Kelina Morgan
She/Her
"It is my hope that when others look back on the influence that I've intentionally designed for the future, my commitment to provide support and services with dignity and respect stands out."
Resilience
My personal reset button is to “Get Centered”, but I do this differently than what I’ve heard others do. How I define “getting centered” is to check in with my source first. My faith is what grounds me and I must first check in and be aligned with God. Then I check my relationships. When I am in good alignment with God, I can be in better relationship with others—including my family, my friends, my coworkers, etc. This is my support system. So, after getting centered, I lean upon my support system for strength, encouragement, endurance through life’s challenges. I support others in discovering their ways of managing stress and regaining focus by being a cog in their support system. I help them to recognize differences in their focus that may be attributed to stress. After first establishing a safe space, I regularly check in with them to have a supportive conversation, checking in to see how they are doing and if there is anyway I can be supportive. I encourage self-care, which looks different for each person. I encourage them to take time to themselves and reflect – my motto is to take 90 minutes to yourself a week to only reflect and get centered. I encourage them to identify and lean on their support system, and I support them with problem solving if they are open to it. I am intentional about creating space, whether as an employer or a friend, to safely reflect and become more self-aware in order to be more productive and effective in what whatever area you need to.
Purpose-Driven
I am a housing professional and have been so for over 20 years. I believe this career path is my purpose, having lived through houselessness and housing insecurity myself. I believe people we support should be treated as people and that when we as professionals are met with a person who is upset, that person deserves the dignity of being heard and listened to. On this particular day a person had come into our office very angry. One of my leaders was nervous about intervening with the person, so I made the decision to model how I support individuals who are upset with a listening ear. She and I walked into the empty lobby where the person was standing. I first held my hand out and shook their hand, introducing myself and the other staff person. There were a couple chairs next to the person and I asked if we could sit down. I sat down right next to them and asked if they could let me know why they had come in. As they spoke their voice was somewhat loud and they used their hands to express themselves. I leaned in close to them, looking them in their eye as they spoke. They apologized a couple times for cursing and explained that they are not angry with me, but at the situation. I acknowledge that I understood this and validated their frustration. After listening to them, I told them what I could do first, and what I could not do and why. They acknowledge that they understood and appreciated that I came to listen to their concerns. I asked the other staff person to support them with getting the things we could help with, and assured them that she would get them the things they needed. I stood up and shook their hand again and gave my direct number in case they had any questions in the future. They thanked me and went with the staff person to get the items. This made a huge impact on the leader/staff who had come with me to support the person. It helped them to see the person as someone with valid frustrations that needed to be listened to. It also helped her to be able to say in those situations what we can do and can’t do in a way that is supportive. As a leader, she is now able to support her team with how to intervene in this type of situation and support the individual in a way that can bring a positive outcome. This also impacted that individual that came in upset as they saw that they could be listened to and resolve a conflict in a calmer manner.
Developmental Leadership
My approach to leading people is as a coach. A coach is one who instructs, trains, and provides strategies. I believe it is my role to support those I lead with developing their skills, and the way that I do this is by first making sure they are aware of the vision and goal, that they are then trained, then supporting them with how to implement that which they have learned with tools and strategies that may be helpful or supportive, and finally to give continued feedback to improve outcomes. As an executive level leader, I lead leaders. An example of guiding someone towards realizing their full potential was when I had a leader that was new to the role. She, like many who come into leadership roles, thought she had to take on and be responsible for everything pertaining to her programs by doing everything herself. By using coaching tactics, I supported her by providing her with the tool of The Urgent Important Matrix. This tool used effectively supports people with time and project management by categorizing tasks based on their urgency. I supported her with identifying what was urgent and important and had to be taken care of immediately, what was non urgent but important and could be planned for and done over time, what was urgent but not important and could potentially be delegated, and what was not urgent and not important and should either not be done or could be delegated as well. This was supportive towards her realizing her full potential as it gave her time back and prioritized what needed to be done, allowing her to focus and get the tasks done efficiently.
Intersectionality
As a Black woman in leadership, I recognize that I am often in spaces where the Black voice has not been, specifically the perspective of Black women. Having been in the housing field for over 20 years, being a leader in this field, having lived experience of houselessness and housing insecurity, and being a Black woman and apart of the group that is over represented of those experiencing houselessness, brings with it a unique set of perspectives that I have the privilege to bring to every table that makes decisions about those that are houseless or housing insecure. I’ve been in spaces where I have had to interject and remind people of one or more of my identities and the perspective I bring to that conversation. I don’t represent all Black women who have experienced houselessness, but I can speak to my experience to inform decisions on behalf of Black women and other groups who experience houselessness or housing insecurity. I have had to do this on several occasions, but on one specific occasion the governing board that makes the decisions regarding housing funding was meeting and reviewing the findings of focus groups that had been held. The findings determined the need for the governing board to be reflective of by percentage of each of races that were served by the housing funding. This meant that people and organizations that held positions would need to give up their seat to someone who represented the races we served by race. The discussion held a lot of tension and I had to remind the group that they agreed they would make the changes determined by these focus groups and that as a Black woman with lived experience, to be served by someone who looks like me and experienced what I experienced would better support me. It is important to me that whatever table I am at, I bring the voices of the intersections I represent with me to the tables, and I’m grateful to be able to.
Future Facing Legacy
It is my hope that when others look back on the influence that I've intentionally designed for the future my commitment to provide support and services with dignity and respect stands out. I envision that my actions will influence the lives I've supported, those they are connected with, and those I have coached in this field to be the best versions of themselves while serving others. I envision that the impact will be one of humanity - that we are all deserving of humane treatment no matter the race, sex, religion, etc and regardless of whether we use drugs, drink, have a criminal background, or a mental illness. I envision my influence will be that others will choose to treat anyone they are connected with or come in contact with as a human being deserving of dignity and respect.