Sackeria Jackson-Hinds: Team building and the importance of shared learning
For Sackeria Jackson-Hinds, municipal treasurer at the Township of Ignace, knowing something is good; sharing that knowledge with others is essential.
Jackson-Hinds not only took home the Engagement Award from the 2019 Municipal Finance Officers’ Association of Ontario (MFOA) annual conference and AGM, but she took time to speak with delegates on the importance of learning, teamwork, and sharing her learned experience.
“When one knows something, especially for me, it is important to share. It is also important to continue learning. I realized that MFOA has expertise, has a vast expertise in different areas, and the way to tap into that and contribute to it is to engage,” she says. “Sharing, connecting, networking, is very key to who I am and building my professional ways, and skills, and life. So, it is important to me.”
MFOA’s Supportive Approach
MFOA doesn’t take a one-size-fits-all approach, Jackson-Hinds says. That’s one of the things, she adds, that has always been rewarding in her collaborations with the organization.
Jackson-Hinds went to MFOA with a challenge she had around staff education and team building when it came to tax bills. In smaller communities, she explains in the video, there often isn’t the expertise necessarily to understand the how and why of certain everyday tasks. She wanted her team to have that opportunity and MFOA made it possible.
Timely Team Building Experience
Describing the project in the video, Jackson-Hinds praises MFOA staff for their flexibility in working with her and her team when it came to this kind of learning experience.
Her goal going into the project was not to have township staff learn separately when it came to their pursuit of what she describes as, “municipal finance 101.” Instead, the goal was to have the members learn together – something she accepted was going to take a lot longer.
That said, MFOA made her goal a reality.
“We thought, two months and we will be over with it. But life happens; things happened with people on the team. MFOA came through for us,” she says. “When we asked for an extension … they were very flexible and that’s important. The people were understanding and that was a key highlight for me with their flexibility and level of understanding.” MW
✯ Municipal World Insider and Executive Members: You might also be interested in Janet Hueglin Hartwick’s article: Four tips to communicate change. Note that you can now access the complete collection of past articles (and more) from your membership dashboard.
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