Interview of Polly Irvin, October 21, 2020

Partial Transcript: Brierley: Good afternoon, today is October 21st, 2020. Today I'm here with Ms. Polly Irvin, Executive Administrative Assistant at Leadership Nashville Foundation. And let's start off with the first question. What part of your personal biography or background led you to this position?
Irvin: Well, you know, it's so inclusive, but basically my work in nonprofit. And, being a member of the Junior League of Nashville. And as a Junior League member, I was a past president. And so, I was talking to the current president and saying, you know, I'm really looking for something a little…less restrictive. And, she said, I've got the perfect person! The past president, Jerry Williams, is the Executive Director of Leadership Nashville, and she is looking for someone to help her out. So, it was just that networking and that connection, that really got me where and interested in where I was. Awesome.
Brierley: How would you get involved in the junior league in Nashville?
Irvin: Well, there are several opportunities. You can nominate yourself and go and apply online or you can get someone who will sponsor you, and then they do all that background work. it's more applications online and that sort of thing. Now - now that we're all technical, but, that's basically what you would do.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: Awesome. And then what cultural identities experiences are most salient for you?
Irvin: I had a tough time with this. You know, really my parents, of course, general life experiences. They kind of took me out of my comfort zone and, made me kind of see, “Oh, I might be able to make a difference here.” [00:02:00] And, my parents, we were raised that, we were - had to give back to our community. I mean, we're a part of the community and that's something that they expected in and they showed us. And so, we repeated it. I mean, that's really where I got started. And like I said, anytime I saw something that I felt like, you know, I could tweak or, you know, whatever, I went for it. So, I would say that's what really got me excited, interested.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: What experiences have most shaped you as a leader?
Irvin: I would say having the opportunity to work, in various occupations and, also in volunteering in, leadership there. My husband job has been…transferable, is the nice word to use. So we've been transferred around the South beautiful cities, beautiful times. We've settled back home now. This [Nashville] is home, but, I had the opportunity to work with and just watch some of the most remarkable people, whether it's through the Junior League experience, whether it was just through, you know, job experiences. And, when things were difficult to watch people, how they carried themselves through that obstacle, you know, that was kind of a fascination type, really learning experience, you know, I could go “Aha!” And then, just in the community, the desire to serve, you know, I've always kind of taken that on. I, I just, I believe, you know, we should make things better and not worse. So, I've always been involved in, volunteer opportunities. Anyway, that's what I would guess would be my thing that shaped me the most.
Brierley: Awesome. I completely agree. I really think that we should serve and work towards making our community a better place for those behind us.
Irvin: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: Were you called into leadership or did you seek it because of held convictions?
Irvin: That was a really good question. I had to think about that one. I had to think just how, peripheral I can get on that. It's a yes and yes. Yeah, I would say I was called into leadership in the fact that if someone asks me to, to lead us I said yes, literally called! And, the other part of that is it is my conviction. I mean, yeah, I've already stated that, it was part of growing up part of our responsibility in life and to our community. I've been, if I saw a place where I had a strong sense, I can make a difference or help. I don't really care if that was volunteering, I don't care if it was a leadership of a nonprofit or just work oriented, because we're all, you know, there's all these phrases and all that stuff out there now, but, we really, it takes everybody, it takes the village. And no matter what you're doing and to recognize that.
One, you know, took me a little while, because when you're in your youth, nothing personal, you see things a little bit differently, because you haven't had a chance to experience other things. and so, you know, I looked at things a little bit different and you know, as I grew, I got older. And my experiences grew it, I think it made me a better-rounded individual for leadership. but like I said, it's been, lifelong, in high school I taught, Bible study. I taught summer camp at the church. I was president of my high school sorority. And just kind of that there was a thing here in Nashville back in my day, but anyway, so there had, we had high school sororities and fraternities, so I was president of that. And then it just, you know, always stepping into leadership somewhere. I went to college, you know, that sort of thing still want my training, my professional, position. So, it kind of, to me it's the same. it's what we, whether you're in nonprofit or profit, you're serving somebody and there's, whether you're serving, the person who's sitting next to you, helping you count, I don't know, envelopes, to the person who's, you've got to work with to meet a deadline, you know, you're in the financial end of it. You've got to meet this deadline so that this person can take their next step and, you know, and do what they've got to do. So, you know, we're always in service. I don't know if that helps or, you know.
Brierley: I think it's a great, thought to keep in mind that we are all servants to one another and that by yourself, you can't gain anything without the help of others.
Irvin: Absolutely not. Yeah.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: How have you learned from obstacles and challenges faced?
Irvin: Okay. You know, I had a hard time putting this in words, it's such what it says it is, you know, it's a challenge and, or an obstacle, that's what it is. And, learning through it, I think takes some of evaluation, evaluate what you could have done better. Evaluate with the team, what they might've done better. Let them evaluate themselves, even, you know, say, you know, if I had had this opportunity to, to do this, or if this was set up in this way, I think I could have managed it better now. As leaders, we, well, control it and, we wanna make sure. Because we're out there, we're there, we're responsible. And so, and we're willing to take that responsibility and you've gotta be willing to take the, downside the failures. You know, you've got accept those because you're leading your team. So you want to make sure that everything goes spot on. There's no surprises and life is beautiful ingredient. and most of the time and some of the time that can happen. so I think the biggest way to learn from obstacles is basically, you know, kind of put them where they need to be in as far as emotional order. The evaluation process is huge. Also, in that evaluation process, you're learning, you're getting more insight about the people you're working with. And so, you have a more comfort level of, you know, okay, we can do this and she will shine better, or he will shine better if this need is met for them. So.
Brierley: I completely agree.
Irvin: Okay.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: What does leadership mean to you?
Irvin: Well, number one, it means to serve, I have the responsibility to myself, to whom I'm working for whether, you know, it's a board of directors or it's a nonprofit group that I'm trying to raise money for. You know, we're, you know, like kidney foundation or something like that, and it's my responsibility once again, to serve. And it means, you know, I have to get out there. I, I'm the, I'm the face of the organization. I have to make sure that who's working with me. Is prepared, understands their job. Leadership is also a huge, emotional, I mean, you could say high. When you get that goal and you reach that goal, or you've managed to be able to find where that cost center, was losing money and just, you know, you can, you found it, you could put a stop to it. That's are just huge. You know, those are the things you, you go, Hey, you know, it validates what you're doing and how you're doing it. And so those, those are really big.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: Do you think that everybody should aspire to be a leader in their own endeavors?
Irvin: I'm sorry?
Brierley: Do you think everyone should aspire to be a leader in their own personal endeavors?
Irvin: Not necessarily a leader. I think they, should be - do the best they can do for themselves. And they want to do that. You know, not everybody's comfortable with it. You do have to have a tendency of, confidence, and you know, you have to be able to take the good with the bad, like I said, you're going to, the buck stops with you. Some people just don't want to take that responsibility and have no desire to, and that's okay because there's crazy people like us out there who enjoy that. So, I think as long as you're true to yourself and you're doing - you're taking leadership in your own life, I don't think you have to, you know, aspire, to be a leader anywhere else.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: How would you characterize your leadership style?
Irvin: My style is “lead by example.” I'm not going to ask anybody to do something I wouldn't do. I strive to have people trained properly, people given what they need to succeed, because sometimes we don't - we aren’t always given everything. Whether it's just the information, whether it's a calculator, you know, we, we just don't always get that one little thing we need. Now, doing that and staying in a budget, can become complicated, but I think there's a way you kind of think outside the box and you can come up with that. People - I want my people to feel like they belong to know why they're there. To realize how what they do affects everyone else, and what really does take that team. And you know, everybody is just not on the same page every day. And so, that makes life and work, and voluntary, a little tricky. And so, it's just trying to bring out, my style is to give them what they need and then try and help them succeed. This kind of goes along with some delegation stuff. You hit questions you've asked. I kind of had to laugh because you asked what was one of your weakest strengths, and mine is delegation. Down the road, it says, “do you think delegation is important?” And I kind of went “yeah, I think it is” and it is. And knowing that about yourself, it's - it's that control issue again. But you've got to be able to delegate to people one: so they feel a part of it, two: because you can't do it all. And it does take that team and that's why those people are there and they need to feel successful in what they're doing and you want them to. So, that's kind of my style. I try and treat everyone pretty much as adults and not a micromanager, even though I just talked about control, not bad. Once again, I think it just goes back to serve. I mean, I read this book, it was based on volunteers, but I read this book, years ago and it says to lead is to serve, best, Shar McVey, this little lovely green book here. I have read that every couple of years or so, you know, and just kind of go back and say, you know, are you doing it or are you, you know, are you living up to your words?

Partial Transcript: Brierley: Well, we briefly touched upon delegation, so I think we can go to that question. Do you feel that it is important to delegate? If so, why and when, and how do you delegate? I know in my personal projects and academic projects, I really - I struggle to delegate because I am, quite the perfectionist, so I am hesitant to give people jobs if I don't know that they will be done to the standards of the project. So what are your thoughts on delegation?
