Shakti participates in the Harvey Family Farm’s CSA, and consequently, receives beautiful bouquets to brighten the space. Checkout this local treasure here.
I am often asked to recommend strategies for building and sustaining a regenerative community – a community that actively replenishes and restores itself. In this week’s newsletter, I explore one such strategy – the gift that keeps on giving – a trustworthy advisory board!
What do I mean by advisory board?
Being the person with the vision or the plan can be a little lonely and sometimes inure you to the way your vision or plan is being received or executed. To keep you honest and attuned to reality as well as to help you grow and adapt to a constantly changing environment, it is critical to gather a small group of people whom you trust and who understand your vision.
What can you expect from an advisory board?
That depends…on whom you invite and on how you invite them. While your needs may vary, most visionaries need advisory board members who:
- Will give honest feedback
- Are willing to work on projects or goals outside of meeting times
- Are willing to engage with complexity
- Understand that change often happens incrementally and slowly
Who do you invite?
When considering who to invite to your advisory board, look for people who have the time to commit and who have strengths that you do not. Seek out people who hold similar values to you and who represent members from your community as well as people whom you want to be a part of your community. One of the best decisions that I made was to invite a person 20 years younger than the majority of the board members who serve. The younger person’s perspective was refreshing and innovative and helped Shakti attract more young people to the community.
You also want to invite people who are able to hold you and the group accountable to the vision. Rubber-stampers, or people who say what you want to hear, are not what makes you grow or stay honest. Seek out people who are not afraid to share their opinion and who can navigate disagreements with respect and kindness.
Most of all, invite people to serve on your advisory board who are creative and curious: people who are able and willing to dwell in possibility. Ideally your advisory board is a group of people committed to your vision and who want to serve as thought partners that bravely and ethically grow your vision.
In case you were wondering, Shakti does have an advisory board – a group of women that I cherish and to whom I am very grateful. We typically meet every two weeks and often someone brings food to share. :)
If you would like support in forming your own advisory board, then consider reaching out for a consultation appointment with me. I offer my time on a sliding fee scale and enjoy serving our community in that capacity.
Wishing everyone a beautiful week!
Love,
Kim
For nearly thirty years, Kim Bushore-Maki has served Appalachia as both a pioneer and champion of holistic well-being and community health.
A licensed clinical counseling professional, she became the first Master level clinician at East Tennessee State University's Counseling Center, where she provided therapeutic services and directed the Sexual Violence Prevention Program and the Alcohol and Drug Prevention Program.
During her tenure at ETSU, she was a founding organizer of the Tennessee Coalition for Healthy and Safe Campus Communities as well as Tennessee's representative for the National Prevention Network. She drafted ETSU's first Sexual Violence Response Policy and coordinated the region's first "Take Back the Night" program and fundraiser (the oldest worldwide movement to stand against sexual violence in all forms), the proceeds of which funded the first SANE nurses at the Johnson City Medical Center. Kim also served as Interim Director of Disability Services for 11 months.
In 2010, Kim followed her intuition and vision to found Shakti in the Mountains, a thriving healing-arts center that draws on somatic expressive therapy, archetypal psychology, wisdom traditions, and regenerative economics. Kim continues to maintain a small private therapy practice and also leads healing programs and retreats, guides the Shakti Stewardship Program, and serves as a community-building consultant to justice-oriented initiatives committed to building safe, inclusive, vibrant, and resilient communities.
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