Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Stacie's Note:
George,
The following are my thoughts regarding our week in Georgia.
Motivating, inspiring and clear.
These three words can help express my week in Georgia with Shift Happens consulting and training. I say motivating because this experience made it quite clear that The Arc of Delaware County has done exceptional work in its years of existence while caring without restraint. For me, someone who is new to this field, seeing another way of serving people with developmental disabilities reinforced my view of the need to continue our strive for excellence while spreading the message, philosophy and competencies of Shift Happens.
I say inspiring for two reasons. First, George is an incredible speaker/trainer. He does everything he can to reach each individual in the audience. If he doesn’t convey our message during the six hours of training, you see him during breaks, lunch and after the training listening to people and explaining Shift Happens in way that is easier for them.
The second reason is because it is also clear that the organizations we are working with are hungry for a new, better way of helping people live fulfilling lives as opposed to sticking to the status quo.
One of the most powerful quotes that I hear George say is, "You can’t get good people to do bad things, and you can’t get bad people to do good things". After seeing Shift Happens being introduced to new organizations, that point is crystal clear. I know we are all very excited and anxious to see how the good people of Georgia will embrace this essential "shift".
Thank you,
Stacie Haynes
Community Relations Assistant
The Arc of Delaware County
Thank you Stacie. I was delighted you were part of the team. And even more delighted you are part of this organization.
George
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Exhausted & Exhilarated.
Several years ago an experienced professional visited Delarc and wrote about his visit in his organization's newsletter, one with a state-wide if not national distribution. His tour was thorough. Our agency was one of dozens he had visited over his career.
He was quite taken with what he saw and the article contained many wonderful comments. One line he wrote though has stayed with me all these years later. When talking about the energy and spirit of our staff he wrote, "Exhaustion and exhilaration at the end of an 8 hour day."
Now, so many years later, and once more 30,000 feet over the Carolinas that's the line that sums up this trip. Up at 3:00 a.m. to drive two hours to Atlanta to catch an 8:30 flight home we're feeling exhilaration and fairly exhausted. It's hard not to be exhilarated when, once again 100% of the staff from two very different organizations are raving about the Shift Happens training we provided them this week. And while part of the exhaustion comes from being up at 3:00 the majority of it comes from the grueling training schedule and the associated physical and mental exertion.
Monday and Tuesday with one organization just north of the city of Atlanta, and Thursday and Friday with another an hour and a half away, Wednesday as a day of travel, debriefing of one, preparation for the other and then there's the matter of our real jobs back in Delaware County. Phone calls, emails, letters, and other items as necessary and maybe a little exercise fill up another ten-hour day.
Both agencies serve individuals with developmental disabilities but that's where the similarity ends. One was larger, one offered several other services, one had a foundation set by religious tradition, one was a division of a huge corporation, one focused on a limited geography, one had just recovered from a serious setback.
In both cases there was a mix of new and veteran staff. I loved it when one of the higher level administrators, who had lots of experience on the front lines caught me at the end of his second day to tell me that he agreed to attend the sessions because it was the right example to set, but that he expected it would be rather typical; something to be endured. He told me that he had "sat through" tons of training sessions over the years and to his absolute delight this was the best one ever. It was a comment shared by everyone else in both groups. Pretty awesome but read on…
How great is this?
On Monday and Tuesday a young but experienced woman suffered through the days with a serious head cold. She was sniffling throughout and used way too many tissues to count. Several times over the two days, Chris and Stacie, my teammates this time, and I commented to ourselves and to each other about what a trooper she was. She didn’t just hang in there, she fully participated. At times she was skeptical to the point of resistance, yet she displayed a hunger and eagerness to learn.
When the session ended late Tuesday afternoon she expressed sincere gratitude for all she learned. We told her we appreciated having her in the group and were proud of the way she went about learning and wished her well.
I don't know about Chris and Stacie but I was sure she was heading straight home to bed. We then turned our attention to a small group of their leadership team to debrief the two days and confirm the objectives they had set for the next six weeks.
