Learning the Language of Leadership

Nitaya Jandragolica, Austin, BCLP 2003      
Court Interpreter/Cultural Diversity Director, Mower County Courthouse

Generous Gifts of Leadership
As she reflects on how she came to recognize herself as a community leader, Nitaya Jandragolica referred to the Suzuki method for learning a musical instrument. “You spend a lot of time working with the instrument, imitating others, getting a sense of what it is supposed to sound like from the inside out. Then at some point you begin to name what you do in a more formal way.” Nitaya “learned the language” of community leadership as she did things instinctively in Austin as head of court interpretation services for the County and director of its diversity program. “The idea of ‘social capital,’ for instance, suddenly named the networking I do whenever I am working on a task in the community. The Blandin program helped me learn what to ask for and when to ask for it.”

Nitaya is quick to point out that she stands out in Austin, not so much because of her energy, but because she is neither blond nor Norwegian. “My Father was a Buddhist Thai and a nuclear physicist; my mother is a Chilean Catholic and a language teacher. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio where both my parents were teaching. I have lived in Thailand, Chile, California and Texas…and now Minnesota.”
The person who nominated Nitaya as a notable BCLP alum described her as a gift to Austin and a “person to follow.” The notion of gift suggests generosity. As Nitaya reflects on her work as well as her wider role as a community leader, it is the giving side of those roles that most influence her. “Several years ago my husband and I decided that we would create a mission statement for ourselves as a way of helping us set a direction for our lives and make choices. After a time of meditation and prayer and many attempts we settled on: ‘to serve and nurture every person to reach his or her highest potential.’ Having the clarity of a mission statement has been freeing because it reminds me frequently that it isn’t just about me.”

Understanding the Dynamics of Diversity
It was with a sense of mission that Nitaya accepted the offer to be Mower County’s first diversity director and head of court interpretation services. She was a licensed physical therapist, had finished a master’s degree in voice, and then went back to school to become a professional court interpreter/translator. The position with the county meant she could build a diversity program from the ground up. One of her first conclusions was that to do that effectively, she needed to stop the commute from Owatonna to Austin. “I needed to live here if I was going to have any impact.” So, she and her husband Aaron Stewart and two sons, Clyde and Mikai, made Austin their new home.

Her goal in building a diversity program for the county was to create awareness that diversity is more than a cultural ethnic issue. The dynamics of diversity can manifest themselves in the lives of any group not part of the majority — e.g. people who are disabled, obese, gay or lesbian, or belong to an unfamiliar religious group. As Nitaya began thinking about what would best serve the county and the people she most directly served through her office, she tapped into the wider diversity community around the state to see what other people were doing. “At first I think the county thought I could do everything, know every language, make inclusion happen. I consider it a success that I can get local people to approach and ask me the politically incorrect questions as they try to understand better the range of people who comprise Austin and the county.”

There is a certain poignancy for Nitaya as she helps Austin and Mower County come to a new appreciation for diversity. “As a child I had a unique name and appearance. I always felt very different. I recall not fitting in, being a minority wherever I went. I did not look 100% Chilean while in Chile where I was perceived as Oriental, and I did not look 100% Thai in Thailand where I was called American. I am clearly a non-Caucasian so here in the U.S. I have been asked if I am from Alaska or the Philippines or if I am Polynesian or Hawaiian, or even if I have Ojibwa in me. I embraced my exotic look by considering myself a citizen of the world. I truly believe that this gave me at an early age a sense of ‘different is okay and healthy.’ Diversity is a gift not a challenge.”

Being a Cultural Broker
In terms of services she provides newcomers, Nitaya believes she has a responsibility to help them learn how to adapt to the norms and culture in which they find themselves. Learning to understand what is expected of them involves more than having someone translate documents or serve as an interpreter. It includes understanding how the ways they have always done things may, or may not, fit in their new communities.

For Nitaya this aspect of her work as an interpreter is best captured by the notion of being a “cultural broker.” She discovered early on that there was a need to organize the various interpreters found in different parts of the community to help create a sense of professionalism and a need for ongoing education. “I felt that we needed to raise the standard of what we were doing whether it was for the court system, the schools, or at the hospitals. It wasn’t a matter of getting things into English; it was insuring the clarity of meaning. In that sense, we are helping the parts become part of the whole. Broker is a good image for that.”

Finding True Value
Goal setting was one of the things Nitaya recalls from her experience in both the Blandin Partners In Leadership Program and BCLP…and to be intentional about the skills needed to make a difference. While she feels that leadership involves a lot of trial and error, she appreciates how key skills actually enable her to be flexible and adaptable. “Certain tasks require specific skills. Being able to determine what I need for a situation frees me up to make changes when they are required and to know that having to change is not a commentary on me personally.”

Nitaya recalls as well that her BCLP training reinforced for her the critical importance of framing if one is going to effectively mobilize people around a proposed course of action. “I have learned that to build consensus, I need to break a great idea into its component parts. Who makes up the audience is not incidental. How I present something to a group of newcomers will be different than when I am seeking support from County Commissioners on a new service in my department. I see the challenge of framing as one of finding true value in the present time.”

Nitaya returns frequently to aspects of her mission statement, noting it helps to recognize that there is an ebb and flow in community involvement that is the path to learning. There is no textbook that outlines potential challenges or a set of steps to take in response. So, when a challenge does arise, Nitaya starts doing what now comes naturally — making connections, forming networks, building social capital, and asking the sorts of questions (politically correct or not) that will help her understand and collaborate in creating solutions. As a community leader, Nitaya Jandragolica is a “broker” in the broadest sense …”helping all parts be part of the whole.”