The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2023 - 19

STRATEGY 3:
Fostering Relationships
to Build a Support System
Work to build relationships
with the rest of your
department and with other
teams and departments.
Jennifer, who was the team's
leader and language access
coordinator at the time,
is an introvert. Small talk
and large groups drain her,
but she was intentional
about talking to people,
humanizing our efforts, and
advocating for our work.
When people have built a
relationship with you, they'll
have more respect for your
work. They are more likely to
remember you while in the
planning stages of their work
if you've had a conversation
with them before.
Get comfortable with
getting uncomfortable. When
we started this process,
we would raise our hands
any time district teams
were given an opportunity
to speak during meetings
about the work they were
doing. We used those
opportunities to show our
peers the amount of work
we had, how our office's
work touched every school
and every department in the
district, and to remind them
about our processes and the
reasons they existed. Did we
sound like a broken record
sometimes? Absolutely. But it
forced people to think about
us when they were planning
a project.
Don't Complain,
Take Action
Right after the start of
the pandemic, Jennifer
began reporting directly
to the executive director
www.ata-chronicle.online
of the Department of
Communications and
Community Engagement.
After the pandemic, she
was asked on several
occasions to consider if
it was necessary for her
to continue attending the
direct report meetings. The
meetings were attended
by other team leads,
including media relations,
marketing, and external
communications, so she
wanted to continue to go,
recognizing the meetings
as a crucial opportunity to
advocate for the team with
the other leaders. Jennifer
challenged the existing
setup, where members
of the language access
team had not historically
attended the leadership
team meeting. She made
a choice to feel a little
uncomfortable until the
dynamic changed so that
the team could have a seat
at the table.
In time, we started to
notice that we were getting
a heads-up whenever an
important project was
being worked on. We
started to get invited to
By collecting and using data
to set realistic expectations,
implementing and enforcing
efficient processes and systems,
and fostering relationships to build
a support system for our office, we
started to drive a positive change.
planning meetings. We
were added to the critical
incident group on the
business communications
platform. The members
of the Department of
Communications and
Community Engagement
became our advocates. Even
when we were not part of
the planning committees
for some projects, members
of our department started
advocating for us and
explaining to other
departments what we
needed to deliver the
translation on time.
Soon after the start of the
pandemic, members of the
school district leadership
noticed the amount of work
our office was producing,
which led to them to
approve a significant
budgetary increase. This
has allowed us to hire more
vendors and provide an even
stronger service to students,
teachers, and families.
The bottom line is that it's
possible to become part of the
process, but it will not
magically happen overnight.
For language access to become
an integrated part of the
planning process, teams need
to do more than just complain
about being an afterthought.
We worked to identify the
issues and took action, and
you can as well.
Melissa González, CT is an ATA-certified English<>Spanish translator in the
education and medical fields. A translator and interpreter since 2011, she is also
a certified medical interpreter (Spanish). She is a translator and interpreter for
the Austin Independent School District. She has a BA in communications from the
Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas, Venezuela, and a master's degree
in writing for film and electronic media from the University of Texas at Austin. Before becoming
a translator and interpreter, she worked as a pre-kindergarten teacher for eight years. She is an
advocate for her profession and is dedicated to serving her district's students and their families.
melimgonzalez@gmail.com
Jennifer Williams is a Spanish<>English interpreter and translator. She has a
BA in business management from the Universidad del Turabo and an MBA from
Baylor University. She completed her teaching certification and began her career in
public education as an elementary school teacher in 2008. In 2016, she became an
educational translator and interpreter in the same school district where she taught.
Currently, she works as a language access specialist for the Howard County Public Schools System
in Columbia, Maryland. She is passionate about providing meaningful language access and
advocating about its importance in supporting parent engagement. jennifer.williamsm@gmail.com
American Translators Association 19

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The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2023

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