About 30 minutes into the debriefing, our cold victim reappeared and politely excused herself for interrupting. She said there was something she felt she just had to tell us. She went on to say she had just spent the last half hour talking to her supervisor about a difficult subordinate… a person older than her with a strong personality whose performance had troubled her for quite some time (years?). She said that as a result of today's training she gained the confidence to confront the individual and the knowledge of how to do so in a way that would encourage improved performance. She said, "For the first time I feel truly empowered." How great is that!
Read on for more…
That was great. Now read this.
24 hours later Chris and I received the following email (which we promptly shared with Stacie) from a supervisor in the same group whose name is withheld:
Hello George & Chris,
I would like to share a story with you. Early this morning I received a call on my cell. Upon answering, I discovered it was a staff at one of our houses who attended both days of the training. My initial thought was "Oh, no" as this is a staff who I like and value, but she only calls me when she has a major complaint or concern, and usually results in me having to do some sort of legwork. I asked her how she was (sick?) and what was up. She then told me that she called just to tell me how much she admires the way I find just the right words to talk to the individuals we serve, and how she aspires to learn that skill, and just how much she appreciates that about me.
I am floored and humbled by the effect your training has had on our staff, and must express to you our commitment to the philosophy. Staff are excited that you're coming back, and look forward to it.
Just wanted to share and say thank you.
An uphill, no, up a steep mountain battle.
On one hand we truly are exhilarated by the response of these dedicated people to the introduction of our philosophy and approach which we were privileged to offer. But, and this is a huge but, funding is a huge obstacle. When we were first discussing the possibility of this contract we learned that the state of Georgia is the 10th largest state in the union by population yet it is 51st in spending on individuals with developmental disabilities. After working with four organizations we're beginning to learn how such poor funding over decade upon decade has created a huge mountain for providers to scale. On one hand I see the obstacles and the state of affairs and my heart goes out to these Don Quixote's; on another my admiration for them grows and grows, as does my desire to make the training we give them the very best.
It doesn't matter how you deal the Delarc cards.
On this trip I was joined by our Director of Residential Services, Christine Fritzsch and our Community Relations Assistant, Stacie Haynes. They represented two different ends of the Delarc staff spectrum. Chris has been with us 20 years, has worked herself up through the ranks with a tremendous range of experience and a wealth of knowledge. Over the years she has conducted enough training for other organizations to be considered a senior member of our training team. Stacie, on the other hand, is fairly new, having joined us only a few months ago, and her work in an administrative capacity has barely given her enough experience to be considered a junior member of the training team. What a great team they were and are.
The organizations we worked with provided a substantial amount of residential services and they found Chris' input invaluable. She was able to give them very specific answers to their many questions. No matter how serious or desperate the problems she offered concrete advice and practical solutions which they eagerly absorbed.
What confidence Stacie showed! She was always at attention, ready to step in and do whatever needed to be done. One day into the training and you would have thought she was a regular. She freely interacted with trainees, offered insights from a newbie, took photos and, video camera in hand, interviewed attendees, and she never once came off as a flack. I was impressed with her confidence and even more so with her perspective.
Over dinner on our last night, the three of us were discussing the training and the exceptional work the two of them did. We talked about the next team of Bo and Jim and of future teams. At one point I said to Stacie that one of the things that I particularly love about Delarc staff is that when it comes to such teams we can take all our staff's names, shuffle them up and deal out any two or three and always, and I mean always, come up with a great team. I know. I've done it time and again. Teams have included executives, professionals, direct service staff, aides, administrative staff, contracted staff and even volunteers and board members.
Always winners. It's amazing. It speaks to the depth of our culture and our commitment to recruit only the best.
Fill those buckets.
Tom Rath wrote a best selling book entitled How Full is Your [emotional] Bucket. When we introduce the topic of praise and reinforcement we sight Mr. Rath's book to show how important praise and reinforcement is to the general population. That sets the stage for helping the audience better understand how lavish we need to be with people we serve, many of whose buckets have been drained for years and years. They get it and they love it. They always leave inspired to use praise and reinforcement as a tool to improve their many and varied relationships and to use it to encourage the people they serve to learn and grow. It is amazing and very powerful stuff.
I hope after reading these passages your bucket is feeling a little bit fuller.
More next time…
He was quite taken with what he saw and the article contained many wonderful comments. One line he wrote though has stayed with me all these years later. When talking about the energy and spirit of our staff he wrote, "Exhaustion and exhilaration at the end of an 8 hour day."