Irvin: Well, Yeah. You have to be able to share, you have to share your goals and that, if that's a group meeting or whatever, if somebody feels inclined, that they, you know, when you're sitting there talking about what we're need to do and what we need to achieve, if somebody steps up and says, you know, I think I could do this, or I want to do this part or whatever. Fabulous. And, you know, at the same time you're going through your head: Is this something they've shown before? Is this a capability, that, you know, they have, is this a time that you can give them the freedom to, to try? I mean, do you have time, you know, built in that sort of thing? I feel like it's extremely important. Because when you - when you're looking at the bottom line and you're paying these people and you you've got, a myriad of things going on, are you being the most effective leader by doing everything and not delegating part of it out? Are you spending your money wisely? I mean, you know, this is my job. This is what I'm getting paid for. Am I really getting paid for this? Or should my time and efforts be spent elsewhere. It's always kind of a little balancing act. But you know, it's just, you don't want to wear yourself out. You don't want to wear anyone else out. People want to feel good about what they did, they want to be appreciated for what they do, and I want to be able to honestly give them those things. I want to give them the credits and I want to, you know. And then if there's a, a miss where I didn't delegate enough maybe, or, you know, we just have to bring that back in and reevaluate, it's always, you know, kind of looking, seeing what we could do better, what didn't work, what did work.
So, but I think delegation is important. Not only for me, and the company or agency I'm working with, but for those who were doing good work.
Well, I tell you what I'm going to, back up on this a little bit, not changing what I'm saying, but I think a better, kind of example is when you have a group of volunteers. And you're in a project, you're doing a golf tournament. And so, you've scheduled all these people who, and you're raising money for this Kidney foundation. And so, the outcome of this tournament depends on not only your staff, but the huge amount of volunteers. It could take two or three hundred volunteers. Now these people like your organization enough and like, believe in it, that they're willing to give up their personal time to come to the table and volunteer and help you get this off. You have to be really structured and ready for that because if you have, if you need a hundred people and a hundred people show up, they're expecting something to do. Or you lose their interest, they feel like they boosted their time. you haven't used them effective, so really, you know, what kind of control or it and what kind of, influences, are you having on your work and on the project itself? So, I think you can probably take that and you look at an individual in the same way. You know, you've got me here to do this job. you're not trusting me. I'm not getting, you know, you're not asking me to do anything. I'm just kind of sitting over here, passing time, doing the least I have to do. So I got to try and help that person grow and be satisfied and feel belonged, feel that they're belonging or, if I don't delegate, that's not going to happen.
Brierley: I completely agree. I think I need to personally look at delegation as more of a positive, especially in team projects and such.
Irvin: Projects, yeah.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: What would you characterize as your professional strengths and weaknesses?
Irvin: Okay. I try and, walk the walk, or walk the talk, whichever you want to say. I think that's so important. You know, things happen. These are out of your control. You can't control everything around you every day. But if you can control just that one part, that - that lets people see that your - your goal and you're trying to process and work toward your goal. I think if they see you doing your job and which - which you're acclaimed to hold out there for them, in the business, then, I think they'll follow it. I think they’ll follow. Now weaknesses. We had to go back to that. My weakness is not delegating well. I know this is big for me. Once again, control, like you were just saying about your own projects. I don't know what that person's going to take a good job or not. Well, you know, at some point, you know, it's kind of like being a parent, you're going to have to say, “Eek!” You know, go on you're - you're out there. I'll give you change, for yourself, to me. That's not really what you're saying in your head, but, you know. It’s - you have to help them grow. And really that's the trust issue. I mean, it really is. It's whether or not you're going to trust them and give them more, or are they going to trust you to, to give them more. Personal example: I have worked with this one person who would say, “You know, okay, this is what we need to do. And this is my timeline,” you know, whatever, whatever. Okay. So, I knew, you know, what was expected in my younger years, and a week before it was due, she decided she wanted the information. And then she would come and say, “Do you have this together?” I said, “No, I've still got about a week, and I was working this end and working this end.” And then she turned around do it anyway, because that's what she wanted. She didn't want it a week from now. And that used to drive me crazy with the, you know, I’d be gathering stuff here on the side, trying to, you know, schedule out my work and my – and my day. And, it would - it would drive me crazy! Her schedule and what she needed changed all the time. Now, once again, when I was younger, I couldn't see that there might be outside invoice, outside, excuse me, forces working, you know, to make her change that, but it became very, and I thought, I felt very inept and, I had never felt that way before. So, yeah, kind of took that hard, but time, you know, has kind of taught me different, but yeah. You're still going to want to put your stake on it.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: What, or who has been your greatest influence?
