Say More
A Young Life SLC Podcast
The "Say More" podcast is an opportunity for Young Life’s leadership to hear from each other, a chance stay in-the-know, and a way to hear what matters — to you and those you lead.
Episode 7: Support for the Mission – Tricia Blake, Scott Brill and Lauren Bocci
In this episode, we hear from the functional leadership of Young Life and how they are preparing their departments to carry the KNOWN vision, support the field strategies in the U.S. and international and ensure more kids are known and know the name of Jesus.
View Tricia's Transcript
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Lauren Bocci: All right. Well, I am here now with Mrs. Tricia Blake. She is our Chief Learning Officer, and Tricia has had a storied career here at Young Life. But Tricia, you're here with me, right? This is you.
Tricia Blake: I am here with you. Hi, Lauren. Hello to everyone.
Lauren: I'm so glad we're getting a chance to just hear a little bit more about your team and how you're thinking about KNOWN. That really is the first question that I have is just as you sit where you sit now and you've built a team all over the world, how do you see your team playing a part in KNOWN, in supporting the field, in supporting the mission? Where do you guys sit? Where do you see yourself there?
Tricia: Thanks for asking. I would say as I journeyed into this job, the first thing was really to assess where we are, what's our current reality as an organization as far as equipping leaders? Again, I'll reference leaders as a volunteer leader all the way through up to Newt as the CEO. And how do we think about equipping them in the skills required for their job, but also what are the tools they need to support them in their job, and how do we train on those? And most importantly, how are they being developed as a leader within the mission? So how are they being developed in the role that God's called them to? So when I think about KNOWN that's what excites me about how we're thinking about moving forward and supporting our leaders for the next season of ministry.
Probably one of the most obvious things that was apparent to me as I came into this role and did my assessment and identification phase was we're not situated as a department to support the next eight years of ministry. We're just not there for all that we need. So really just thinking about what do we need locally? What do we need to be looking at centrally as a mission-minded global organization? And then really building the team from that paradox, understanding those two things and what needs to be local and what needs to be true across the DNA of all of Young Life across the globe.
Lauren: Yeah, that's great. I love how you're thinking about that, and I love that we're at a time right now where you and your leadership, and you and your team, kind of spread out around the mission have permission to think that way. What are the things that are best in the field, best from your team helping to support? I just think that you really taking the time to think through that well is going to serve us really well on this next phase.
Tricia: Yeah, Lauren, you've really highlighted two things that are on that other axis that we talk about in the paradox. It's like, what is it that's a specialty that is needed in a particular geography, whether it's training on the way that we're looking at healthy sexuality within our geography, which is very different across the globe, or whether it's the generalist or the divisional learning manager who's thinking as I look at this geography and the material that's come from, that's been created centrally, how do I make that culturally relevant for the geography in which we live? So really just trying to think about all the things that we knew were true and how do we solve for those as we look at our next season in ministry and hope to reach all kinds of different kids in the next eight years.
Lauren: Yeah. So good. I'm going to put you on the spot because I think one of the big things that you and your team have really led is just really digging into the fact that we are, it's not like, "Hey, we should try to be more global." We actually are a global organization.
Tricia: Yes.
Lauren: Talk to me a little bit, and some of us will have heard about the i100, but some of us will have a vague understanding of what that looks like. Tell me a little bit about what that was and how your team, coming alongside field leadership, really has kind of rounded out what that is, and maybe the future of that.
Tricia: Great, thanks. Yeah. I would say as we look at the strategic plans of all the GSVPs, whether it's Wiley and Chad in the US, or Dan and Steve internationally, one thing that was very true is we wanted to think about how are we developing kingdom leaders? And so when we think about that program that's been executed in the US, we think about what does that mean globally, and how do we start to create leaders within geographies that were not US born, but born within that geography, or other geographies.
