Shift Happenings with George Suess

5 agency project

2011-04-01T15:06:00.002-04:00

On Monday we will be presenting our People Power Leadership seminar to Executive Teams from 5 nearby agencies looking to become more positive and proactive. These organizations have sent many of their employees here over the last 6 months to learn more and generate support for change. The great majority (actually I think it has been unanimous) have commented on the enthusiasm and competence of our staff. They also mention how well people communicate and relate to each other. They are very interested in our philosophy and approach and we always get excited about helping people do a better job of helping others. We're bringing a great team of four people and are looking forward to giving them new information, sharing our innovations with them but mostly about having the opportunity to inspire and support improvements. I'm looking forward to it.

You never know.

2011-03-21T10:02:00.003-04:00

Hi, Last Friday we had two visitors from another county experience Vantage Point. At 5:15 or so a couple of our staff and I had a conversation. They were interested in my take on the visitors since they seemed distant at times and communication was not as free flowing as is usual.

At the debrief I found the same to be true and was ready to say good-bye at 3:30 but, of course I didn't. I kept the conversation going even though they were short on questions.

One of the folks had about 11 years of experience in the filed and one, a fellow I will call Brian, only about a year. He was a truck driver who got laid off and need a job. Looked to me like he was in his early 40's.

I kept the conversation going until we struck on a matter Brian could relate to. How to address serious behavior problems, assaults, though positive action. I explained our approach and gave a couple of examples and I saw the lights went on a bit, wasn't sure how bright they were, for him.

Overall my feedback was that while they were more quiet and not as enthusiastic as visitors usually are, I thought they did get something out of the visit. That it wasn't a complete disappointment to them . Then on Saturday I received the following.

My conclusion is twofold. First, you never really know how people will react, what will sink in and what will hit home. Secondly, our stuff is so good that everyone can get something out of a visit. As always the challenge to us is finding the piece that makes sense to each person.
Enjoy.

From: Brian
to: georges
03/19/2011 10:56 AM

Dear George
Thank you for the magnificent and life changing experience the folks you serve, you and your staff shared with me yesterday! There are to many wonderful thoughts
and ideas running around my mind to express in this email. I've started reading Shift Happens. There is no doubt it will change the way I deal with all the people in my life.
I too, wish I had learned this info much earlier in my life. Looking forward to visiting with you and hopefully working with you in the future.
May this spark in our hearts be fanned into a raging fire of compassion that consumes the whole world !!!
Thanks Again !
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Brian / DSP

The U. S. Constitution and Shift Happens

2011-03-18T12:51:00.002-04:00

Recently I watched "Thurgood" a one man performance with Larry Fishburn as Thurgood Marshall. If you don't know who he is you owe it to yourself to learn about him. Former Supreme Court Justice and the person, earlier in his career, who presented and won the Supreme Court case now known as "Brown vs. the board of Education" which is the basis of racial integration which was also used to force the education system to educate all children with or without disabilities.

At one point Fishburn stated the following and it made me think of our field, our agency and Shift Happens. I wonder if it strikes the same cord with you? Take a look, give it some thought and let me know.

“The basic thrust of the U.S. Constitution is people to people.

Strike them and they will cry.
Cut them and they will bleed.
Starve them and they will wither away and die.
But treat them with respect and decency,
give them equal access to levels of power,
attend to their aspirations and to their grievances
and they will flourish and grow
and they will join together to form a perfect union.
We recognize how far we have come and how far we have to go.”

Thurgood Marshall

The Arc US rebranding 3 emails

2010-05-14T16:10:00.002-04:00

Three emails follow.

The first arrived from The Arc US on May 7. Delarc, Director of Community Relations and I participated in the webinar referred ot in the first paragraph which was held on April 28.

I responded to the very simple survey but also decided to weigh in with a more substantial response which I did on May 11 (email # 2).

She then responded to that (email #3).

I hope you will find them interesting, thought provoking and enjoyable. I have the changed names that appear in various places.

Email # 1:

Dear Chapter Leader,
The Arc’s rebranding initiative is continuing to move ahead and right on schedule. CoreBrand, the agency we hired to assist us with our rebranding; has completed its interviews with key stakeholders. Last week, we hosted two conference calls/webinars that allowed many of you to participate as a “group interview”. Along with sharing your comments, CoreBrand has been looking to define the real “essence” of The Arc.
These conversations yielded a number of key words, terms and phrase. CoreBrand is analyzing them to identify the heart of our “Brand Platform”, which will become the building block for our new Brand Identity.
Just as the collection of our chapter logos was informative, CoreBrand recommended that gathering the taglines that many of you use to give meaning to your chapter’s identity in your communities could be similarly helpful. Therefore, we are asking you to provide us with any current taglines that you already use to help us define The Arc at the State and local level.
Simply click on the link below, which will take you to a two question survey. We want to know, 1) if you regularly use a tag line (i.e. Nike, “Just Do It”; UNCF, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste”); 2) the name of your chapter, and 3) The tag line. This survey will be open between now, and Wednesday, May 18th.
Thank You.

Email # 2

Hi Jan, I wanted to follow up with you regarding the issue of rebranding and tag lines. First off to say thank you for the webinar on April 28th. A great way to keep people involved and learning from each other. The second is to share a little more detail about our perspective on the matter. I understand how difficult this process is and will be. Highly charged for some, of little or no interest to others (until you ask them to do something differently) and lots of people in between.

Here in Delaware County, NY we went with ARC for most of our existence but changed to The Arc of Delaware County and Delarc over the last few years. But most people outside the organization and some within it, including Board and staff still refer to us as ARC. A little frustrating but understandable. In some ways the thought of another name change is difficult to imagine, at the same time though, thinking in the long term, I think our board would be OK with another name change, if others agreed. So, overall I guess that might put us in the position of supporting a new name.

But I think many others will not be as willing. I can think of two or three other chapters in NY who have invested a lot of time and money into completely different names over the last few years, and after witnessing their campaigns I find it hard to believe they would be as willing to go for another name change. So I think the idea of a common tag line and a common logo may be the best way to move us forward.

I think I mentioned in the webinar that within the last few weeks one of our newest staff members and I were talking about this dilemma and she said, "When I see a puzzle piece, I think autism and when I see a pink ribbon, I think breast cancer awareness. So maybe a good logo is all we need." I told her she might really have something there. Promote a common, well designed logo (spare no expense, it will have to be good, to generate support) with a powerful tag line would move us to a place where a common name might be more acceptable down the road (if we are willing to wait that long?).

As I have been thinking more and more about the tag line and the common thread that weaves through all Chapters I keep coming back to "Caring about People with Disabilities." It truly is what we all do. Large or small, service providers or solely advocates, we all care.

I ask myself, when I am out in public and people ask what do you do? Or where do you work? I say Delarc or The Arc of Dealware County and they say, "What's that?" And I say we used to be ARC. Some know us but many say, "What's that?" and then I say, We use to be the Association For Retarded Children, but we aren't any more and then after three or four exchanges, they finally say "Oh. OK" Like so many others in this field I'm tired of talking about what we used to be, but aren't any more, but kind of still are.

I also think we need to make sure it would be about caring "about" and not caring "for". Caring "for" can stir up thoughts of custodial care and that certainly would be terrible. But caring "about" is the common thread. We care, simple, clear and yet open to a multitude of local definition (we advocate, we provide x, y, or z services, we serve adults, we serve children, we serve only people with ID, we serve people with any DD.)

A little more about caring. If you check our website, or talk to Jinny Doe you will find out Delarc is pretty special. In New York we are the only Chapter, indeed the only one of over 700 approved service providers with a written Board of Directors' policy prohibiting the use of physical intervention or restraint of any type. And the policy has been in place for over 30 years. And we serve people with exceptionally challenging behaviors. We don't turn anyone down.

This commitment has resulted in our developing a proactive philosophy and positive approach that has gained a national reputation for effectiveness. The heart of that success has been our ability to systematize caring. We know that everyone says they care and to a large extent, they do. But we have developed systems that take caring beyond the realm of individuals and has woven into our recruitment, orientation, supervisory, coaching, performance review and even our time management practices too generate a culture that is distinctive, and again, highly effective.

We have learned that deep and genuine caring is not only the key to behavior change, it is also the key to effective teaching / skill development. It is not the only element but it is the most important. Without genuine caring, learning and behavior change is incredibly slow to achieve. With it, results are amazing.

I sent Jack a copy of one of our books, Shift Happens ... Making the Shift to Proactive Behavior Management. Borrow it and read the first couple of sections and you will see what I mean. In fact, we are in discussions to determine if Delarc and The Arc can partner to bring our positive message and accomplishments to The Arc family. I will forward the email I sent Jack and Jinny a couple of weeks ago, to give you a little more background.

Last point, not from a rehab perspective but from a marketing one is look around and you will see how the word "caring" is working its way into the marketing world. Watch a professional basketball game on TV and you will see their new tag line, "The NBA Cares". Not only is caring important, marketing people are starting to capture the power it conveys. Thinking in even bigger terms, there is far too little caring in the world and it seems like less so all the time. The Arc, through a common tag line in hundreds of communities across the country has the opportunity to refocus America, and help it start caring again.

"What do you do?"

" I work for The Arc."

" Oh, you're the folks who care about people with disabilities. I like what you do."

Cool, huh?

Please don't hesitate to call if you would like to discuss any of this further.

Thanks for the opportunity to share our perspective.

Regards, George Suess,

Email # 3:

George

What a thoughtful, comprehensive and enlightened response. If this is the kind of effort you put into serving our community – I can absolutely believe you have a particularly special chapter.

Jinny Doe came over quite enthused a couple weeks ago to tell me about your book and the consideration you and Peter may put into including it as part of our best practices strategy – I am sure if they want my involvement – they will ask – and I will be happy to help make this happen. To say the least, I hope I get to meet you soon (NCE?) so we can chat further. I did receive the partnership email. Thank you for keeping me in the loop

I am also copying Jack, Jane from our Board, as well as our friends from CoreBrand on this response so they too will understand your position. I am glad you are so receptive to the change we are looking to make. I can tell you that should we make the determination that a name change is not in our respective best interests, it will be done with a great deal of thought to give us the full tool kit we need to get past concerns about the prior acronym, about the “R” word and will most certainly include a tag line.

Thanks again.

Webinar update and questions from Kansas

2010-05-14T15:47:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we concluded the series of Webinars we conducted for members of InterHab of Kansas. 14 member agencies and over 200 employees participated in the series. The series consisted of four different topics over four consecutive Thursdays.

From all accounts they were successful. During them we invited attendees to email us with questions, etc. What follows are three such emails. They will give you an idea of the things that are on people’s minds.

I have removed or changed names. (It was simpler than contacting everyone and asking them for permission to use their names.)

The first one starts out Dr. Suess. For the record I do not possess that degree and I subsequently and gently clarified that with the sender.

Email # 1

Dr. Suess, I work for ABC Organization in Kansas and have participated in the last three Thursdays. My name is John Doe and I have enjoyed the sessions. The discussions have reinforced concepts we have been practicing as well as providing different strategies for working with unique individuals. Your basic assessment and development tool has many of the same indicators we use in staff evaluations and I can see the training from last week enhancing that process.

My questions for you have to do with something you and your staff touched on during last week's discussion. It was stated that staff's personal values need to be set aside and the personal values of the person served should be the focus. I agree with this statement, however, I also know this is an area that we have struggled with for years - how did your organization get staff to set aside their personal values when planning with persons served? How did you make the shift to keep the personal values of staff, family, friends, guardians etc. from infringing on the choices of persons served? How did you convince colleagues to make this change and accept choices of persons served that they may not agree with or disapprove of?

I do not know if this is something you could touch on tomorrow or not - I would appreciate hearing from you regardless.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

We were able to spend a few moments discussing this during yesterday’s webinar. We made the point that we see this as an important, and regrettably common, problem. The initial key point for us lies not in the staff person’s values, nor even the consumer’s but rather in the organization’s values. If these are not clear and affirmed we won’t get very far. Most organizations have a value statement that goes something like “the people we support come first.” That’s good but the questions become: Do we mean it? Do staff know we mean it? How do we know? How much time do we spend defining and explaining what this means to each of us in our daily actions.

Truly believing the other person comes first is the first step in dealing with such values conflicts. That’s why we spend so much time in the interview process trying to determine if people truly do share our values of if they are just looking for a pay check. Our interviews are extensive, 3 interviews, 3 hours each, in 3 settings with at least 3 different people involved at each interval.

This extensive process results in hiring people who start the job with similar values. That makes all the difference in the world. We firmly believe in the adage: hire for values, train for skills. We also invited the person to contact us if (s)he wanted more information on this topic.

Email # 2

Hi George,

You may not remember me. We shared a very nice conversation over a beer (just 1?) at the InterHab Conference in Wichita last October. Although I was unable personally to attend the follow up sessions last November, I was pleased that our trusted colleague, Jane Doe, was able to participate. Of course, as you know, she was thrilled with the experience and has been sharing with the rest of us. I arranged to have about 22 folks (including myself) to participate in the Webinar series. I certainly understand your reaction to the lack of direct feedback to your presentations. While I can speculate that much of that is due to the great job you and your colleagues have done (thus, limited questions), it also feels a bit awkward at our end in the Webinar format. That’s not a good excuse for remaining silent, but perhaps a realistic explanation. I was pleased with the positive comment at the end of yesterday’s session from the person at XYZ Organization, and regretted that I did not do the same. For that, I apologize.

After our experiences with you at the InterHab Conference and the follow up in Wichita, we at QRX Organization (Executive Leadership Team) decided that we wanted to follow up with you regarding our own initiative to positively impact our support culture in our day and residential service settings, as well as with our service coordination and clinical support staff. My “plan” was to participate in the Webinar series first in order to help us better define what we might want to discuss with you. While budgets are tight (no surprise, huh), we do have a small donation fund allocated to support our Direct Support Professionals. We thought what better support than to make “Shift Happen” for them and their support recipients! That said, you can anticipate hearing back from us within a month or so to explore how we might best benefit from a collaboration. Since I want to be a personal participant, the delay is due in part to our scheduled contract discussions with the state of Kansas.

All of us at QRX are looking forward to the final session of the Webinar Series, and certainly the next steps of our shift. We will be back in touch with you soon.

Regards, Joe Doe

I responded that I was very pleased to hear from them and will be ready when they are.

Email # 3

George,

I have been a participant in your Shift Happens through LMNOP County the past three weeks. I have thoroughly enjoyed the different topics, I wish I had service providers in my area that share your beliefs and values. As you can see I am a social worker, but more importantly I am the mother of a special needs adult son. He is autistic, non-verbal, and has seizures, and I have a question. I am in the unique position of helping an agency that is also taking part in Shift Happens, HIJ Organization (hopefully learning as they go), in building a day program that would best serve my sons needs as well as the other residents participating in the day program.

My question, as we are moving through this process, is it possible to secure a conference call with your staff to brain storm ideas and starting points for the program and revisit as we progress through the process, drawing on you and your staff for resources through e-mail contacts. I would love to have a chance to talk with you and your staff and learn how to best develop a new program.

Thank you for your time, look forward to hearing from you soon,

I responded that we would be glad to participate in such a conference call and to assist in any way we can.

These exchanges are wonderful. It’s so good to be involved with people who take their responsibilities so seriously. Please join them and send us your questions or requests.

Webinar Update

2010-04-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

Hey there, I need to correct the record. I last wrote that 20 agencies and nearly 250 people participated in our first webinar last week. We learned there 14 agencies and just over 200 people who participated. Still solid numbers. The folks at Interhab tell us they are the best attended webinars they have sponsored. Very promising indeed.

We also learned that while agencies could have registered for any of the four webinars individually all 14 organizations registered for the full series of four.

The sponsoring organization, Interhab of Kansas, is conducting a brief survey we hope people will respond to. We and the folks at Interhab think they are going well. But it would be good to hear directly from those who participated.

It sure is different speaking into a webcam and not being able to see, read or get feedback from the audience, but I shuck it off and think I adjusted well. Hopefully, the survey will tell us they agree.

