Rescue Mission Blog

Necessary ingredients for Mobile Workers.

  

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For sometime now the Rescue Mission has been experimenting with what we call "Mobile Workers".  Mobile workers are people who don't have one set office space, but can work wherever they can be accomplish their task.  I've written on this before, as we launched a mobile working environment.  Now, almost three years later, it's worked very well for most people who fit that category.  Not everyone needs or should be mobile, but for those that can do it, it's a great way to go. 

Here's some things we've learned are necessary to have mobile workers:

1.  The right technology.  Mobile workers need the right tools: a laptop or tablet, briefcase or bag to carry things, a cell phone, and the ability to get around.  If you just cut people loose, it's not going to be productive and you'll set up a no-win situation.

2.  Great common workspaces.  If mobile workers need to plant at one of our campuses, there are multiple common workspaces that are comfortable, clean and have various size meeting rooms.  This is critical.  Many people like to work at coffee shops, but sometimes you need to plant at the office, and they need somewhere that is not an imposition to anyone, or that they feel uncomfortable in.

3.  The Right attitude.  Some people don't feel like they exist if they don't have an office at work. They've been trained to think this way, so it's not their fault, yet we need to challenge this assumption.  We've been blessed that our mobile workers are some of our most productive and happy workers.  I don't think this is an accident, I think flexibility contributes to their good attitude, but I also know you've got to know when you move someone into a mobile position if they are a self-starter or need tons of structure to be successful.

The benefits are many, which I'll cover in a future post, but there must be consideration to the kind of environment and ingredients you need to have successful mobile workers.

What else is necessary to have mobile workers? Let me know.

David Curry

How to Create Your Stop-Doing List

  

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A "Stop-Doing" list is the opposite of a To-do list, which just adds more stuff on your agenda to be accomplished. They're both useful, one to make sure you're accomplishing tasks, the other to make sure you and your organization are not filling your schedules with things that are no longer productive, relevant and helpful.  

When I started as the CEO of the Rescue Mission I picked up a list of responsibilities and tasks that my predecessor had done, and done successfully.  One of the things that was on his agenda was a regular Rescue Mission radio show. This made perfect sense for him, he loved radio, had been and still is a radio talk show host, and has a great voice.  Over the years I'd done plenty of radio interviews and had no problem stepping into the role.  However, as I began to settle into my job I had to determine what things weren't a perfect fit for me, and what things weren't the highest and best use of my time.  Eventually the radio show moved to the top of the Stop-Doing list and I backed out of it.  It added another few hours a months to my schedule that I filled with things that were better suited to me.

As I've helped people go through the process of creating a Stop Doing list, which I written about here, it becomes clear that most people don't have any background in how to go about creating a list of things that they want or need to stop doing.  Short of coming and telling people what to do, which is nearly always a bad idea and should be a last resort for managers, here's a couple of easy steps to help you figure out what are the high-value targets for a Stop-Doing List.

1. Do a Time Log. Once you start looking at how you really spend your time, you will be able to better determine what tasks and big picture strategies are taking up lots of your time, and you never even realized it.  When analyzing your time log, don't just look at miniature tasks, but look at time chunks that are being used up by tasks that are grouped under one project or another.  

2. Know what You're great at. Often times a Stop-Doing list filled with things that need to be done, but could be done better by someone else. Make a list of those things which you are great at, and those things which you would be better off handing to a teammate.

3. What's Most important. the most successful people fill their days with tasks that are most central to their core purpose.  Everything else is cut out.  This makes sense because life is short, and without laser like focus you'll spend your days living someone else's dream and doing their bidding in life.  

If you make these three lists, sit down with a cup of coffee and think it over, you'll find some things to add to your Stop Doing list. Then it's just about sewing up your courage to Stop.

David Curry 

Non-Profit Leadership Trends for 2011

  

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With just two weeks until the New Year it's time reflection on the past twelve months, both with a sense of gratitude, and likely, with exhaustion. 

When talking with a fellow executive from the non-profit world at a recently Christmas event, the subject of leadership during these strange and turbulent economic times came up as a point of discussion.  The look in his eyes, and I would suppose the look in my eyes, was mix of uncertainty, weather beaten-confidence, resignation, and a dash of hope.  Most of us know that these have been unprecedented times of demand for services, with a corresponding tension of funding restraints.  This has been the non-profit world the past few years, and certainly in 2010.

But what of 2011?  What are trends that I see coming in the next twelve months and beyond?

1.  Radical Partnership. The past three years have seen a drop in financial support that has forced many non-profits out of business, and brought about tough cuts in services.  This coming year we will see the exponential growth of radical partnership that hasn't been seen in the 501c3 world.  Organizations will be forced to focus on what they do best, and partner for the rest.  This is a positive by-product of the difficult economy.

2.  Volunteer Power. 2011 will see large organizations transitioning to volunteer staff in this growing age of "we now have time to help".  In the past, volunteers have been used to fill gaps and augment services, increasingly it's all about volunteer staff and empowering volunteers with real responsibility and accountability.  Viva la Volunteer.

3.  More Consolidation.  While many weak non-profits have had to close their doors, this year will see an increase in this phenomenon as many begin to see that the economic challenges are years, not months, away from seeing growth.

4.  Technological Solutions.  With the continuing staff shortages many organizations are facing, new and useful solutions will begin to arise from the creation of technologies, applications, web-based solutions that will supplement services and augment support functions.  While this is not the desired set of circumstances that we are functioning under, it's forcing us to think creatively and new products and better uses will come from it.

These are a few of the trends I see coming and building.  How about you? What trends do you see coming in 2011 for the non-profit world? Do you disagree with my assessment?  Let's hear from you.

David Curry.

The Way We’re Working…(Book review)

  

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Some years ago I read a great book called the Power of Full Engagement by Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr. It was one of those books that you could read over and over, it was so full of good reminders. Well, Tony Schwartz has a new book out, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, and it’s another great book that is full of good thoughts, great reminders, and an outline of how to expand your capacity, build good routines and habits, and have a more balanced life. The book builds on some of the thoughts from his earlier book and gives a good, practical plan to being more engaged in your work and at home.  It challenges the conventional wisdom that putting your head down and grinding out long hours is the best way to accomplish tasks.  Instead it challenges you to find the way you work best and to create natural rhythm in your life of pressing hard and recovery.

Here’s a few of the great quotes from the book:

1. “Because the number of hours we work is easy to measure, organizations often default to evaluating employees by the hours they put in at their desks, rather than by the focus they bring to their work or the value they produce.”

2. “If you are not actively working to get better at what you do, there’s a chance you’re getting worse, no matter what the quality of your initial training may have been. As Geoffrey Colvin points out in his provocative book Talent is Overrated, simply doing an activity for a long time is no guarantee that you’ll do it well, much less get better at it”

3. “Human beings, on the other hand, need to meet four energy needs to operate at their best: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. By moving rhythmically between activity and renewal in each of these four dimensions, we fulfill our corresponding needs: sustainability, security, self-expression, and significance. In the process, we build our capacity to generate more and more value over time.”

This book is terrific for those who are seriously looking at trying to develop their own skills & capacity and to better manage the most important, and really the only person you can truly manage, yourself.

I’ll buy a copy for the first 5 people who post a blog, or a tweet to my account, letting me know “Why I’d like this book”. I can send you a hardcover from Amazon, or send you a credit to your Kindle. Either way, please leave an email where I can get your shipping address.

David Curry

As an extra, I’ve added this talk from Tony Schwartz.  It’s the full meal deal, so watch it when you have a few minutes: