Rescue Mission Blog

The Key to Happiness at Work?

  

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Businessweek has a fascinating article on based on a survey of How Adults Achieve Happiness by Marshall Goldsmith. It highlights a few things that we probably already know, and has a few surprises.

Biggest finding that was of interest to me? The key to a happy worker is an inside job. Those that are happiest at work are also happiest at home.

Read the article and tell me what you think.

DC

Linchpin: Michael Hyatt interviews Seth Godin

  

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Michael Hyatt, CEO at Christian book publisher Thomas Nelson, interviewed maverick business author Seth Godin about his soon to be release book Linchpin.  When I read the interview I knew that I had to share it with you.

Highlight for me? The concept of “Emotional Labor”.  It’s a central idea to our service here at the Tacoma Rescue Mission.

Linchpin Interview with Seth Godin

Responsibility, Risk and Reward

  

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Any person who aspires to leadership, be it in a family, business, church, social group or sports team must come face to face with the role of accepting responsibility and the risk and rewards that come from being RESPONSIBLE for moving the group towards predetermined goals.

Most young people don’t dream of leading because they want the responsibility. Instead they think of leadership as higher rates of pay, public praise and perks. But those benefits are largely illusions and leaders who chase those forms of reward as the first fruit of leadership will end up making unhealthy trade-offs. Trade-offs that lead to potentially corrupting decisions such as making decisions to receive short term praise, taking more than your fair share of profits, and using power to create comfort first for yourself rather than for the greater good.

To be responsible means that you are answerable and accountable.

Those who aspire to be leaders who lead for greater social good need to accept responsibility for the joy of seeing positive things happen. And because they are called and gifted to lead.

The benefits of responsibility? Well, here are a few things that I believe accepting responsibility for a team allows you to do:

1. You have the right to ask questions, any question, regarding the management and function of your team. Amazingly, may times people challenge the right of the “Responsible” person to question what is happening and why. Nevertheless, if you are responsible for the outcome, you have the freedom to ask.
2. You have the right to try to influence outcomes alone the lines of your vision. Responsibility without authority just doesn’t work. If you’re going to be the responsible person over a project you must have the authority to have input that will control the outcome.
3. You have the right to delegate. Accepting responsibility doesn’t necessitate you doing all the tasks. It only requires that you accept the outcomes even if you didn’t perform each task personally.
4. Responsibility allows you some freedoms in exchange for the burden you accept. Leaders must use you their time wisely, both to stay fresh, but also to stay flexible to respond to crisis’ that may arise in the area of their responsibility.

DC

Next Steps to Success: Working in Your Strengths

  

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Many individuals, if not most, were brought up by in a culture that pushed us to work on our weaknesses in order to ensure that we became well rounded people.  In fact, there may be many areas of life where working on your weaknesses is a critical part of survival and success.  Nevertheless, there is more than adequate research to suggest that working on improving your areas of greatest strength is where you will see the greatest benefit.

Strengths-based living first came to my awareness some years ago through the research done by the Gallop organization in a book called Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham.  Since that book Buckingham has built a cottage industry evangelizing for the cause of Strengths focused living.  Fundamentally the question strengths based living/management asked the question, “Do you have a chance to do what you do best every day?”  Marcus has produced a great video that simply explains why it makes sense for a Business to Focus on Strengths.Also, he created a great video called Trombone Player Wanted that brilliantly highlights strengths (15 min)

Since I began leading the Tacoma Rescue Mission we began using the strength finder test in hiring key executive and leadership staff in order to better understand how each individual person.  It’s been immeasurably helpful in our building such a great team.  It’s also been helpful in assigning work/projects based upon what people are naturally good at and enjoy. In addition, we’ve asked all of our board members to take the test so that we can work together most effectively.

What are the benefits of working in your strengths?

1.  Satisfaction that you are in the BEST FIT for you.

2. Greater sense of enjoyment in your tasks

3.  Ability to take on greater challenges with ease

4.  Opportunity to become truly great at something.

5.  Greater since of purpose and direction in your life.

Here at the Mission we are going to continue to build on our positive start in using Strengths-based management by encouraging all staff who’ve yet to take the test, to take a strengths test (contact Lindab@trm.org) and discuss the findings with their Director.

An even greater opportunity exists for those members of our team who are volunteers.  If it makes sense for people do “Have a chance to do what they do best” at work, then we should give an opportunity for volunteers to work in their best areas too.  (Click here if your are interested in volunteering)

Here’s my challenge to any volunteer, we’ll pay for you strength-finder assessment if you will commit to volunteering a 2 hours in the area of your greatest strength.  How can you go wrong?