In webinar #2 eight spectacular Delarc staff joined in with live examples of how they have used the Caring Chain with real people to make a real difference in those people’s lives. All eight did us proud with very thoughtful and effective examples. Again, we hope the surveys confirm this.

Our focus now becomes next week’s webinar Assessing Caring Relationships on May 6. We think this will be a winner. We have developed a form and process for people to use to assess caring in individual staff members. The form is user friendly and people usually like that. And the process is good too. Based on direct observation; not hear say, in several situations; not about a one time mistake. Supervisors will be asked to provide feedback on a number of indicators in 5 key areas including: Language, Interactions / Attentiveness, Promotes Independence, Projects the Attitude and Body Language of Caring, Uses Time Well.

We tested this form with one of our departments and it went very well. We based it on a number of other tools we have developed over the years.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Moving Mountains

2010-04-23T16:33:00.002-04:00

In addtion to moving into the world of webinars (see prior entry) another exciting development is we have been notified Delarc’s Life and Career Model has been selected as a winner of the Moving Mountains Best Practice Award. This prestigious award is presented by National Association for Direct Support Professionals (www.nadsp.org) for Delarc’s significant achievement in workforce development.

Award winners are expected to participate in a case study process. On June 14 and 15 a team from the University of Minnesota’s Research and Training Center on Community Living will be visiting Delarc to begin the case study process.

The award will be presented at NADSP’s 2010 Reinventing Quality Conference in August.

Aiyiyiyiyi!

Venturing into the Webinar world

2010-04-23T16:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday The Arc of Delaware County conducted it's first ever webinar. We believe approximately 250 people spread throughout 20 or so agencies across the state of Kansas participated. This was the first of four webinars Interhab of Kansas sponsored. Interhab is a trade association of rehabilitation agencies in Kansas (www.interhab.org). They have approximately 38 member agencies located throughout Kansas. So over half of their members participated. Some had five people in the audience some had over 50.

The Webinar, titled, Introduction to a Positive Approach, was scheduled to last 90 minutes, it ended up going an extra 10 minutes. From our end it seemed to go well. We expect to be talking to the folks at Interhab within the next day or two to hear what they thought.

We have three more webinars scheduled for the next three Thursdays from 11:00 to 12:30. The titles of the next three are:

Webinar #2 Exploring the Caring Chain

Webinar #3 Assessing Caring Relationships

Webinar #4 Effective use of Praise and Reinforcement

If these go well, and we are confident they will, our plan is twofold. First we will continue to offer these and additional webinars through Interhab. Secondly we will begin to market them outside Kansas directly.

The Energy of Caring

2010-03-28T11:22:00.002-04:00

Seems like every few months I dwell on a particular aspect of organizational development or personal performance. Lately I have been having discussions and thinking a lot about what I call the Energy of Caring.

On the positive side I watch our Direct Service Professionals in action and that’s what they are, in action. They are on their feet, they move from person to person, they are giving the attention of proximity, they are pulling out material or putting it away, they are ready to provide hand on hand assistance if needed because they are at the person’s side. They’re also ready to catch someone who slips or give a reassuring hand because they’re physically close by.

When I visit other organizations of hear from folks who do, I see and hear about people sitting at desks or tables and spewing directions “long distance”. I heard one of our great team members say “couch potato parenting doesn’t work”. I think the same is true about providing services. It can’t be done from a chair, desk or table. People need to be on their feet and moving to provide good supports.

Think about seminars you have attended or speeches you have heard and I think the ones that inspired you, the ones you learned from, the ones you remember were form people who demonstrated energy.

Pay attention to this over the next few days and let me know what you think. Is your energy and that of those around you more like a couch potato or is it reflective of the caring our folks need. What can you do about it? What are you doing about it? I would love to hear from you.

Leadership style continued

2010-02-14T11:59:00.001-05:00

My February 12, 2010 entry explained I have been asked to write down my thoughts regarding my leadership style. What follows is the second of several elements I think about. As I pointed out in that posting, the more I write the more I realize the idea of giving any of them priority over the rest is futile. The numbers only serve to keep me organized and to enable me to write about other things and then come back to continue the list. Each number is preceded by LE which stands for Leadership Element.

LE#2: Listen and Respect Minority Opinions.

Sorting through the continual barrage of information and misinformation leaders face every day is a huge challenge. The key is acute listening. Listening to the emotions; to the behavior and the body language to find the real message behind the words which are spoken requires hard work (dedication), practice (further dedication) and the ability to put aside issues of power and control. It also means admitting when we are wrong ( a huge power issue) and seeking win – win solutions; at once, humbling and gratifying.
One of the things I take particular pleasure in is when one person with a minority position convinces the group to go a different way; to continue searching or flat out convinces them their opinion was wrong. These occurrences please me because they demonstrate people respect each other; that the minority person is comfortable and not afraid they will be ridiculed, ostracized or placated. It means the team has been properly recruited, trained and supported. I believe a track record of listening to minority opinions (and all that goes with that) may be the single best measure of a Leader’s accomplishments.

My Leadership Style

2010-02-12T20:39:00.004-05:00

It’s been way too long since my last posting but I’m back now and glad it is so.

A couple of months ago one of our key team members asked a few of us to write about our leadership styles. Of course I was flattered she thought to ask, but more than that I was impressed. I’m not sure what her plan is for these thoughts but I know it will be fascinating. I’m excited to be part of her brainchild. Thanks Molly.