Now, so many years later, and once more 30,000 feet over the Carolinas that's the line that sums up this trip. Up at 3:00 a.m. to drive two hours to Atlanta to catch an 8:30 flight home we're feeling exhilaration and fairly exhausted. It's hard not to be exhilarated when, once again 100% of the staff from two very different organizations are raving about the Shift Happens training we provided them this week. And while part of the exhaustion comes from being up at 3:00 the majority of it comes from the grueling training schedule and the associated physical and mental exertion.
Monday and Tuesday with one organization just north of the city of Atlanta, and Thursday and Friday with another an hour and a half away, Wednesday as a day of travel, debriefing of one, preparation for the other and then there's the matter of our real jobs back in Delaware County. Phone calls, emails, letters, and other items as necessary and maybe a little exercise fill up another ten-hour day.
Both agencies serve individuals with developmental disabilities but that's where the similarity ends. One was larger, one offered several other services, one had a foundation set by religious tradition, one was a division of a huge corporation, one focused on a limited geography, one had just recovered from a serious setback.
In both cases there was a mix of new and veteran staff. I loved it when one of the higher level administrators, who had lots of experience on the front lines caught me at the end of his second day to tell me that he agreed to attend the sessions because it was the right example to set, but that he expected it would be rather typical; something to be endured. He told me that he had "sat through" tons of training sessions over the years and to his absolute delight this was the best one ever. It was a comment shared by everyone else in both groups. Pretty awesome but read on…
How great is this?
On Monday and Tuesday a young but experienced woman suffered through the days with a serious head cold. She was sniffling throughout and used way too many tissues to count. Several times over the two days, Chris and Stacie, my teammates this time, and I commented to ourselves and to each other about what a trooper she was. She didn’t just hang in there, she fully participated. At times she was skeptical to the point of resistance, yet she displayed a hunger and eagerness to learn.
When the session ended late Tuesday afternoon she expressed sincere gratitude for all she learned. We told her we appreciated having her in the group and were proud of the way she went about learning and wished her well.
I don't know about Chris and Stacie but I was sure she was heading straight home to bed. We then turned our attention to a small group of their leadership team to debrief the two days and confirm the objectives they had set for the next six weeks.
About 30 minutes into the debriefing, our cold victim reappeared and politely excused herself for interrupting. She said there was something she felt she just had to tell us. She went on to say she had just spent the last half hour talking to her supervisor about a difficult subordinate… a person older than her with a strong personality whose performance had troubled her for quite some time (years?). She said that as a result of today's training she gained the confidence to confront the individual and the knowledge of how to do so in a way that would encourage improved performance. She said, "For the first time I feel truly empowered." How great is that!
Read on for more…
That was great. Now read this.
24 hours later Chris and I received the following email (which we promptly shared with Stacie) from a supervisor in the same group whose name is withheld:
Hello George & Chris,
I would like to share a story with you. Early this morning I received a call on my cell. Upon answering, I discovered it was a staff at one of our houses who attended both days of the training. My initial thought was "Oh, no" as this is a staff who I like and value, but she only calls me when she has a major complaint or concern, and usually results in me having to do some sort of legwork. I asked her how she was (sick?) and what was up. She then told me that she called just to tell me how much she admires the way I find just the right words to talk to the individuals we serve, and how she aspires to learn that skill, and just how much she appreciates that about me.
I am floored and humbled by the effect your training has had on our staff, and must express to you our commitment to the philosophy. Staff are excited that you're coming back, and look forward to it.
Just wanted to share and say thank you.
An uphill, no, up a steep mountain battle.
On one hand we truly are exhilarated by the response of these dedicated people to the introduction of our philosophy and approach which we were privileged to offer. But, and this is a huge but, funding is a huge obstacle. When we were first discussing the possibility of this contract we learned that the state of Georgia is the 10th largest state in the union by population yet it is 51st in spending on individuals with developmental disabilities. After working with four organizations we're beginning to learn how such poor funding over decade upon decade has created a huge mountain for providers to scale. On one hand I see the obstacles and the state of affairs and my heart goes out to these Don Quixote's; on another my admiration for them grows and grows, as does my desire to make the training we give them the very best.