How has working in your strengths been helpful to you?  How many of you wish you could have a strengths-test to find out what you naturally do best?

DC

Next Steps for Success. S.M.A.R.T. GOALS

  

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The past couple of weeks we have been talking in our meetings (quarterly staff meeting, exec and leadership teams, operations, etc) about how we might retool our yearly review system to better determine what are successful outcomes for our work.  A few things are clear after all of these discussions.  First, our current system of review, while it has a lot of positives, is inadequate.  Secondly, people need accurate tools to measure how well they are doing.  Not in a general way, as in the past, but in a manner that is totally personalized.

What that means is that every team member needs to work with their director to put together a handful of goals

that will help them know they are succeeding at “Transforming Lives”.

The goals need to meet the S.M.A.R.T. TEST:

SPECIFIC: A goal that is too vague isn’t likely to be attained.  With specifics it is easy to measure whether you are succeeding or not. For example a shift manager could have a smart goal like this: “Introduce 5 homeless clients from the shelter into the New Life Program in 2010.”  However, if the goal were simply, “Help people from the shetler get into the New Life Program”, it isn’t measureable or specific.

Ask yourself these questions: Who? What? When? to help you refine your general ideas into specific goals

Measurable:  We all need some way to see if we are winning or losing.  Put a number on your goals.  Almost every goal can be broken down into some measureable numbers.  While it is difficult for us to measure the heart change that will help our New Life Program clients stay clean and sober, we can measure graduation rates, relapses after 6 months, etc.  These numbers can help us know if our programs are working, and if we are meeting our goals of “Life Transformation”.

Attainable: You need to set goals that can be met.  When you are initially setting a measureable metric on a goal it may seem arbitrary but it keep refining it so that you are challenged, but not impossibly doomed.

Realistic: A goal must be something you are willing and able to do.  If not, then you are not going to motivated by your goal, only discouraged.

Timely: Have a date by which you will achieve your goal.

All Tacoma Rescue Mission Staff should take some time to think about what goals they may have that are unique to their department and to their own personal development.  Your director will be touching base with you to help put together team goals as well as your personal goals.

This will help us greatly in putting together yearly reviews, but most importantly will help you develop as an individual.  You’ll be more effective in helping to change the lives of the people we serve.

DC

Grounded Adaptation: learning to make little changes

  

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No question in my mind that our country, and really the world at large, is entering into an unusual period of history.  A period of history where change is not coming in stages, with periods of adjustment in-between those stages.  But rather is in a constant state of change unlike any we have ever experienced.

Technology has made information and democratic spread of ideas so ubiquitous that the speed of change is now constant.  We can’t go back, even if we want to.  What can  you do to adjust?  What can charitable causes, churches, businesses, families, etc. do to stay healthy and thrive in this environment?

The Answer is to adapt.  We’ve got to modify our methods and tools step by step in order to operate in this new understanding. And we’ve got to adapt quickly with minimal resistance to new methods.  Otherwise we’ll quickly be two and three steps behind the growth curve.

But adaptation doesn’t provide purpose, it only provides a pattern of growth so that skills and tools don’t become outmoded and obsolete.

The organizations, groups, individuals who want to succeed in this challenging new world have to stay grounded in truth.  Grounded in purpose and values that make then unique and which add  timeless values.

For the Mission this is all about transforming lives of the poor, hurting and broken with the love of God.  We’re grounded in that truth.  But we’ll be adapting our methods and tools as we learn and grow.

What are your grounding principles, values and truths?  How are you staying firm in those values while adapting to change?

DC

Tacoma Rescue Mission National Best Christian Workplace again for 2010

  

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Congratulations to the board, donors, staff, and volunteers of the Tacoma Rescue Mission on being named a national Best Christian Workplace again this year.   It is a further reminder that we are building a great team to do tough work, for the cause of transforming lives.

I know how much I love working here and I’m glad that I’m not alone.

Of course, in the process of review we have highlighted some things that we are going to need to strive to improve upon.  I’ll list these in a future blog and discuss our plan to improve at our next all Staff Meeting.

Much appreciation to all who make this a great place to work.

David

P.S. I’ve attached the press release.

