The Buzz with ACT-IAC
The Buzz with ACT-IAC
The Buzz Live: Creativity and Collaboration at Voyager Talks
In this special live edition of The Buzz, host Yohanna Baez reports from Jamin Java in Vienna, Virginia, celebrating the ACT-IAC Voyagers program and its impact on government and industry leaders. The episode features an inspiring conversation with Colette Creech, Director of Growth Operations at Gunnison Consulting Group, discussing her team's presentation on navigating government compliance and her journey in the professional development program. Colette shares insights on collaboration, the value of mentors, and the importance of building relationships within the industry. The conversation highlights the real-world impact and personal growth fostered by the Voyagers program.
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Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound
(Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)
Yohanna: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to a very special live edition of The Buzz. I'm your host, Yohanna Baez, and tonight we're coming to you from Jamin Java, a fantastic music club and a bar coffee shop right here in Vienna, Virginia.
Colette: Voyager. How are we feeling?
Yohanna: We are here for Voyager Talks, a signature event celebrating the creativity, knowledge, and leadership of this year's Voyager class. I. A group of professionals at the very forefront of collaboration between government and industry. Tonight is all about showcasing how these partnerships drive real impact for the American people, while also supporting an incredible cause Canines for Warriors, which provide service dogs to veterans in need.
Yohanna: For those unfamiliar, the uh, act IAC Voyagers program is a leadership development initiative. Designed for rising leaders in government and industry, [00:01:00] high potential professionals preparing to take on the next level of leadership. It's all about shaping the future of collaboration, innovation, and impact.
Yohanna: And what an incredible energy in the room. The creativity, the teamwork and sheer talent on display tonight is truly inspiring. I've seen some fantastic group presentations, uh, during rehearsals, and now I am sneaking to the green room to chat. Um, I'm going to step away from the crowd and start moving into a quieter space.
Yohanna: So, yeah. So we'll start off with
Colette: your name, your job title. My name is Collette Creech. I am director of Growth Operations at Gunness and Consulting Group.
Yohanna: That's great. And what is your presentation on today?
Colette: So my group, the Red Tape Rangers, our topic is navigating government compliance and audits, which is probably the most exciting, [00:02:00] uh, topic we could have chosen.
Colette: Where did this
Yohanna: name come from? The,
Colette: the Red Tape Rangers. So we, I mean, of course we were in chat GPT, but I think we came up with it on our own. We, uh, were thinking about, you know, what do people think of when they think of compliance? We thought, red tape. Let's use some alliteration. Red tape rangers. I love this.
Yohanna: I was interviewing the associates class and their group names are also really funny, really silly, very clever. Love it. Um, when you think about your role over at Gunnison, what's a surprising or little known fact about the work that you do at Brett Gunnison.
Colette: So, I think. Maybe it's not so little known, but I think I spend most of my day talking to people all day long, and I spend most of my time while talking to people trying to navigate the biggest issue of the day.
Colette: And, um, it just involves [00:03:00] con I'm constantly on the phone. Yeah.
Yohanna: And, but also multitasking. I'm always multitasking. Mental, mental math. Yeah. Gymnastics, like That's good. Yeah. Connecting dots.
Colette: Connecting dots, um, sending emails. A lot of teams chats just like everybody else, but I think it's a lot of prioritization and navigating which fire to fight first.
Yohanna: Oh yeah. There you go. How do you feel about this particular fire on the stage, or do you on the
Colette: stage? Yeah. You know, I, I think that. This group has been such a joy to work with, and we could all go up there and do our absolute worst performance of our lives, and we still would have so much fun because I think we all really trust each other.
Colette: And we love to laugh with each other. And as long as we're laughing, I think, um, that's all that matters.
Yohanna: That's great. That's a solid answer. Yeah.
Yohanna: Back in the green room, [00:04:00] we caught people in the moment. Right before their presentations, writing that wave of the unknown, nervousness, excitement, some jitters. But now we have the space to sit back and reflect, get some background information, and continue that conversation with no humming or buzzing, just in open dialogue about their journey, any lessons they've learned and what comes next.
Yohanna: We touched on their experience in the green room, but now we get to hear the fuller story. Let's dive in.
Yohanna: Welcome to the Buzz everybody. I have Colette here with me. We were listening to some of our, uh, conversation at Jam and Java. How are you feeling, Colette? What's going on?
Colette: You know, you are catching me right after I just submitted a proposal, uh, for work that my team has been capturing for over two years, and I feel like I have.
Colette: It's probably the best Friday I've had in a [00:05:00] long time. I've got my cat here. Um, we are feeling good, so thank you for having me.