It doesn't matter how you deal the Delarc cards.
On this trip I was joined by our Director of Residential Services, Christine Fritzsch and our Community Relations Assistant, Stacie Haynes. They represented two different ends of the Delarc staff spectrum. Chris has been with us 20 years, has worked herself up through the ranks with a tremendous range of experience and a wealth of knowledge. Over the years she has conducted enough training for other organizations to be considered a senior member of our training team. Stacie, on the other hand, is fairly new, having joined us only a few months ago, and her work in an administrative capacity has barely given her enough experience to be considered a junior member of the training team. What a great team they were and are.
The organizations we worked with provided a substantial amount of residential services and they found Chris' input invaluable. She was able to give them very specific answers to their many questions. No matter how serious or desperate the problems she offered concrete advice and practical solutions which they eagerly absorbed.
What confidence Stacie showed! She was always at attention, ready to step in and do whatever needed to be done. One day into the training and you would have thought she was a regular. She freely interacted with trainees, offered insights from a newbie, took photos and, video camera in hand, interviewed attendees, and she never once came off as a flack. I was impressed with her confidence and even more so with her perspective.
Over dinner on our last night, the three of us were discussing the training and the exceptional work the two of them did. We talked about the next team of Bo and Jim and of future teams. At one point I said to Stacie that one of the things that I particularly love about Delarc staff is that when it comes to such teams we can take all our staff's names, shuffle them up and deal out any two or three and always, and I mean always, come up with a great team. I know. I've done it time and again. Teams have included executives, professionals, direct service staff, aides, administrative staff, contracted staff and even volunteers and board members.
Always winners. It's amazing. It speaks to the depth of our culture and our commitment to recruit only the best.
Fill those buckets.
Tom Rath wrote a best selling book entitled How Full is Your [emotional] Bucket. When we introduce the topic of praise and reinforcement we sight Mr. Rath's book to show how important praise and reinforcement is to the general population. That sets the stage for helping the audience better understand how lavish we need to be with people we serve, many of whose buckets have been drained for years and years. They get it and they love it. They always leave inspired to use praise and reinforcement as a tool to improve their many and varied relationships and to use it to encourage the people they serve to learn and grow. It is amazing and very powerful stuff.
I hope after reading these passages your bucket is feeling a little bit fuller.
More next time…
Friday, February 15, 2008
Comments and Questions are encouraged...
If you have comments or questions regarding our proactive philosophy and positive appoach, our consulting and training services, or Delarc in general, please post a comment. We would like to hear from you.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
I Continue to Learn from Our Staff
Yesterday afternoon I spent 4 hours introducing a group of 16 of our staff to our People Power Leadership Model. Most have been hired within the last year though one person has been with us for 14 years and this was her fourth time in this session. Later she recommended everyone coming back for a refresher from time to time and I couldn't agree more.
People Power is about our values based human resource practices. Building our vision and values into our various H.R. practices so that we continue to clarfiy and strengthen our culture.
A few of the folks in the group have been with us for only a few days or weeks.
In this organization we pride ourselves on our elaborate recruitment process. Three interviews, three hours each, three settings with at least three interviewers particiapating at every stage. We are convinced this results in hiring the best of the best. Spending time with them confirms that belief. But when you spend time with the best you also learn from them.
While I led the training some things they taught me stand out:
1 History. People are intrigued by our history. How we developed our philosophy and approach. Understanding that its roots go back 30+ years helps them realize that quality doesn't come easy and requires consistent effort over time. This sets the tone for the message delivered later in the session about the need for them to continue to learn and grow. That learning is a life long activity and that we need staff who understand and welcome that challenge.
2 The BIG Picture. The age of "just do as I tell you" is over. (Actually, I believe it died 20 years ago but most organizations are only now coming to terms with it and far too many still don't get it.) One staff member said it succinctly when she said something like, "Since I was hired two months ago I've been learning lots of the pieces and that's proper and important. It's very helpful to have the opportunity today to see how all these pieces come together and make sense." This confirmed a conclusion I reached many years ago that people need and in fact are longing for the big picture. It is a key to their growth and development. Things need to make sense. They don't mind and in fact fully understand they need to master elements a piece at a time. But that isn't enough for the best of the best. Those folks want more.