Over these many weeks I’ve been jotting down a list of random thoughts with the idea of eventually putting some words in front of them. As I look at my list I find it very hard to prioritize the various facets of this thing called style. So I stopped trying and started writing. The more I write the more I realize the idea of giving any of them priority over the rest is futile. You see at any given time, in any given circumstance any one of them will always take precedence. And maybe that’s what leadership is all about. An accumulation of elements that compliment each other and are used to solve problems, define a path and inspire others.

There’s a danger in giving things numbers because numbers imply priority. In this case the numbers only serve to keep me organized and to enable me to write about other things and then come back to continue the list. Each number is preceded by LE which stands for Leadership Element.

So my list starts here. Who knows when or where it will end?

LE #1: The Twist of Creating a Learning Organization.

You hear a lot about the need to be a learning organization but little about how to become one. Does it mean everyone being enrolled in some form of higher or adult education? Does it mean spending huge sums on new technologies? Hiring the most expensive consultants? I guess it could mean any or all of those.
But for me it means creating an atmosphere; an atmosphere that encourages questions from anyone to anyone at any time. An atmosphere that seeks the right answers; no matter how difficult or where that search takes you. An atmosphere passionately obsessed with mission and vision and values and empowerment.
The result is learning by everyone, all the time. And here’s the twist. When everyone is learning, everyone becomes the teacher. When someone asks me a question, as I am giving them the answer, I’m learning a little about them. When they get the answer they’re prepared to answer that question the next time someone else asks it.
Each year I view myself more as a teacher of teachers and I mean that in the broadest sense possible. And I see the same thing in our most talented staff. We don’t hire a lot of certified teachers and yet everyone we hire has teaching responsibilities. We expect supervisors to be teachers of their subordinates and staff to share what they know with each other. Everyone searching and learning from each other. Seems like a learning organization to me.

Web-based training

2009-12-11T19:47:00.000-05:00

I met with a couple of extremely well qualified people yesterday to learn more about web-based training. I think it may be in our future and am anxious to discuss it with our Administrative Leadership Team. Will keep you posted.

Unusual reunion; unexpected benefit.

2009-11-30T11:48:00.001-05:00

In my prior posting I wrote about the success of the Sedgwick County Developmental Disabilities Conference, Nov. 16 & 17 in Wichita, and what it taught me about unexpected benefits. It also provided me, personally, an unexpected benefit; a reunion with a cousin I hadn’t seen in at least 44 years.

During the lunch break on the first day of training a woman asked me a question specific to her work. We had a lovely conversation. Before we separated I wanted to remember her name. The first name on her name tag held no surprise but her last name certainly caught my attention. “Colucci” my mother’s full blooded, immigrant Italian, maiden name was displayed on the lapel of a person whose physical appearance would lead you to believe she was anything but Italian. First there was the surprise about the name and then there was surprise at the person with the name.

I explained my surprise and she quickly told me her husband’s family is from Niagara Falls, my home town. He also works in the field and was present. I excitedly said, “Go get him”. She did and I learned his father James is my age but a year behind me in school. His Dad, Jimmy and my Mom, Big Chris (Jimmy’s sister was Little Chris) were cousins. Both have past away. James remembered my Dad but had a hard time remembering Chris. But when I said, Big Chris, he remembered instantly. Way fun.

I asked James if his Dad was “Jimmy the Mailman”. He was and he was the Jimmy Colucci I worked with for a year or so in a part time job we both had during my freshman year in college. Jimmy and I would deliver the weekend edition of the Niagara Falls Gazette. On Friday evenings we delivered the preprinted section of the paper. Comics, advertising inserts, etc. At midnight on Saturday we would show up to deliver the Sunday news sections. Jimmy drove the truck and I delivered, dropped, tossed and tumbled bundles of papers. We were a team. We worked well. We had fun. We enjoyed each other. We did good work. I learned to respect and like Jimmy. He was a fine teammate and friend.

We all had dinner, told family stories and talked about the Falls.

While I thoroughly enjoyed having some time with this family branch, the most fulfilling benefit was the feelings deep inside that talking about Jimmy brought back. There are people, the briefest mention of whom, makes you smile. I have been blessed to know a few, my wife is one. Jimmy is one. His memory makes me smile and inside I feel a whole lot better. This reunion rekindled a little spirit, makes life a little bit more pleasant and gave me a valued unexpected benefit. How great is that?

Great Training; Unexpected Benefits.

2009-11-30T10:05:00.001-05:00

InterHab is a not for profit organization in Kansas which supports the rehabilitation community. I was asked to give the keynote address and a series of breakout sessions on one day of their annual conference in October.

That Shappening proved to be a high impact day, the October day served as a natural promotion for a November Shappening at the Sedgwick County DD Service s Annual Conference in Wichita.

Topic: Shift Happens … Creating a Proactive Organization.
November 16/17, 2009

This was an amazing conference. Following an introduction to the topic at the October InterHab Conference there was a buzz in the Kansas Rehab Community about the November conference. One week beforen the traiing 80 people, about what was projected, were registered. At two days prior 100 people were registered. By the day of the training approximately 180 people showed up. The space would have been comfortable and appropriate for 80.

The Conference was a big success. On a scale of 1 (low) and 10 (high) 83 % of the attendees rated the two days a nine or better and an outstanding 53 % rated it a ten.

The audience was absolutely great. Resistance and defensiveness was absent. People were excited to be there and ready to bear an open mind. They were also gracious.
The space was not at all appropriate for the number of people. It was very nice; just too small for this size group. It looked like a packed church supper. Long rows of tables and chairs back to back so tightly one struggled to walk through their isle.