And so, we partnered with Dan Jessop and Steve as they thought about that development of those senior leaders moving beyond the level of area director and regional director into vice president, senior vice president, hopefully someday GSVP. They could have Dan or Steve's job or possibly even Newt's. And so how do we need to think about their preparation for those roles and thinking about a global mission, not just inside their geography. So, the i100 was born and kicked off in Nairobi in November, and it's a five-year experience, and it's really concentrating on both senior level development, but how do I hold the whole ministry of responsibility, including direct ministry, as well as what does that mean for ministry support and resource development within the geography I'm responsible for?
Lauren: That's so great. Thank you for sharing a little bit more about that.
Tricia: Yeah.
Lauren: I just love to be alive in the time that the first i100 happened, because I think it's a really big deal.
Tricia: It was incredibly powerful. Incredibly powerful to see leaders from 52 countries there represented. It was something I'm glad I got to witness in my duration of time at Young Life.
Lauren: It's so good. All right. Well, to wrap us up, I mentioned the storied career of Tricia Blake, but where you sit right now, obviously the first Chief Learning Officer that we've ever had.
Tricia: Yes.
Lauren: Talk to me, just, I'm curious what keeps you in it? In the words of Marty Caldwell, what keeps you going? Why do you keep going?
Tricia: First of all, I love that you quoted Marty Caldwell.
Lauren: Thank you. You're welcome, Marty. You're welcome.
Tricia: Yeah.
Lauren: Yeah.
Tricia: I would say early on the attraction for me was, I think the right answer here, just like inside this school, it's always Jesus, right? Jesus is the answer why we're all still here. But my own transformational process of what I've learned about myself and growing more in the likeness of Him in this job has been incredible. And I hope that remains true for all of our lives. If we are truly Holy Spirit-led leaders, then we need to be in a process of transformation ourselves.
And so really what the Lord has taught me about myself, but ultimately, when you think why Young Life, you think about the time where you get to witness, when all my years at camp in the camping department, the 15 minutes of silence, and you hear someone break into tears in the middle of a dark night with the stars up above and go, "Wow, the kingdom just got expanded right in front of me and I got a front row seat for that." That's a powerful, powerful moment. So I would say the Lord's transformation in our own lives, and then how that gets transmitted into the lives of kids.
Lauren: Oh, that's so good. That's so good. And I would say I have ... You being in the role that you're in, you are definitely someone, I know for me, that I'm like, I want to learn more from Tricia Blake and specifically around this idea of what does it mean to be a Holy Spirit-led leader. So I am grateful that that's also the journey that you're on, continuing to ask that question. But I'm grateful to continue to learn from you in that way as well.
Tricia: Thanks, Lauren.
Lauren: You're welcome. All right, well that's all the time we have here, folks, is what they say when they're trying to wrap up. But Tricia, honestly, thank you so much for sharing your heart and your plan and all the things in between.
Tricia: Sure. Excited to be a part of this.
Lauren: So fun. Thank you.
View Scott's Transcript
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Lauren Bocci: Okay. All right. Well, I am here now with Scott Brill. Scott is our CFO, and I know I've had the pleasure of working with him, several of you over the years that he's been here. We'll talk a little bit about his story of how he came to Young Life, but I will say we are blessed to have the brain of Scott Brill for sure. But Scott is an incredible human, so brain aside, also an incredible human. So Scott, he's here with me, I promise. Here he is.
Scott Brill: Hi Lauren. Thanks for that embarrassing introduction.
Lauren: Well, nothing like talking about your big brain to get us started. Anyway.
Scott: Exactly.
Lauren: I digress. Okay. Well, Scott, we're talking today about Known and specifically trying to understand where your team sits in the mix of this. Obviously your team is critical in the plans and in terms of making sure that we can execute our plans, that we have the funding to do that and we're organized in such a way. Tell me a little bit about how your team is set up and how you see your team and kind of the function that you represent. What role do you guys play in KNOWN?
Scott: Yeah. Well, I mean, I would say the financial and the administrative services teams, so that's risk management, legal, and all of the financial services teams, we're really excited about what we're doing to expand our capacity, add to our tool set and capabilities to support growth within the mission. So that's growth that the field leadership teams have been working on with their strategic action teams and KNOWN is the way to actually get that funded and deliver on our overall goal, which is reaching more kids.