3 Transparency. This term has become an overused cliche in our society. We hear calls for transparency every night on the news and see it every day in the newspapers. Yet we don't hear much about successful models of transparency.
To me, it means more than simple attempts at openness (though most organizations are not that open). It means actively taking the time to help employees understand our vision, our values and our operating practices and encouraging inquiries, discussion and debate.
Yesterday I learned this training helps our organization be more transparent and that transparency is important for new recruits as much as for seasoned veterans .
4 Eagerness to learn and grow. I also learned how the best of the best truly do want to learn and grow. They know what we have to offer is substantial and complex but that doesn't scare them. It actually inspires them.
5 Gratefullness. I also learned that when the organization encourages and supports this growth
staff are genuinely grateful. This type of gratitude builds loyalty and commitment and does more for morale than any incentive tokenism could ever accomplish.
6 They love the Stages of Development process. Delarc developed this process a few years ago and it is very gratifying to hear so many new staff say how much they appreciate this development tool. Several of the newer staff left the session armed with an appreciation of this fundamental tool, other veterans left with a much deeper appreciation of it. In all cases they see it as helpful to them. This taught me that the best of the best don't just say they want to grow and develop but that they welcome and absorb tools specifically developed for that purpose.
All morning I fought to sqeeze the time necessary to properly prepare for the teaching I was going to to do in the afternoon. When it was all over, I realized how much they taught me.
Way cool!
Thank you to everyone present.
People Power is about our values based human resource practices. Building our vision and values into our various H.R. practices so that we continue to clarfiy and strengthen our culture.
A few of the folks in the group have been with us for only a few days or weeks.
In this organization we pride ourselves on our elaborate recruitment process. Three interviews, three hours each, three settings with at least three interviewers particiapating at every stage. We are convinced this results in hiring the best of the best. Spending time with them confirms that belief. But when you spend time with the best you also learn from them.
While I led the training some things they taught me stand out:
1 History. People are intrigued by our history. How we developed our philosophy and approach. Understanding that its roots go back 30+ years helps them realize that quality doesn't come easy and requires consistent effort over time. This sets the tone for the message delivered later in the session about the need for them to continue to learn and grow. That learning is a life long activity and that we need staff who understand and welcome that challenge.
2 The BIG Picture. The age of "just do as I tell you" is over. (Actually, I believe it died 20 years ago but most organizations are only now coming to terms with it and far too many still don't get it.) One staff member said it succinctly when she said something like, "Since I was hired two months ago I've been learning lots of the pieces and that's proper and important. It's very helpful to have the opportunity today to see how all these pieces come together and make sense." This confirmed a conclusion I reached many years ago that people need and in fact are longing for the big picture. It is a key to their growth and development. Things need to make sense. They don't mind and in fact fully understand they need to master elements a piece at a time. But that isn't enough for the best of the best. Those folks want more.
3 Transparency. This term has become an overused cliche in our society. We hear calls for transparency every night on the news and see it every day in the newspapers. Yet we don't hear much about successful models of transparency.
To me, it means more than simple attempts at openness (though most organizations are not that open). It means actively taking the time to help employees understand our vision, our values and our operating practices and encouraging inquiries, discussion and debate.
Yesterday I learned this training helps our organization be more transparent and that transparency is important for new recruits as much as for seasoned veterans .
4 Eagerness to learn and grow. I also learned how the best of the best truly do want to learn and grow. They know what we have to offer is substantial and complex but that doesn't scare them. It actually inspires them.
5 Gratefullness. I also learned that when the organization encourages and supports this growth
staff are genuinely grateful. This type of gratitude builds loyalty and commitment and does more for morale than any incentive tokenism could ever accomplish.
6 They love the Stages of Development process. Delarc developed this process a few years ago and it is very gratifying to hear so many new staff say how much they appreciate this development tool. Several of the newer staff left the session armed with an appreciation of this fundamental tool, other veterans left with a much deeper appreciation of it. In all cases they see it as helpful to them. This taught me that the best of the best don't just say they want to grow and develop but that they welcome and absorb tools specifically developed for that purpose.