Tacoma Rescue Mission is Certified as a 2010 Best Christian Workplace

January 5, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Al Lopus, President, alopus@bcwinstitute.com 206-230-8111

Mercer Island, WA – January 5, 2010 – The Best Christian Workplaces Institute (BCWI) and the Canadian Council of Christian Charities announced that Tacoma Rescue Mission is included in the 2010 list of Certified Best Christian Workplaces.  What makes Tacoma Rescue Mission unique is that they effectively reward top performers.  Also, over the past year, Tacoma Rescue Mission has met its performance goals.

In order to be Certified, organizations must complete the Best Christian Workplaces Institute Staff Engagement survey and meet predetermined standards of excellence.  The survey covers such issues as:  job satisfaction, organizational commitment, Christian witness, supervisory effectiveness, work satisfaction, personal growth and development, management effectiveness, customer/supporter satisfaction, teamwork, communications and pay and benefits.  Employees answer more than 50 questions addressing these topics.

The 2010 survey involved 6,700 employees in 62 organizations across North America to identify great workplaces with a Christian mission and/or values.

“The Best Christian Workplaces survey consistently reveals that Christian employees find satisfaction in a job they believe has eternal significance in an environment of individuals who share their passion.”  Tacoma Rescue Mission was no exception; one employee put it this way:  when asked what they appreciated most about Tacoma Rescue Mission they responded, “Great people who are committed to serving Christ by serving people in need.”

The Best Christian Workplaces Institute has surveyed more than 90,000 employees across North America in the past eight years.  BCWI is a research based organizational and human resources consulting firm based on Mercer Island, Washington.

“Even in an economic crisis, leaders in these Best Christian Workplaces understand the importance of sustaining a healthy environment for their staff.  It is during these crisis times the needs of the people served by Christian organizations are the greatest,” says Al Lopus, President of BCWI.  Our research shows that transparent, trustworthy; servant-leadership results in the sustained levels of staff engagement necessary during these difficult times.  I believe these Best Christian Workplaces will be the first to experience the benefits of an improving economy” says Lopus.

For more information about the survey log on to http://www.bcwinstitute.com or contact Al Lopus, (206) 230-8111 or alopus@bcwinstitute.com.

Best Christian Workplaces Institute’s purpose is to serve faith-based organizations by creating processes of discovery, facilitating organizational effectiveness and encouraging practices that build healthy workplaces.

The Canadian Council of Christian Charities is a member-based association of over 3,000 Canadian faith-based registered charities.

Do Parents Enable Addicts?

  

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Addicts come in many shapes, sizes and varieties.  One thing they all have in common is the wake of destruction and heartbreak they leave in their path.  Often the most hurt by their pattern of lying, deceit and selfishness is their parents.

Parents rightly feel the responsibility to prepare a child for life in all it’s challenges and variations. When a child grows up and becomes entrapped in a pattern of habitual use of drugs or alcohol the parent often feels as though they have failed.  While this is a understandable response to seeing your offspring become an addict, some parents go well beyond a feeling of sadness, worry and concern and begin to take extra measures to “help” their child that often lead to enabling the child into further and more destructive addiction.

Enabling is when you are doing something for the addict that they should be doing themselves, thus making it easier for the addict to continue to use drugs/alcohol.  When parents enable they often are doing so with the motive to protect the child from themselves.  However, they don’t realize that by keep the full consequence addiction at bay, they are allowing the problem to grow larger.  Most parents only stop enabling after the cost of enabling threatens to bankrupt them financial or begins to destroy the relationshps aroudn them.  Even then some parents do not stop enabling (helping, in the mind of the parent) the addict.

Parents often find themselves doing the following enabling behaviors:

*Sheltering the grown child so that they are not homeless

*Paying rent/mortgage for the addict so that they do not become homeless

*Paying bills for the addict so they don’t lose their car.

*Calling in sick for the addict so they don’t loose their job.

*Reasoning with the spouse of the child so that they won’t leave the addict

*Making doctor’s appointments for the addict so they can get medication

*Vouching for the addict with the doctor/court system.

and many more.

Having talked with many, many parents of addicts I know how difficult and confusing it is to try and understand the world of addiction.  Many parents most easily trapped by these common enabling behaviors and the deceitful behavior of addiction are those that have never known about the drug world and cannot spot patterns of addiction and therefore don’t realize the extent that their behaviors and responses make it possible for the addict to continue to use their drug without true consequence.

Part of the answer is to get educated on addiction and what enabling is all about.

Here’s a place to start to  learn about enabling relationships.  Get all the information you can about the drug your child is using.  please feel free to contact me and make an appointment to meet to discuss your individual situation.

David