And that's what everybody on my team is really excited about. Yes, we're in a functional support role, but we are only here doing those functions because we want to help Young Life leaders who are working with kids reach more kids. So we're excited about that. We are trying to change how we actually support the ministry as we grow to be able to do more centralized funding and how do we actually plan for funding areas that aren't funding themselves as we've traditionally done throughout Young Life, and how do we do that in a way that ensures that where we're investing financially, we are reaching more kids.
Lauren: I love that. I love how you're thinking about it both for, obviously this fiscal year or the task at hand, but also thinking long term, what is the sustainability of the mission from the standpoint, and obviously your team has quite the spectrum of responsibility in that in terms of both the financial side of it, but also just supporting and supporting ministry in many ways. Love to hear your heart in that. Tell me a little bit about KNOWN. KNOWN, obviously it's a little bit of for such a time as this, where we're moving into this next vision, this next strategy of KNOWN. But from where you sit, what makes you excited about where we're going?
Scott: Yeah, it's the same answer, more kids, right? I'm excited about that we aren't comfortable with the awesome impact that we're already having, that we're like there's a lot of kids that we aren't reaching and KNOWN is about how do we ramp up our efforts to reach those kids that we aren't reaching? Because, I mean, we're reaching a lot of kids. That's the exciting part, but we're not willing to just say, well, good is good enough. Nope. We're called to actually go reach more kids. KNOWN, right? I'm excited about it because we are putting together an aggressive plan to reach more kids.
Lauren: Yeah. Yeah. It's funny, especially with somebody with your background to go like we're an organization that's been around for 80 years. There's not a lot of things period that have been a lot around for 80 years, businesses or organizations. So I think again, it's that we're not ... Good is not good enough, and so I love that. So some of you may know Scott's story of how he came to Young Life. Scott, I'd love to just give you an opportunity to tell a little bit about why you chose Young Life. I mean, you came from another global organization, Target, to a different global organization in Young Life. I would just love for people to hear what led you to Young Life and then why you stay in the role that you stay in and serve the way you do.
Scott: Yeah. Well, I'm here because I felt called to be here. It was God calling, prayer, conversations with my wife on what we felt we were being called to do. And it's interesting, on a functional support standpoint, I wouldn't be here if this was any other public company. I would not have left. I wasn't looking to leave, but God put this ... And you said earlier for such a time as this is what KNOWN is for, God put this in front of us and said, hey, for such a time as this, this is how you, despite I haven't been gifted with the ministry skills that a lot of our field leaders have, and I admire so much. That's what keeps me here is things that we're doing to help those people who get to work with kids and are good at leading kids to Christ. Whatever we can do to make it easier for them to do that, that's what keeps me here. It's the stories, it's the seeing the kids at club and at campaigners and at camp standing up and doing “Say So.” How can I leave that?
Lauren: Yeah. And so cool. Many might not know that you also have been, not only roped into your official job, but also roped in a volunteer basis helping with committee in the Springs (Colorado Springs) there. So I guess we really gotcha, huh?
Scott: Yep. I'm stuck.
Lauren: Well, thanks, Scott, for your time. I really am so glad to be able to serve alongside of you. You teach us a lot and you do it with lots of experience and lots of wisdom and truly a wonderful heart. So thank you, Scott.
Scott: Good. Awesome. Thanks.
Lauren: All right.
View Lauren's Transcript
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Lauren Bocci: All right.
Shelley Meador: So Lauren, thank you for spending some time with me.
Lauren: Yes, thanks for taking over the interviewing role.
Shelley: This is definitely just a short-term, part-time gig.
Lauren: Okay. Okay.
Shelley: Well, hey, we're going to jump right in and anxious to hear you share your thoughts and vision on how your team is set up to support KNOWN and our KNOWN strategy.
Lauren: Yeah. Well, I mean honestly we're doing that now as we think about the ways that we're communicating this vision and this plan, I think one of the things that's really important, and as I think about the way that my team is set up as we launch it, so we're in the very early phases of just building awareness and helping us all to get on the same page, but that work really doesn't stop. And so on my team, we have some of the most creative thinkers in the world, some of the most real techy data, scienc-ey nerd people. We have amazing storytellers. And that combination of all those people I think is really going to help. How do we really build places of that connection?