All morning I fought to sqeeze the time necessary to properly prepare for the teaching I was going to to do in the afternoon. When it was all over, I realized how much they taught me.
Way cool!
Thank you to everyone present.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Off to a great start...
Coming home
Up at 4:30 to catch a plane. It's Saturday morning February 9, Delarc Speech Pathologist Marcia Maxwell Brown and I are flying over one of the Carolinas as we head home from a week of exhausting yet exhilarating work. We spent Monday and Tuesday with one organization and Thursday and Friday with a second. The beginning of a year long project of mentoring six such organizations. We'll be back in two weeks to begin with numbers 3 & 4 and two weeks later with agencies 5 & 6.
They were so different; yet in so many ways the same. One rural; one more urban. One somewhat larger; one a little smaller. One serving certain individuals with developmental disabilities and the other specializing in a somewhat different mix. We followed the same training agenda but found ourselves varying from it to meet each organization's particular needs.
Preparation, preparation, preparation
During this trip I relearned a lesson I first learned many years ago. Preparation is oh so important. It enables you to think beyond the material you want to cover and they agreed to receive. It enables you to listen to the audience without losing confidence that you will get them where they want and need to go even if not by the same path..
In both cases they told us we left them in a better state than when we arrived. We brought them a renewed consumer-centered focus and left them with the energy that focus generates. They'll need it because we also left them with some very ambitious objectives to achieve before we return in six seeks. We also left them with a firm belief that the objectives are worthy and with the confidence they will need to see them through.
A gift from a good friend
Art Dykstra, a personal hero and good friend once gave an auditorium full of people the book, How Full is Your Bucket? How fortunate I was to be in that group. And how fortunate for the hundreds, maybe thousands of people, these most recent folks included, I've talked to about the book since then. In addition to the other objectives, they left with a commitment to fill the emotional buckets of the people they serve, the people with whom they work and their families. There will be an awful lot of bucket filling going on and the thought of that, in turn, fills ours.
Caring without restraint...
So important with everyone and especially with the children and adults we serve. Yet taken for granted to such a degree that everyone believes they do it well. Yet after a couple of days with us they realize how much better they can be and need to be.
A remarkable exercise
At one point, early in the first day, we ask our audiences if they care about the people they support. Of course, just like all our prior audiences, everyone present raises their hand. We then ask them on a scale of 1 to 10 to jot down the average caring of their particular work group.
We then ask how many of them had a teacher in school that genuinely cared about them. How many had a teacher that made them feel special, that bent over backwards for them. A teacher that could help them turn around during a bad day and who could get them to work hard even with subjects they really didn't like.
Over the last few years we have conducted this exercise with hundreds, if not thousands, of people and the responses are always similar. About 80% of the audience raise their hands. We ask them to look around and notice how many people don't raise their hand. How many people can't remember even one teacher who really cared about them. This, I believe is the real problem, the real shame of our educational system.
We then ask how many had two such teachers and are amazed that rather consistently about 50% of the people raise their hands. That number reduces to about 10 % when we ask, how many had three such teachers.
We then ask them what would happen if we had all those teachers that everyone had throughout elementary, middle, high school and college in one room and asked them if they cared about their students. To no one's surprise, everyone is quick to respond that all those teachers would surely raise their hands.
We then ask how many folks have had to struggle with the decision of seeking nursing home care for a parent or grandparent and a fair number of hands go up. We ask those folks what the source of the struggle was and inevitably the majority respond they were afraid their family member would not receive the care, the very basic care, they required.
We then ask them what would happen if we had all the employees of all those nursing homes in the room and asked them if they cared about their patients. "Everyone would raise their hand", comes the unanimous response.
This exercise hits people very close to home and makes it very easy for them to see that caring is determined by the response of the person receiving the care, not the person being paid to care.
After this exercise and further discussion we conclude the exercise by asking them to once again rate the average caring of their particular work group. It probably comes as no surprise, yet is still striking that no one has ever said their rating was higher the second time around. As individuals, families and organizations we have a long way to go if we are to care without restraint!
Up at 4:30 to catch a plane. It's Saturday morning February 9, Delarc Speech Pathologist Marcia Maxwell Brown and I are flying over one of the Carolinas as we head home from a week of exhausting yet exhilarating work. We spent Monday and Tuesday with one organization and Thursday and Friday with a second. The beginning of a year long project of mentoring six such organizations. We'll be back in two weeks to begin with numbers 3 & 4 and two weeks later with agencies 5 & 6.