Yohanna: Congratulations. That's great. That, that feels good. That always feels good when you like, get to the end of a, a project and you're like, oh, I did it. I'm still standing. I'm still strong.
Colette: Yes. I think, um, that I will, it will all hit me later, uh, when I'm having a beer. So
Yohanna: very cool. So let's, um, let's go back a little bit. Let's have like maybe a little brief overview of your background, um, how your career journey started. Where you began, whatever you'd like
Colette: to share. Sure. So I graduated from University of Colorado and immediately started, um, after I moved back home to Nova.
Colette: As many folks who grew up in Northern Virginia do in GovCon, I started as a proposal coordinator. So you know, stuffing binders. Um, probably like 50, 60 binders, 2000 pages of Excel [00:06:00] spreadsheets. Um, that's really where I started as a coordinator, production manager for, um, defense proposals. You know, from there continued, um, growing my understanding of the business and, um, of the proposal manager role.
Colette: Now I'm the director of growth operations at Gunnison Consulting Group, and I am leading a team of. Business development analyst and proposal manager, and we are a mid-size company. Okay, great. Yeah. Okay, cool. All right,
Yohanna: great. That sounds good. What are some of your responsibilities, uh, in the growth team?
Yohanna: What are some of your day-to-day tasks and stuff?
Colette: So I have a team that consists of a business development and marketing analyst. So we are looking for opportunities, um, catching up on the news, which changes every second. So it's pretty hard to keep up with, but we do our best. I have a proposal manager, uh, who just started on my team.
Colette: And we together work all of the bids, uh, through [00:07:00] venison, the strategic bids that the company's pursuing, we support, capture, and, um, you know, any sort of internal growth initiatives. Those are under our, uh, under my wing. So I am basically all things GovCon growth,
Yohanna: all things GovCon growth. That's good. I like that.
Colette: I think that, um, you know, it, it's a really challenging place to be in GovCon and there's so many talented people and that's what I love most about it, is that I am surrounded by people with totally different backgrounds, totally different understanding of, um, you know, their place in the growth. Space and in GovCon, and I really feel like every day I get to do something new and different and sometimes exciting.
Colette: It really is a job that fits my personality because I am not doing the same thing every day. It, it really is, um, you know, moving from one fire to the next. A lot of the time. So
Yohanna: that's what I've been [00:08:00] understanding and learning. Yeah. A lot of little fires. Lot of little fires. Little fires everywhere. Yeah.
Yohanna: Little fires everywhere. Um, so let's talk about why you applied to the ACT iac Professional Development, uh, Voyagers program. What was it about the program that you said, you know what, this is gonna help me fight fires. Yeah.
Colette: Becoming a firefighter. I came to Gunnison and I had never heard, everyone kept saying Act, I act, I, I didn't even know what they were telling saying to me.
Colette: And then I soon learned through Selena Holler, who, um, was a Voyager, I think in 20 23, 24. Oh, no, I should know. But, um, she. Kind of introduced me to the program, and Gunnison is a huge, uh, supporter of act iact. All three of our senior VPs are former, uh, our partners. They're in the Fellows group. Um, we have a graduate of Glow.
Colette: We have Selena who graduated Voyagers. So we are really involved in act. Act. And so when I came to Gunnison, um. I began to be involved in act, act and, [00:09:00] and I'm grateful that they put me forward for the program. I think growing into this new role where I'm not just in proposals required me to step out of that proposal space and build relationships, you know, be out in the marketplace, engaging with, uh, those in government and in industry.
Colette: Like that was where they placed me. They saw that I had the potential to expand beyond proposals, and so I, I am again, really thankful that they put me forward for this program.
Yohanna: That's really special. Somebody sees something in you and they're like, yeah, there's something here. Call like, go, go. Go figure that out.
Yohanna: I think, I think you should do that over there. I, I like when people push me and they see something in me and they're like, yeah, because I get scared. I'm like, I don't, what do you, what do you see? I don't see it. What are you talking
Colette: about? You know? I know. Yeah. There we definitely have this imposter syndrome of, well, they think I'm good, but I think I'm a mess.
Colette: So I, I am, you know, I really feel like this program was a stretch, but I don't know. I [00:10:00] really felt like I was meant to be. Um, in this year's program. It's really been wonderful. I think we've all been brought together at such an interesting time, and I think each of us. Was definitely, you know, brought together in this program at this time to support each other in a way that maybe other voyagers and partners classes, um, might not have it, might not have had that same experience.
Colette: Yeah.
Yohanna: A little kismet. A little kismet, a little kismet. I love a little, uh, serendipity. Yeah. What was your, um, like, your initial impression of, of the program? Like, did you feel the magic right away, or did you get warmed up to the magic?
