Written by Tadd Allar

Momentum recently participated in the Summer RISE initiative led by the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Partnerships Unit for the second year. This blog is the first of a four-part series that introduces you to the initiative, discusses why and how Momentum participates, and includes blogs written by three students who joined Momentum this summer.

Volunteering is a large part of the Momentum culture. Helping others succeed, both inside and outside work, drives us to improve at everything we do. Along with several other volunteer efforts each year, Summer RISE allows the Momentum employees to reach out to the community and make a difference. Over the past few years, the staff has come together to complete efforts like constructing blankets for those in need and creating art supply gift baskets for children.

As a reminder to the students, building a solid network in your personal and business (work) lives is a massive factor in your success! As you venture into college, the workforce, and beyond, consider the Momentum team part of your network. We look forward to hearing about your successes and, if the need ever arises, helping you however we can.

The Summer RISE program matches MCPS juniors and seniors with businesses in areas the students have expressed interest. The program offers a career experience learning opportunity for students as they learn about the business and industry, participate in routine tasks, and complete individual or group work.

During our time with the students, Momentum staff introduced them to essential business skills they could apply at home, in school, or for some of them, in their businesses. Through multiple activities and job shadowing, we reviewed topics like:

• Program coordination and management
• Communication
• Marketing and web analytics
• Consulting
• Forecasting and goal setting
• Performance measurement
• Presentation and public speaking

The students also walk away from their experience with first-hand experience on items like SharePoint site management, press release creation, business social media postings, and blog creation. These blogs make up the subsequent three postings in this series. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed guiding the students in their creation.

WHY DO WE DO IT

Momentum is so grateful to the communities that we serve and the clients that have partnered with us. Volunteering opportunities allow us to give back to these communities and share our success. Summer RISE, in particular, allows us to give back and support the Maryland communities we do business in. While introducing the students to new skills, concepts, and experiences, the students help us hone our skills. Learning how to explain complex processes to audiences with varying experiences and knowledge is essential to success in the consulting industry. Their questions and comments introduce us to new perspectives, helping us think of ways to improve our message delivery.

Are you a business leader looking to grow your staff, participate in informal networking, or give back to the community? You should add volunteering to the list of possible solutions. Volunteering in the community is a great way to attract and keep like-minded employees and open your network to new contacts.

While it’s obvious that volunteering benefits the organizations you support, there are positive advantages to your organization. Here are just some of the benefits to your organization:

• Increases employee morale and engagement
• Provide opportunities for employees to grow and learn new skills
• Promote employee well-being
• Attract and retain talent
• Improve your organization’s brand

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED

Summer RISE 2022 has ended, but now is a perfect time to plan for summer 2023 or to look at other opportunities within your community. Visit the Summer RISE website or email Davida Gurstelle to learn more about the program and share this blog with your staff to begin discussing the possibility of hosting students. Contact Momentum if you would like to learn more about our experience. We can also discuss how a consultant who can explain the System Design Life Cycle to a junior in high school can help you and your staff.

Please let your account manager know if you are one of our clients and would like to help the students in Momentum’s program. Client engagement is key to our success as a business, and this is where you can help. As you are aware, communicating with clients is key to project success. We would love the opportunity to invite the students into a meeting to learn from the interaction. We would work with you in advance to select an appropriate meeting based on the agenda. If you would like to be more involved, we would love for them to hear from you on why and how you use consulting services and your expectations of consultants.

As a business community, we have obligations to give back when and however we can, and volunteering is a great way to do that!

Written by Tadd Allar

My career path was defined in 1996′ when I first answered the phone with “Good Morning and thanks for calling MindSpring Technical Support. My name is Tadd. How can I help you today?” I cut my teeth on internet tech support in the mid-90s; Windows 95 was new, 28.8 modems were the best it got, and everybody knew they needed to be on the internet. And for those of us who were fortunate (or maybe it is crazy) enough to be the internet access gatekeepers of the dial-up world, we all knew why everybody needed online. It wasn’t for pictures of food!

25+ later, and I still enjoy helping others overcome their tech hurdles. Today the “I don’t hear a dial tone” call from grandmas is replaced with supporting government leaders and their teams with software requirements, purchasing or design, and implementation.

The answers aren’t as easy today as they were at the beginning of my career. However, I still enjoy helping others overcome tech. But one answer is still as true today as it did back then – Reboot and try again.