They were so different; yet in so many ways the same. One rural; one more urban. One somewhat larger; one a little smaller. One serving certain individuals with developmental disabilities and the other specializing in a somewhat different mix. We followed the same training agenda but found ourselves varying from it to meet each organization's particular needs.
Preparation, preparation, preparation
During this trip I relearned a lesson I first learned many years ago. Preparation is oh so important. It enables you to think beyond the material you want to cover and they agreed to receive. It enables you to listen to the audience without losing confidence that you will get them where they want and need to go even if not by the same path..
In both cases they told us we left them in a better state than when we arrived. We brought them a renewed consumer-centered focus and left them with the energy that focus generates. They'll need it because we also left them with some very ambitious objectives to achieve before we return in six seeks. We also left them with a firm belief that the objectives are worthy and with the confidence they will need to see them through.
A gift from a good friend
Art Dykstra, a personal hero and good friend once gave an auditorium full of people the book, How Full is Your Bucket? How fortunate I was to be in that group. And how fortunate for the hundreds, maybe thousands of people, these most recent folks included, I've talked to about the book since then. In addition to the other objectives, they left with a commitment to fill the emotional buckets of the people they serve, the people with whom they work and their families. There will be an awful lot of bucket filling going on and the thought of that, in turn, fills ours.
Caring without restraint...
So important with everyone and especially with the children and adults we serve. Yet taken for granted to such a degree that everyone believes they do it well. Yet after a couple of days with us they realize how much better they can be and need to be.
A remarkable exercise
At one point, early in the first day, we ask our audiences if they care about the people they support. Of course, just like all our prior audiences, everyone present raises their hand. We then ask them on a scale of 1 to 10 to jot down the average caring of their particular work group.
We then ask how many of them had a teacher in school that genuinely cared about them. How many had a teacher that made them feel special, that bent over backwards for them. A teacher that could help them turn around during a bad day and who could get them to work hard even with subjects they really didn't like.
Over the last few years we have conducted this exercise with hundreds, if not thousands, of people and the responses are always similar. About 80% of the audience raise their hands. We ask them to look around and notice how many people don't raise their hand. How many people can't remember even one teacher who really cared about them. This, I believe is the real problem, the real shame of our educational system.
We then ask how many had two such teachers and are amazed that rather consistently about 50% of the people raise their hands. That number reduces to about 10 % when we ask, how many had three such teachers.
We then ask them what would happen if we had all those teachers that everyone had throughout elementary, middle, high school and college in one room and asked them if they cared about their students. To no one's surprise, everyone is quick to respond that all those teachers would surely raise their hands.
We then ask how many folks have had to struggle with the decision of seeking nursing home care for a parent or grandparent and a fair number of hands go up. We ask those folks what the source of the struggle was and inevitably the majority respond they were afraid their family member would not receive the care, the very basic care, they required.
We then ask them what would happen if we had all the employees of all those nursing homes in the room and asked them if they cared about their patients. "Everyone would raise their hand", comes the unanimous response.
This exercise hits people very close to home and makes it very easy for them to see that caring is determined by the response of the person receiving the care, not the person being paid to care.
After this exercise and further discussion we conclude the exercise by asking them to once again rate the average caring of their particular work group. It probably comes as no surprise, yet is still striking that no one has ever said their rating was higher the second time around. As individuals, families and organizations we have a long way to go if we are to care without restraint!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Making the Shift happen
Hi there, I'm in Lithonia a suburb of Atlanta. Monday and Tuesday of this week we started an exciting one year project with the Department of Human Resources Office of Developmental Disabilities. The project contract calls for us to mentor 6 DD Agencies.
We will do this by providing four days of pretty intense in house training to each organization. The training is a lot to digest so we are doing it two days at a time over the next two months. Monday and Tuesday in agency # 1; Thursday and Friday in agency #2. Then back home for a week. Then back to do agencies 3 and 4, etc. When we are done with the first round of training we will start the second round on the same schedule.