So of course right now here's a place where we're connecting, but I really foresee an opportunity for us to create more of these places, more places to tell stories, more places to encourage each other, and that's for our internal, for our staff and for our volunteers, but also being able to build those places of connection to the mission and to Jesus so that we are knowing more kids and making his name known, outside of the mission as well.
So we have really this opportunity to keep the house in order a little bit, stay connected to each other, but also to connect people from outside back into the mission. So that's really what we're ... I feel like we're a little bit on the starting line, we're ready to go.
Shelley: So many connection points I'm hearing and ways to influence and impact and support. What are you most excited about for KNOWN?
Lauren: Yeah, I mean KNOWN to me, and I've said it said before, it's such a mystery, almost like calling something KNOWN, which is this intangible thing. As a marketer, it's frustrating because you can't really hold it. But it also I think is just the beauty of what the Lord has given us, that there is mystery in what it means to ... And to help other people know the Lord and to ultimately make his name known. So it's like it's this intangible piece, but I love it. I feel like the Lord is asking me every day to find out more of what that means. And I think it will honestly be probably a lifetime of figuring out exactly what that means. But I'm excited. I mean, when I think about the outcomes around care and calling and community, I think about the cool stuff that my team already does and will continue to do to really care for our staff and volunteers and providing resources and tools and ways to help engage their communities that they serve in, taking really things off their plate that they're not best in the world at.
We don't need to ask every staff person around the world to be an excellent marketing communications person. We need them to be what they are best in the world at. And so I think a lot of the tools that my team will build and has built will continue to care for our staff in that way. And then I think about the way that we call more people and call more people into the mission and call our own people deeper into what the Lord has for them here. And I just really see that done a lot through experiments and specifically in the way that we think about digital. So as we think about bringing more people into the mission and maybe revealing to them what the Lord has for them in their own calling, we do that through a lot of digital means. So that could be in the way we call new volunteers, the way we call and retain staff people, and also of course how we call more donors and how we call more people to give their gifts and be part of this with us.
So digital is a huge piece of the way that I think about call. And then community I'd say is the dearest to my heart because it's all about the stories we tell and a Young Life staff person is nothing if not the best at telling stories. And so I'm excited for my team to be able to share some of those stories, both like I said internally, but externally as well. Just really building community through a shared vision and shared storytelling. So I'm excited to see how those three outcomes really help us as a team to move forward and again, build those bridges of connection around the mission.
Shelley: I always enjoy spending time with you, especially on this topic, because I continue to learn and grow for myself as thinking about what is care, calling, and community and how we all play a part in every single aspect of that, but also even what does each mean? It's quite broad and I just love the way you continue to expand our minds around that. So thank you. What keeps you so engaged in this, your own calling, what keeps you so engaged?
Lauren: Yeah. I come back to when I first took this role about five years ago or took my first job in the mission, my dad told me, he said, "Well, you just have the best job." And I already thought that, but he helped me go like, oh yeah. The fact that my job is to tell people about the amazing work that Young Life staff and volunteers do around the mission is so stupid amazing that I get to wake up and think about how do I tell that story better and to more people is so fun, is so fun. And I really do have a team that believes the same thing and is excited to tell that story more. And I think there's a personal charge for me as I think about the great commission and going to the ends of the earth.
I mean in 2023, the tools that we have to really go to the ends of the earth, a lot of those are digital marketing communications tools. And so I think really I take that very seriously, that we hold a lot of the keys to get in front of the next group or the next donor, the next volunteer, the next staff person who maybe doesn't know that they were made for this. And so I love that idea that there's a responsibility with the tools that we have right now to take Jesus to the ends of the earth.
Shelley: Yeah, you just hit the word that that came to mind for me of responsibility. I just love your sense of responsibility with that. And I hear the passion in your voice. And as always, Lauren, I so enjoy spending time with you.
Lauren: Thanks so much.