Irvin: Wow. You know, so many people. My parents, My friends. Coworkers. You know, those older than me and younger than me. It - it, you know, I'm surprised at where the insight comes from. Especially, you know, as I'm getting older. Because the world’s changing, I don't live your world, you know, I don't know all the time what your needs are and how to meet your needs. My children are older than you. So, I don't have, you know, I don't really have that bouncing off point. And, you know, you kind of try and stay up, with technology and stuff. But…So, people who've influenced me are everywhere. The person who has most influenced me over the past five years, I would have to say is Lisa Stetar. She is the Executive Director of Crossroads Campus Pets and Adopt, and they are located in East Nashville. And I met her about five or six years ago, I guess it’s going more on six and, I met her through her Volunteer Coordinator. We were both taking a class at the Center for Nonprofit Management at the same time. And that's kind of how I got to meet them. And what they were doing and what their goal was, was so touching. Basically, they are working with children who have been processed out of the system or getting ready to be processed out of the system. Foster care. And so, there can be a lot of emotional baggage that comes with that. And then you've got these precious dogs and cats at the humane shelter. They're going to get put down if somebody does adopt them, you know? So, you want one part of that, there's so many arms, but one part of this was where, actually we were taking the pets to the, well, at the time Monroe Harding, and the children, young men, were training the dogs. It was compassionate, both needed each other, both very emotionally fulfilling. And, you know, they baked dog treats and stuff, on Saturday's, you know, whatever. So, their helping training these pets. So, these pets could come into the store, and be adopted, and that they will have, you know, there'll be ready for family themselves. So, it grew into the shop is now, also, a training point for, people, the young - younger generation that are, you know, out there without a place. They're grounding, to work and get knowledge and skills, so that they can go on. Some of the students are, and then - then they're housing them. We're working on housing these students as they come out of the system, and a place to do that as she's gotten all these wonderful grants. And, so they're going to college. Right now, there's a group of about six or seven who live in - above the apartment, I mean, the building, the actual, storefront. And so, a couple of them are in school, a couple of them are, you know, just working, going to training, some, you know, it's - it's amazing. It's amazing. So, in the meantime, all these little dogs and kitties are getting adopted, and getting loved on. And they have a storefront with that offers food and that sort of stuff. So, they - they help sustain themselves, not only on donations and fundraisers, but. So anyway, she has just amazed me. She's blown, bombing away with her ideas, the things that she could see in the future. And, you know, it's just rolling over, Lisa Stetar. Yeah, she's good.
Brierley: I am going to look that up because that's very intriguing and I love to try and be a part of that.
Irvin: They’re on Monroe Road, kind of downtown, kind of that behind the fair, not the fairgrounds, the - the market, the farmer's market. And, it's - it's wonderful. I volunteered there, when they got the building, you know, dusted the walls before we painted. I mean, you know, it's just, I've done several things for them, including baking, dog biscuits! But, anyway, it's a very, very, just feel good. I mean, it's, it's reaching out to all levels and it's helping the community, helping the kids. That's my hero right now.
Brierley: That's a good hero to have. I’d love to get involved.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: Leaders help turn ideas into action and empower others. How do you accomplish this?
Irvin: Well, you know, I feel like I'm repeating myself. I think the best way to accomplish it is your enthusiasm for what you're doing, helps breed that enthusiasm from others. And, it doesn't become such a, you know… For me, I'll, I'll speak for me. I'd look at a goal or something that needs to be accomplished, try and figure out all the bits and pieces, that will take to make that happen. Who needs to be involved, you know, what level, that sort of thing. And, once again, go back, give opportunities, delegate. Just a part of it, you know, you – you may have to drive part of it to make it happen. I mean, you can never keep, as a leader, you can never keep your fingers off of, you know, what's going on underneath you, whatever. If there's projects and stuff, you can't ignore it. And I don't mean to be saying that, you know, delegating everything off or, I'm giving it to everybody so that they can, do their work. I am, but it's not at a lapse of my responsibility. And so, just evaluating what we're doing and how's the work going and staying on that, you know, keeping up on that project and having somebody to report to me what's going on. And then, you know, really listening. If, somebody says, when you're sitting in your meeting and someone says, “Well, have we ever thought to do with this one?” I've been in those meetings where people mainly just, you know, [claps] shuts that idea down and it may be, there was a reason why, you know, you will never know in the back of the head, what's going on to someone else's mind, but I try to give those ideas flight. If it makes sense, you know, yeah. You're curving it from, and your decisions are made on your experiences and what's happened before. And well, maybe this, if I do this this way, this time, it, you know, and that's how I know that your idea is not going to work, because we've already been there. But just trying to, you know, be energetic about the project yourself. Be ready and, I think, empower the others to, to do their best, you know, and what you, what you need and accomplish that goal.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: That leads into our next question. What are two or three action steps you believe are essential to enable others to be successful?
