State of Vermont

Breanna Sheehan currently serves as the administrative director for Vermont’s Commission on Native American Affairs. She received her BA in anthropology and native american studies from Dartmouth College and her MS in social policy and nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the Commission, she worked with The Bronx Defenders and the Volunteer Lawyers Project, providing technical assistance to legal aid organizations and supporting eviction prevention efforts, respectively. She is also an enrolled citizen of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe and works closely with her tribe on projects focused on cultural revitalization, cross-cultural engagement and land stewardship.

Leadership Rooted in Community

My leadership journey is rooted in community. Growing up, I learned two fundamental realities: you take care of your people, and you do so by the means available to you. In a close-knit family and tribal community where no one had very much money, living these values often meant creative use of meager resources, balancing priorities and investing or sacrificing time to achieve your goals.

As I grew up, those values did not change, but the resources available to me, particularly knowledge, did. Through my academic studies and early professional experiences, I came to see my role as that of a translator: someone who could feel and hear the needs of my community and translate those needs into something that could be understood by the governing systems responsible for addressing them, and vice versa. This understanding brought me to my current role with Vermont’s Commission on Native American Affairs, where I support the Commission in bridging the gap between Vermont’s Indigenous communities and the systems and institutions that govern them. While my “community” has grown and the resources have changed, my responsibility to serve my people and to do so by the means available to me has remained the same.

Creating Space for Shared Leadership

In my experience, effective leadership often looks less like making decisions yourself and more like getting the right people in the room and facilitating a decision-making process among them. Because of this, my interpersonal skills have arguably become more important to my leadership journey than my academic or professional expertise. 

I approach my professional relationships in much the same way I approach my personal ones—with authenticity, curiosity, humility and transparency. For successful collaboration to occur, all parties must be treated as meaningful collaborators. Especially when engaging across government agencies and communities, the usual hierarchies of decision-making need to be broken down so that everyone in the room feels they have a piece of the puzzle that can create a better path forward. To this end, as a leader, I rely heavily on my interpersonal values to facilitate this space: a level playing field where everyone is humanized and treated as a partner.

Making Consultation Meaningful

In my experience, the major barriers to meaningful collaboration and community input, especially with Indigenous communities, are time and capacity, both of which the public sector is chronically limited in. Because of this, culturally conscious collaboration can be challenging, but even small, intentional choices can go a long way.

Effective leadership often looks less like making decisions yourself and more like getting the right people in the room.

Consultation and collaboration should not be a formality, but an opportunity to build relationships, trust and meaningful cocreation. This can mean contacting tribal leadership early in the development process, not just once plans are made; communicating early and often about the goals or changes to a project; and listening as much as you inform. Scheduling, capacity, personalities and differing perspectives will always be part of this process, as they are in any relationship. But when engagement is done with intention, it can dramatically shift the effectiveness and impact of a project or strategy.

Trust is Built through Reciprocity

One thing I have learned is how reciprocal this work is and should be. Trust is key to any relationship, and trust is built through reciprocity. In my work, this has meant listening and being willing to do the work when others will not or cannot.

By proactively reaching out and taking the time to listen, you demonstrate that you are not there to advance your own agenda, but to identify a shared vision. Then, by taking on the work of pursuing and executing that vision, you demonstrate your willingness to share in the burden of leadership. When you can be trusted to share that burden, you can enter into a reciprocal relationship in which you are trusted to serve the community and the community can provide you with the information, support, patience and sometimes forgiveness, you need to do it. ​ ​ 

Public Service as a Way of Being

I would remind people that while your greatest asset as a public servant is your knowledge of and commitment to your community, it is also the responsibility that you bear. We are, because of the people and places we come from, and it is an honor and a responsibility to be entrusted to serve them.

The work is not easy, and as a career, it is not for everyone. But if we can retain our values and our connection to our communities, public service can be a profoundly humanizing experience. And while it is not advice per se, I think it is important to remember that public service is not just a career; it is a way of being in the world. Whether we are chosen to serve or not, we all have a responsibility to take care of our communities in the ways we are able.   ​​