On Monday morning the first thing we tried to do was to find another space for the second day. Unfortunately none of the leads worked out and by 10:00 it was determined we would be in those tight quarters for the duration. It was then, our team of Hope Townsend, Brian Espada and myself decided we would have to make sure to stay on top of our game; keep things moving and fun. Early on we praised the group for dealing with the tight quarters so well. We continued to do so at intervals throughout the two days. At a point during the afternoon of the second day an observation lead to a thought.

I noticed that regardless of the cramped space and in spite of the normal difficulty finding a temperature that satisfies everyone people were focused. They were listening and thinking. They challenged themselves and our team. It was great. Just the kind of people we enjoy working with.

We trusted the impact of fast moving, insightful, creative material and it proved us correct. Those two days taught me that if the material is interesting and the presenters knowledgeable, passionate and fun it can make up for various inadequacies.

In this case, I was amazed at how well people tolerated the cramped conditions. No complaining, no bailing, no irritability. Just focus and learning. After a while I couldn’t help but think about the Shift Happens material and the audience’s hunger for new and better ideas.

I have always known this material is powerful, but those two days in Wichita were striking evidence of just how impressively powerful it was on those two days. If it weren’t for that, those two days would have been something people endured and perhaps resented. Instead the worries we had the first morning never materialized, the time flew, there were lots of aha moments, laughter and learning.

An unexpected and appreciated benefit of great training!

Style

2009-10-16T15:23:00.001-04:00

There are schools of management, theories of management, leadership institutes and good old best practices which often come from the school of hard knocks. But we have recently been discussing leadership styles and more specifically what are the styles we most appreciate.

We are a learning organization and one of the things we want to learn about is how to bring newer recruits up to speed as quickly as possible and, correspondingly, how to we help them avoid the mistakes we all made along the way.

One way we have decided upon is to probe deeply into this thing we call style. Style can be like opinions where everyone thinks theirs is the right one. But that’s not where we want to go. We’re going in two directions.

First, we are asking ourselves 2 questions:
1 Who are the leaders we learn from?
2 What are their styles? And we are trying to be very specific, concrete here.

We are not inexperienced nor are we unaccomplished. But we all know there is more to do and more to learn. So from what leaders do we not only get direction but education or learning? How do they teach us? Some of this is their willingness to share information; some the way they do it. For some it’s the perspective they bring; for others the respect they show.

Secondly, we are approaching those people we each admire (and they may very well be different for each of us) to ask them to describe their style. What do they think makes them so effective? What is it they think makes others effectively learn from them?

So, what do you think? Please respond to this entry with the specific characteristics of the styles from which you best learn. Think about your personal guru and what is it about her/him that works for you …. And let us know.

We don’t expect this will be a fast exercise. It will take time, concentration and discussion. We will report back from time on our progress. So stay tuned.

What a squad!

2009-09-30T17:05:00.000-04:00

I’m like a lot of other folks. I don’t watch golf on TV unless Tiger’s playing. The last couple of times I’ve watched it struck me how the officials insist on absolute quiet when golfers are hitting their shots. Yet, if you turn the channel and watch a basketball championship game you see something quite different.

With one second to go all eyes are on the person taking the last free throw attempt. If he/she makes it, the game is tied and if they make the second shot, they’re the champions. If not they lose. And while on the other channel there is absolute silence, during the whole time the round ball player is getting ready and shooting the fans are screaming, waving anything they can get their hands on and doing their absolute best to distract the shooter.

Just as much riding on either sport; yet, one insists on silence while at the other disruption and commotion rule. Big money and huge prestige riding on both.

These are the kinds of things that capture my attention and make me think about our work. Some times it’s nice and quiet. Moments later it’s distraction and diversion. Yet it doesn’t prevent the Delarc Team from scoring one victory after another for the children and adults we serve and support.

What a squad!

Uncluttered Minds

2009-09-25T12:27:00.006-04:00

Yesterday afternoon the Leadership Team met to review the first draft of our proposal to introduce the Shift Happens proactive philosophy and positive approach into the NYS OMRDD system (see last post).

What an incredible group of people! After a brief introduction I distributed the draft, broke them into small groups and asked them to do their thing. And what a thing they did. Their observations, comments, criticisms, inputs, changes and questions were all on the money. At the end of the meeting we had a whole new, and needless to say, better document.

Almost 20 years ago, the late Fred McDonald, a consultant, was hired by our Board of Directors to lead a strategic planning process. He worked with us 3 to 5 days a month for over a year and in the process came to know our staff very well. At one point he commented to me about the awe he felt when working with them. He said that no matter how busy they were or what the topic, when he spoke to them individually or as a group he marvelled at their "uncluttered minds".

Quite a few of the members have changed since then; some have remained but to this day when you get these folks together their minds remain uncluttered. This does not mean they are not busy. Nor does it mean they don't live full and abundant lives. Quite the contrary. The abundance of their lives and the importance and busy ness of their jobs is what makes their ability to put everything else aside, listen to the question or examine the issue and focus clearly, thoughtfully and thoroughly on the matter at hand continues to excite and inspire me.

They never fail to impress me and they never, ever fail to accomplish the job. And, in this case, the proposal we are developing has benefited greatly.

What an talented, amazing and fun group of people. How lucky The Arc of Delaware County is to have so many fine people.