Irvin: I think you got to set a firm foundation. You got to set goals, and within those goals, what's expected of you, you know, this is, this is what you're responsible for, I need this information and I need it by this time, whatever. But everybody has to know what their expectations are. Give them what they need to make it meet their part, and then hold them accountable. I think those are the steps.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: How do you measure success and how do you learn from failure?
Polly Irvin: You measure success by a job well done. Hopefully, it's a job well done, and everyone's happy, everybody feels, that you appreciate the job they've done and the programs, success, whatever. And we can take a minute to celebrate and feel good. And then we move onto the next task. A little bit different for non-profit to profit. but still the same concept. Failure. Wow, you know, failure is failure. You just, that's hard. I mean, and once again, the good news, bad news, you're the leader. You've got this position. But you're responsible for all the actions. So, when there is a failure, you take the, you know, you have to take that, because you were in charge of your team and your people. Outside of a flood, or something really out of your control. You’re going to feel sorry for yourself, or, you're going to feel bad. And then you got to put it in its place. You've got to evaluate what happened, you know, look, what did we do wrong? How did we lose this? How did we lose these people? So how did we lose these sponsors, these donors, this client, you know, where did we miss? Because you can't win all the time. It's not always going to go your way. And so, you just kind of have to try harder next time. And you know, what's funny about it, is that you lost this client because of A, B and C. And so, you correct these things, but this next client you're going to, and you're propositioning, or tried to work out a project. You throw in A, B, and C, they wanted F, G and H, you know, so balancing act. And part of that comes into listening to what the people really want your client, you know, whomever, your customer, and trying to provide really what they want. And you're just not going to always hit. It's there's going to be some, there's going to be a cost overrun or, you know, your budget isn't meeting their budget. You know, what you've proposed to do is not going to, you know, beat what they have to do it with. So, you can go back and adjust and that sort of thing, but sometimes you're just not going to get it. And you're, you're going to fail. Yeah.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: That also plays into our next question. What advice do you have for building relationships and trust in an organization? And then we can go a step further and talk about what that looks like building clientele.
Irvin: Okay. Respect, I think that's just got to be out there. Appreciation of contributions of all. Being accountable to others by setting that example, do what you say you're going to do. If - if you're not going to hold to your own words, then why should anyone else? So, and kind of the big thing, that sometimes we lose sight of, is that everyone's job is important in making this job or goal work. The receptionist, if she's having a really bad day, and she gets this new possible client on the phone, they're going to go “eek!”, you know, I'm not so sure this does it start off with. And then let's say, because she's having a bad day, she, we’ll blame it all on the receptionist, she forgets to give the message to one of the, customer service reps. It's a - it's a day late when we get back to this client. wow. You know, we dropped the ball, you can't fix that first impression, and there's always that first impression. And that's why that customer service rep needs to appreciate that receptionist in what is going on. You have no idea what's affecting people when they come to work. You hope that they're able to put some of their emotions and things aside to do their job. Not everybody can, so the relationship, I think just has to be built one at a time. Showing the respect and, you know, just kind of reminding people that, you know, if a situation comes up or, you know, you could have probably handled this in another way. Did you think about their situation or - and how they interact with others? And so that they can learn to appreciate how it all stacks up. And I think if you can get that, that's pretty good. You got people, look it out for the other one, trying to, you know, I don't know. You know, you look at somebody, maybe you're caught up on your job and you say, can I help you with that? not say, “Oh God, okay, 30 minutes. I can,” you know, that's a perfect world. That's a perfect situation. It'd be nice to have it, but you're not going to every day. So, you just got to keep trying. Tomorrow is another day.

Partial Transcript: Brierley: And then finally, we'll end on what do you want your legacy to be?
Irvin: I’ve never thought about that before. I thought that was a good question. You know, basically I want my legacy to be, that I was a good person. I worked hard. I was a good wife, good parent, neighbor, family member. Served my community well. Did a good job. Didn't hurt too many people, on the way up or down. And, you know, just - just like to know, I’ve been good. Did what I could. Okay. So thanks for making me think about that!