It started a year ago. The GRid70 building in downtown Grand Rapids was the latest addition of renovations to add commodity to our community. Successful organizations quickly signed on to the project and an incubator was born. Although the companies that inhabited the creative space shared proximity, there was very little crossover between departments.
Young professionals from the respective organizations unofficially began networking with one another and “GRoup” was developed. Members included:
Nathan Biller – Steelcase
Jon Brickner – Amway
Kelly Metsker – Amway
Amanda Reyes – Amway
Adam Russo- SeyferthPR
Franco Silva – Amway
Nichole Smith – Pomegranate Studios
“We didn’t want to define ourselves with a logo or name,” explains spokesperson Franco Silva. It’s easy to understand why. The fluidity and flexibility of the membership to take on projects and change directions is remarkable.
They began with a meeting to find solutions and/or recommendations to solving some of Grand Rapids' perplexing issues. The meeting went well, but they learned they would provide more benefit by focusing on one project. Upon chatting with Greg Sundstrom, city manager, the task of increasing the tree canopy in the city was chosen.
“We needed to increase Grand Rapids’ tree canopy by 180,000 trees,” expresses Silva. “We wanted to do something value-added. We took it as a challenge.”
The principles behind the GRoup were to provide a project that challenged the skills of the individuals, provide training or opportunities to learn, and allow a broad base of networking.
Member Adam Russo couldn’t agree more. “In addition to all of the members having a vested interest in the future of Grand Rapids, the project provided great networking opportunities, a chance to participate in experiential learning and [to] apply new ideas to real projects in an environment that is diverse from each of our daily corporate contexts.”
With access to the city’s data and departments, they disseminated facts and comparable data. They focused on “Human Centered Design,” which included viewing a problem from different angles and framing the right questions to ask. What they discovered was that it wasn’t the trees that were the issue, but the human behaviors in regard to trees.
It was ethnographic research that led them to their recommendations. They gained insight through face-to-face interactions with people in their own environments and found underlying themes. And, in fact, the GRoup presented their recommendations just last week to the City Commission and will remain on the project with the city in a consulting role.
“Presenting our recommendation in front of Mayor Heartwell and the city commission meant a lot to the entire team,” Russo says. “In a way, it provided a sense of accomplishment for the GRoup's effort throughout the last seven months.”
What will happen next? The GRoup is excited about the forward movement on the tree canopy project and is currently assessing future projects to tackle. We’ll keep you posted, because this is one GRoup that is making a difference in our community… Tree-gooders today, tomorrow’s leaders for certain.
Source: Franco Silva, Amway; Adam Russo, SeyferthPR
Writer: Jennifer Wilson, Do Good Editor
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