Green Infrastructure

ASSET MANAGEMENT BC HOSTS “SAFE SPACE FORUM” FOR MUNICIPAL STAFF: “Maybe saying you do not have all the answers and asking for help, or saying that you have made mistakes, is a greater sign of strength than suggesting you are infallible.” – Gracelyn Day and Mike Matejka, co-chairs of the Asset Management BC Community-of-Practice

March 10, 2026 - Posted in BC Framework for Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery establishes expectations for community planning, Contextual Resources

Note to Reader:

Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective, and the Story Behind the Story.

The edition published on March 10, 2026 featured Gracelyn Shannon and Mike Matejka, co-chairs of Asset Management BC’s community-of-practice. They share the story behind the story of why and how they came to organize a safe space forum at the annual Asset Management BC conference. Local government people need a safe space to share their stories of struggle, they explain. Out of conversations come solutions to problems faced by everyone in local government.

ONE MINUTE TAKEAWAY for the extremely busy reader

“At our recent annual conference, Asset Management BC tried something different. We hosted a safe space forum for local government staff only. And Gracelyn and Mike facilitated it,” explains Arnold Schwabe, Executive Director.

The story is the context

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER

“Pain points. Safe space. Sharing stories of struggles. Turning problems into solutions. That was the mind map that framed how Arnold, Gracelyn and Mike approached their Asset Management BC sharing and learning forum last November,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.

Peer-based learning turns problems into solutions

“When Gracelyn and Mike shared their story with me, I understood instantly how their enthusiasm must have energized the room and got everyone excited about collaborating to turn problems into solutions. What more could anyone ask for, I observed, in organizing this type of peer-based learning event.”

“And what was really interesting is that during our conversation Gracelyn and Mike transitioned to talking about WHAT NEXT. When you are successful, people ask what you will do for an encore. In the case of Gracelyn and Mike, stay tuned for the sequel in November 2026 at the next Asset Management BC conference!”

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Create safe spaces for storytelling in a changing world – highlights from a conversation with Gracelyn, Mike and Arnold

“We have people who show up the night before the annual conference. We had noticed that some would be in the bar talking about what is working and what is not. So, it seemed like a natural progression for Asset Management BC to create a forum for them to get together in a bigger room,” stated Arnold Schwabe to start the reflection process.

GRACELYN: “At conferences, it is great to hear about the amazing work that everybody has done. A couple of years ago, Mike and I concluded we also need a bit of space to talk about how we have screwed up. Within a year, we became co-chairs of the Asset Management BC community-of-practice.”

GRACELYN: “We did not want it to be a bitch session. We wanted it to be a learning session. We wanted everyone to think through how we contribute and how we add to the solution. That is going to help the conversation be productive for everyone involved. Once the group was warmed up, we could jump into lessons learned.”

MIKE: “We asked the group to frame lessons learned in terms of when we got into this position, this is how we got ourselves out. Even though people would be talking about some negatives or criticisms, it would always be how they hoped to get themselves out of it.”

“If people did have challenges that they did not have solutions to yet, we encouraged them to use the room or the conference as an opportunity.”