2009-09-25T12:27:00.001-04:00

Shifting New York

2009-09-21T14:13:00.001-04:00

Over the spring and summer the Executive Directors Association of NYSARC (EDA) sponsored three regional training sessions for Executive Teams. The results were strong and a conference call is scheduled for later this week to discuss possible next steps. While timing may not be right for some and others may have other priorities, it seems very likely several organizations will be interested in more training or consultations.

At the third session, three high level officials from the NYS Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) attended. They felt the material offered serious implications for their organization and today our CFO, Teresa Skinner and I met with them and several other officials along with the EDA Chair. The meeting couldn’t have gone better. All agree the Shift Happens model is worth bringing forward to District offices for further review. A Nov. 4 date was set to introduce them to the model.

At the same time we will be developing a state wide plan/proposal. One of the foundation pieces will be to develop a pilot the model within the Broome District.

While all this is going on we continue to work with Orange County AHRC.

New York may not be Shifting yet, but it looks like it is about to.

Outcomes for People

2009-07-13T11:35:00.002-04:00

I recentlly asked our Leadership Team what they thought Delarc's major accomplishments over the last year have been. In no priority order, here is what they said:

--- Delarc's Person Centered Planning process has significantly evolved and is producing amazing results for people. The additions this year have made it easier for people to understand, particpate and take the lead in the process. More people are running their meetings, asserting themselves and setting ambitious goals.

--- This then has lead to a dramtic increase in meaningful community inclusive activity / participation.

--- The number of adult education classes offered to our folks by community members has increased. The variety of such classes has been very well received and has motivated all involved.

--- The openness of the community and its willingness to include our folks in their activities, businesses and events has increased in numbers and in spirit. The community is beginning to see our folks in a whole new light.

--- The progress we are making in working with local schools and BOCES to improve the transition process has been exciting and offers much promise for the future.

--- More individuals who have never earned any income are now doing so for the first time in their lives.

--- The number and diversity of organizations interested in our proactive philosophy and positive approach has exploded ... all by word of mouth.

I'm sure if I gave them more time this list would be a lot longer. None the less, it is still something of which our entire organization is proud. The cool thing about this group is that this success motivates them to continue learning, try harder and do more for the people they support.

Very exciting!

Communications from Staff

2009-06-30T13:21:00.002-04:00

Following are copies of emails I received this week from two of our team members. They show the impact we are having on people; the people we support, our families and the rehab community.

Received June 23, 2009

Hi George,

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about a revelation I had recently. When I started working for the agency and learned about Shift Happens I thought it was wonderful. It made such good sense and seemed so easy. Over the years I've seen how it has worked so well with those we serve. I guess I never thought how it would carry over into my personal life until I became a mom. Now that Natalie is two I often find myself using the techniques that I was taught as part of the shift happens approach, whether it is with potty training, teaching her how to get dressed, dealing with her tantrums, or preparing her to be a big sister.

Then last night she started reinforcing me when I was folding laundry. It made me stop and smile and think maybe she's a future Delarc employee?

Amy Anderson
Medicaid Service Coordinator
The Arc of Delaware County

Received June 25, 2009

I was at an ISP meeting today in another county at a different agency, and was shocked to hear how unhappy people were with their jobs, administration etc at their respective agency. I felt bad for them that they are not as happy in their jobs as I am, and without making it sound like I am bragging to them, I said well we do this and we do that at the Delarc and how many of these folks were wowed and wished they could have that and things were run like the Delarc.

Along the same lines, I attend many trainings for Start up Brokerage and MSC training and I seem to get more attention than the trainer because I say at the Delarc we already do..... whatever the topic may be. I have had other trainees come to me for more about what we do and completely bypass the person facilitating the training!

I just am sending this email I guess to say that I am so glad to be where I am and that from what I see out there we are head and shoulders above the rest!

Aza Hoyt

I want to thank Amy and Aza for giving me permission to share their thoughts with you. Most of all, though, I want to thank them for being part of the Delarc Team.

Unanticpated Benefits

2009-06-18T14:04:00.001-04:00

Hi there. In our books and when speaking to groups about our proactive philosophy and positive approach we always emphasize that, while our primary concern is and always will be with the children and adults we support, the Shift Happens model also offers many important benefits to us in our private lives.

Today I received the following from one our organizations brightest stars. With her permission I have placed it on the blog as a prime example of that point.

Thanks Arlene.

Good Morning George,

I felt I had to share this with you to show you how my life has changed since working with the Arc.

My daughter called yesterday in tears that her Grandfather had passed away. She told me how terrible she felt that she had not visited him for quite a while and now it was too late. Prior to working for the Arc, I would have gone to her, consoled her and probably enabled her feelings of guilt. A light bulb seemed to come on over my head and since learning of our philosophy and principles I thought to myself, "what a teachable moment"!! I, of course, extended my condolences over her loss and then told her how very important it is to "stop and smell the roses" and that all of us should take the time out of our busy lives to visit or call our loved ones, our friends, the elderly and the sick as we never know what the next day will bring. It is a hard lesson for my daughter to learn, but it certainly is a life lesson that we all should learn that when we have caring relationships, we need to keep them flourishing not only for those we care about but for ourselves.

I truly live the Arc way, not only at work but in my personal life and I am truly grateful that I have found this agency. I wanted to share this with you as little moments such as these should be shared!! Thank you for allowing me to be part of an organization that truly makes a difference in people's lives, no matter how small the difference--it matters!!
Arlene J Goedel
Administrative Assistant
RFI
190 Prospect Avenue
Walton, NY

THOSE WE SERVE COME FIRST
COMMIT TO EXCELLENCE
BE DEDICATED
EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION
COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY
BE INNOVATIVE

News update.