Each agency will develop 4 Action Teams that will be charged with helping exisitng agency resources so that moving forward will be more manageable and so that the Shift will begin immediately. The four Action Teams are:
1 Assessment. This team will support the assessment of all staff members in 6 basic Shift Happens Competencies.
2 Training.
3 Culture Building.
4 Performance improvement.
One of our big concerns as we developed the contract was, what will happen after the first year?
This project is the beginning of a quality improvement effort that will take 3 to 5 years. What happens after we're gone. Yes we will provide each agency with 2 days of follow up visits during the year and yes we will also provide them with one hour telephone support in each of the next 12 months and yes the contract will fund 2 staff members from each agency to visit our organization for 2 days of high impact individualized attention, but what happens after the year is up? This was a big concern.
We hope collaboration will be the answer. The Champions of each Action Team will meet every six weeks to compare notes, share common experiences, brainstorm solutions to common problems, identify follow up training resources and, very importantly, share a common proactive, positive language.
In addition, quarterly the CEO's from each agency will meet with the Champions to hear about progress and address concerns of mutual importance. We hope by the end of the year these six agencies, some small, some quite large, some in urban settings and others quite rural will develop positive relations and be resourceful to each other.
If the rest of the project goes as well as the first two days, the results will be remarkable. The Office of Developmental Disabilities has impressed us with their selection process. We have conducted pre training conference calls with each agency and each was as impressive as the next. All different in size and location but all eager to participate in this very sinificant undertaking.
It confirms my belief that many of the people working in this field are desperate for a better way of doing things. They are talented and committed. They work hard for very modest pay and they are frustrated by the overly beaurocratic systems which control them and which seem to offer more obstacles than solutions; yet they won't give up and they still want to do more and better for the people they support. Yet, they often just don't know where to turn for guidance and direction.
Our proactive philosophy and positive approach offers many of them the kind of comprehensive, consumer centered, innovative solution they have been longing for.
I'm encouraged and excited.
More later.
George
We will do this by providing four days of pretty intense in house training to each organization. The training is a lot to digest so we are doing it two days at a time over the next two months. Monday and Tuesday in agency # 1; Thursday and Friday in agency #2. Then back home for a week. Then back to do agencies 3 and 4, etc. When we are done with the first round of training we will start the second round on the same schedule.
Each agency will develop 4 Action Teams that will be charged with helping exisitng agency resources so that moving forward will be more manageable and so that the Shift will begin immediately. The four Action Teams are:
1 Assessment. This team will support the assessment of all staff members in 6 basic Shift Happens Competencies.
2 Training.
3 Culture Building.
4 Performance improvement.
One of our big concerns as we developed the contract was, what will happen after the first year?
This project is the beginning of a quality improvement effort that will take 3 to 5 years. What happens after we're gone. Yes we will provide each agency with 2 days of follow up visits during the year and yes we will also provide them with one hour telephone support in each of the next 12 months and yes the contract will fund 2 staff members from each agency to visit our organization for 2 days of high impact individualized attention, but what happens after the year is up? This was a big concern.
We hope collaboration will be the answer. The Champions of each Action Team will meet every six weeks to compare notes, share common experiences, brainstorm solutions to common problems, identify follow up training resources and, very importantly, share a common proactive, positive language.
In addition, quarterly the CEO's from each agency will meet with the Champions to hear about progress and address concerns of mutual importance. We hope by the end of the year these six agencies, some small, some quite large, some in urban settings and others quite rural will develop positive relations and be resourceful to each other.
If the rest of the project goes as well as the first two days, the results will be remarkable. The Office of Developmental Disabilities has impressed us with their selection process. We have conducted pre training conference calls with each agency and each was as impressive as the next. All different in size and location but all eager to participate in this very sinificant undertaking.
It confirms my belief that many of the people working in this field are desperate for a better way of doing things. They are talented and committed. They work hard for very modest pay and they are frustrated by the overly beaurocratic systems which control them and which seem to offer more obstacles than solutions; yet they won't give up and they still want to do more and better for the people they support. Yet, they often just don't know where to turn for guidance and direction.
Our proactive philosophy and positive approach offers many of them the kind of comprehensive, consumer centered, innovative solution they have been longing for.
I'm encouraged and excited.
More later.
George
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