Colette: Um, you know, I think we showed up and everybody was super quiet and Sarah was like.
Colette: Why are you guys so quiet? What is going on? Um, and then as we warmed up with each other, I could tell that, you know, this was less a program about PowerPoints and here's the five things, what a leader needs. It was more about purpose and [00:11:00] relationship and realizing. That you're not alone in this, in your company.
Colette: There's so many people that are, you know, driven and also overwhelmed and, um, you know, excited about their work, but also feel like, um, they don't know what they're doing. You know? I think it, there's, it was just really fun to speak and learn with all these people, right? When we first met, my first impression was, I have never.
Colette: Been directly engaged with folks in government before, that was a big blind spot to me. And they're just these, you know, people in this tower that make my life hell with their RFPs and their due dates and everybody's out here to get me and ruin my weekend. And, you know, once I came to this program, you know, we, we have so many wonderful contracting officers from USDA and GSA and.
Colette: That is just not the case. Like they have their priorities that they're being [00:12:00] driven down to, you know, show up for as well from their bosses. And I don't know, it just, it was a huge eye-opener for me to. Be in a program and with people who were, you know, industry, but also folks in government that are in these roles that I just had never interacted with before.
Colette: Um, outside of, you know, very formal. Uh, thank you Mr. Thank you Mrs. Uh, type emails. So I think that was the most exciting. Piece for me, especially at the
Yohanna: beginning. Oh wow. That feels really good. That feels kind of, I don't know that that's a, I think that's a strong impression. That's a new impression. I haven't heard that before.
Yohanna: That feels really good. That feels like you, I don't know. You hit the ground running a little bit. You hit, you hit something.
Colette: I hit something. I wonder why you haven't heard it. I guess it's because of where I, there aren't that, I don't think there are any proposal managers. I know there aren't in my class.
Colette: Um, except I do know, um. My friend Kamel [00:13:00] has been known to manage a proposal to, or to, but he has a lot of direct, uh, engagement with government and I, I think I was kind of sequestered in my previous role, you know, really just focused on compliance and submitting the bid and doing what I'm told. So maybe that has something to do with it, that I just wasn't out going to events.
Colette: I wasn't going. To engage with people regularly. And now since the program is September, what is it? April, I have probably been out engaging with folks whether at individual lunches or um, events, uh, out in the community once or twice a week since then. And it's been, you know, it's caused some exponential, you know, personal development for myself.
Yohanna: I think folks forget a lot of this business is, you know, face-to-face handshake. Um. Sitting down with folks talking. Lots of, lots of talking. You know, just lots of talking.
Colette: So much talking. Why [00:14:00] is there so much talking? Yeah. A lot of, uh, a lot of questions, a lot of listening, a lot of, a lot of chit chat. But it's fun.
Colette: I like it. All right,
Yohanna: cool. Uh, let's talk about your, uh, the mentors and, and the coaches in, in the, in the program. Did the Voyagers off also have like a clever name? What was your clever name?
Colette: My clever name? Like, like our group. Your group name. Oh, you mean my, my uh, flight crew? Yeah. We are docket like, it's hot.
Colette: So we are, you know, Snoop enthusiasts. Do it that way. You will Wait,
Yohanna: say
Colette: it again. Say it again. Docket like it's hot. 'cause Right. We're, we're like, there's a lot of different theming going on. We got the flight crew, but like, we're voyaging but we're also, um. We got our navigators, so we went, I, I guess it's because we were in Norfolk and we were, you know, there was, um, these big ships right in front of us.
Colette: And so we're at the dock. Dock. It like, it's hot.
Yohanna: I [00:15:00] love it. I'm such a big Snoop Dog fan.
Colette: Yeah. Oh, Snoop. Yeah. And I think even during our presentation, um, one of my group members brought a little snoop that we put up on the little. Podium and Snoop, you know, watched with with awe as we embarked upon our presentation.
Colette: He was ready for chisel. Oh,
Yohanna: exactly.
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Yohanna: That's great. I love this. I love all of these names. I think Sarah [00:17:00] has so much fun with everyone. You know, she really brings, brings the magic, brings the whimsy, but also brings people together. I think that that helps folks kind of get open and vulnerable and talk to each other on a, on a different level.
Yohanna: You know,
Colette: I think Sarah does have a special gift of. You know, let's just be real with each other and, and talk it out. And this isn't about being super formal, although, you know, when Sarah talks, we listen. Right? So I, another piece about our presentation was we brought, uh, fea. She came to, uh, work with our group and she presented about, you know, leadership topic surrounding team building and all of our, uh, flight crews.