2009-06-14T15:29:00.003-04:00

Update:

1 Delarc celebrated its annual meeting / dinner / award ceremony on Friday June 12. It was a huge success. Over 225 people in attendance, an all time high, and, to over whelming delight, all of them lit a figurative “fire cracker” at the conclusion of the meeting.

2 On June 30 we will conduct our last conference call with the Action Tems in Georgia. Our contract expires that day. It has been an extraordinary success. All six participating agencies report making significant improvements in their culture and performance. They all are very grateful to the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) for providing this service. All wish to continue making the Shift and for the contract to be renewed in the next fiscal year.
DHR has informed us their budget is very uncertain. Based on the results they have expressed high interest in developing a year 3 contract. The very poor fiscal climate is a significant obstacle. The reorganization which the State legislature very recently approved presents a different issue. How long will it take to create the new structure; for the new Director to set his vision; and to determine if this project fits within the any possible new priorities are all important questions.

3 In mid August the EDA (Executive Directors, Association) will sponsor its third 2 day Shift Happens Executive Team conference. The purpose will be to present a detailed overview of the Shift Happens Model. So far 12 different teams have participated in sessions conducted in NYC and Geneva.
The EDA has taken a bold step with this training and is in a position to take a national leadership role in reducing and eliminating the use of physical intervention and restraint with people with developmental disabilities.

4 The rate of growth the children and adults Delarc supports has always been high but it seems to me the rate has significantly increased over the last two years.
Why?
I think there are a few answers:
- Our leadership team is more focused on learning and growth than it has ever been. It has worked diligently to standardize operations and to make those standards extraordinary.
- Our recruitment, orientation and training practices are continually fine tuned.
- A large number of new curricula have been created. Methods are also improving.
- Respectful, empowering, supportive monitoring at all levels assures accountability.
- The fire for continual improvement shines bright in both our newest and most veteran team members. People in this organization, like no other, embrace change.
Lots of people would add many other things to this list, but these are the things that grab me, at the moment.

5 We have learned President Obama has created a Social Innovation Fund the purpose of which, as we understand it, is to find pockets of excellence in the not for profit sector and to study and bring their success to scale.
This is new and information is sketchy. However we are tracking it and have had a preliminary conversation with one of NYS Sen. Gillenbrand’s representatives. We asked for the Senators assistance and advocacy in accessing this fund. We firmly believe the Shift Happens Model is exactly the type of success they are looking for.
Wish us luck.

Off to Georgia ... one more time.

2009-03-28T19:43:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow morning Hope, Heidi and I head off to Georgia for a week. Our first stop will be in Bremen where we will work again with an organization we first worked with last year. This will be our fourth visit there and our last this year. This time we will be doing a variety of things from working hand in hand with many of their front line staff, to providing training on how to use the Stages of Development process to measure performance to helping them develop their corporate values to meeting with a group of families. It will be a busy two days.

Bremen is west of Atlanta, about ten miles from the Alabama line. When we finish Tuesday we will drive to Covington, 40 or 50 miles east of Atlanta. Wednesday and Thursday will be devoted to training two new organizations about our People Power leadership model. We’ll explore what it means to be a values based organization and how to build corporate values into one’s recruitment, orientation, training, supervision, performance review and time management processes thereby building and strengthening the corporate culture.

We will come back Friday, exhausted but exhilarated.

Geat teamwork. It must be luck!

2009-03-28T19:36:00.001-04:00

The Delarc Team is amazing. I have never taken it for granted and always expect the best; yet it continues to surprise and delight. It doesn’t matter what the task or situation, they always respond with excellence and they do so with a smile.

Recently they provided a unique experience for a group of local sixth graders, rallied round an individual we support who was going through an extremely stressful home situation and prepared for a Medicaid audit; all while providing top notch service to children and adults in Delaware County and mentoring several other agencies in New York and Georgia. Simply amazing!

The audit will be happening over the new few weeks, so we’ll have to wait to see how that makes out. But the sixth graders were thrilled and the fellow who was having such difficulty is doing fine, the children and adults we support are thriving and the organizations with whom we are working are thrilled.

What makes for such excellence? Sometimes I think we are the luckiest organization ever. And while I’m just superstitious enough not to deny its random power, I have always believed you make your luck.

Inc. magazine, in this month’s issue (April ’09) features an interview with Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last. In the interview he says, “I see nothing to contradict the principle that who comes first and what comes second, for a very simple reason: If you cannot predict the what, you have to be able to do a good job with the who, because the what is going to be constantly shifting.”

When he was asked what he meant by doing a good job with the who, he asked the following question. “Do you have a culture of people who A. share a set of values, B. have very clear responsibilities, and C. perform.”

Mr. Collins’ formula has been the one the Delarc Team has been committed to for over 30 years. It was one of the first organizations in the U.S. to put it’s core values, which it calls its Unifying Principles, in writing back in the 80’s. Since then it has methodically built those values into every practice and process and has gone to extravagant lengths to assure all new hires share them.

It transformed all it job descriptions to be outcome not duty oriented. Expectations are further clarified daily through well trained coaches and weekly through individual sit down meetings with their immediate supervisor. Performance is measure through a unique tool it developed called the Stages of Employee Development within the first week of employment, at 30 and 90 days and at least annually thereafter.

Find recruits who share your values, clarify your expectations, provide world class coaching and measure performance objectively and consistently and I guess luck will follow.