Just Show Up

Once we signed the lease on our new space, we started coming to our new ERG office to work.

We had actually been able to negotiate two rooms as part of our lease agreement. There was one large room that we thought would be perfect for having some workshops, as well as a small room that looked like it had maybe been a little break room previously. It had a counter and cabinets and we brought a little mini fridge and microwave to add to it. We filled the cabinets with resources we thought we might need along with professional books we had collected over the years.

Since ERG was a bare bones operation at this point, we had a card table, one computer, and two folding chairs. Like the kind stacked in the back of the auditorium or at church. It was several weeks before we bought a second-hand computer from a friend so we could both work at the same time in the same space. 

We decided to set up our work space in the small break room so we would have the larger space available for workshops of some kind. We got the internet connected, a landline phone, and eventually, we were able to add tables and chairs to the larger room so it was ready for people to gather.

There we were: two consultants sharing a card table and starting from scratch to create resources and implement our ideas to see what was going to work. We collaborated, developed, and even designed some really (embarrassingly) simple marketing materials.

In those early days, we didn’t know what we were doing and we also didn’t know exactly where we were going. We had some ideas, but without putting our energy into them and testing them out, there was no way to know where we would land. We knew we were consultants, so we started doing what we thought consultants would do. We had some hunches on content and we had strong literacy backgrounds, but we honestly were finding our way just a little more each day. We knew the general direction we were going, but not all the details. We knew schools needed help and that teachers were the most important factor in each classroom. Teachers deserved support that was high quality, so we just kept working away on figuring out how to make that happen. Sort of like a camera lens that just had not come into focus yet. 

Somehow we knew that in order to keep moving forward, we had to show up. The work was genuine and authentic for us. Without showing up, this consulting thing was not going to be possible. So that’s what we did. Just showed up. 

There have been twists and turns since we started ERG in 2004. Thanks to politics, changes in district and school leaders, and now Covid, sometimes things still look blurry. But those lessons from the early days still hold true. We have to keep showing up to do authentic and genuine work.   

For Reflection:

• When things are not in focus, how do you respond?
• How can you show up even when things are blurry?
• What work feels the most authentic and genuine to you? How are you feeding that?