Colette: Had I brought, um, my team and I brought a bunch of random crafts. A lot of it was, um, you know, Suzanne and I, my children's, uh, random crafts that we have around the house, like glue pipe, cleaners, tape, scissors, construction paper, and everybody was pit pit. Uh. [00:18:00] Put together in their group and they had to make a mascot for their team.
Colette: And then, you know, she would go around and change it up. Uh, you know, oh, you've gotta go over there and you've gotta go over there and, oh, you can only use one hand. And oh, uh, you know, uh, everybody has to cha trade out this piece of paper with that. So. Um, we ended up making these silly little mascots, and if you go in Sarah's office, a legend says that they are sitting there on her bookshelf.
Colette: I'll have to check it out.
Yohanna: I have to peek. I'll, I have to peek in. I, I'll be in the office next week. I'll, I'll see what's going on. That's so great. I love this off. I feel like I'm missing out. I have such, such big FOMO right now. I know that you guys are in, in the thick of it. You have not graduated yet, but has there been anything that you can kind of, that describes the impact of the Voyagers program, um, that, you know, like having an impact on your career right now?
Yohanna: Like is there anything about the Voyagers program currently that is [00:19:00] impacting kind of like the way that you work or the way that you kind of interact with folks? I
Colette: feel
Yohanna: like
Colette: in our group, I've. You know, in our chat and just in our personal interactions, or we're going out to dinner and we're hanging out with people, I feel like I have this sounding board or like a personal board of directors where, um, I can go with the, um, compliance question or I have, uh, somebody will come in and share a news post and we all talk about it.
Colette: And it's just, it's just this, um, safe space where we can, you know, s. Laugh, say silly things, but also give really deep, insightful summations of our own expertise in, in response to somebody's question. And I think that I have that within my company, but to have it externally with folks that I'm not interacting with all the time at work, um, who have a different perspective to offer has been so valuable.
Colette: Again, I think you'll hear it over and over again about these personal, uh, professional development programs within ACTI [00:20:00] Act that yes, you, you know, you read. A book or you're getting a presentation and you learn how to speak publicly, or we had a really great presentation on brand management in a crisis.
Colette: They've all been fantastic, but it truly is about the people, the relationships you build, and I think, again, that's what's I. I, I, I'll keep repeating it. Like that's just had the biggest impact on me. Um, these people help me continue to be curious about how I can be better, um, how I can continue learning, how I can be in alignment with where the industry's going, um, and lead my team better.
Colette: Yeah, they're just good people. I don't know. I, I, I. Think that this program, um, and the mentorship that it's brought, the mentor, um, we had, you know, while we all are assigned a mentor and mine is fantastic, I feel like I've been able to go with her to her with, um, you know, questions I wouldn't maybe want to ask.
Colette: Um. You know, somebody at my company, she's been so great, but also [00:21:00] our flight crew leaders, um, each and every one of them has made themselves available via phone, via text at the events. Um, Jeff always will make sure to be the one to have his tab open at the bar. Just kidding. Thank you, Jeff. Um, yeah, I, again, it's about the people.
Colette: These are just some of the best people that I've had the pleasure of encountering, um, throughout my 10 years, um, in this industry. So. I'm just really grateful. Yeah.
Yohanna: Thank you so much. That's really good. That's, that's good to hear that community is strong. Community is responsive, you know, community is doing what community does, you know?
Yohanna: Mm-hmm. What was the most valuable, uh, takeaway from collaborating with peers across government and industry? Like, what would you say, what are some of the things that you learned with, uh, the Voyagers program? I
Colette: think a big takeaway. For me is collaborating across government and industry is showing me that we're just not as different as we might think.
Colette: And we're all facing [00:22:00] similar challenges just from different perspectives, different angles, and I think when we drop the. Silos or drop our roles, our companies, our agencies, and just start to get curious about what each other are constrained by, um, or what we love or what we're, um, frustrated by. You know, real partnership can happen.
Colette: And when you stop assuming and start listening, um, you know, we're all fighting the same fire. We're just, you know, got a different hose.
Yohanna: Great. Thank you so much. This has been such an amazing conversation. Thank you so much, Colette, for your time. Um, where, where can folks find you? Are you on LinkedIn, are you, um,
Colette: yeah, I am on LinkedIn.
Colette: I think I am maybe the only Colette Cree on LinkedIn. I haven't validated that, but, um, I'm at Gunison Consulting Group and. Love to connect. Thank you. All right. Great. Thank you so much. Have a good day.
Yohanna: This has been such an insightful conversation. Thank you for sharing your journey and [00:23:00] experiences with us and to our listeners.
Yohanna: If you are interested in learning more about ACT IX Professional Development Program, be sure to check out act iac.org/professional development. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and we will see you in the next episode.