertainty of it all. LT taught me to be ok with not necessarily knowing what the solution needed to look like but to still seize the opportunity to come together with other people with shared passion and if we create community agreements and values to abide by, we will create something noteworthy. Or in other words, it taught me to truly trust the process in a world where we so often constrain ourselves and what we build for need to have the plan before we even start.
LT's values are accountability, antiracism and social justice, belonging, collective leadership, community stewardship, and curiosity and humility. Can you tell us about how you live one of these values? Or how one of these values informs your leadership?
I try daily to live out these values in how I lead my work within Washington State Government. As the State Chief Human Resources Officer I recognize that my role has a lot of power to change systems in the state. In our strategic plan, we call out that it is our number one priority to infuse pro-equity, anti-racism (PEAR) into all of our work, recognizing that if we want different, more equitable outcomes for our workforce then we need to change how we do our work first. I also know that the only way we’ll achieve PEAR and belonging in our workforce is if we build new systems together, with the people closest to the problem influencing and informing decisions and commitments. It’s been humbling and a little scary to be in a role with so much responsibility and I’m working to ensure that we continue to build processes that allow for curiosity and co-creation instead of siloed decision-making.