Rescue Mission Blog

I’ll Bet You Are Overdue For A check-up!

  

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Here’s a guest post from Alvin Helms, our Chief Operations Officer at the Rescue Mission:

I must admit I usually try and avoid my yearly check-up with my doctor. I could come up with several excuses to let myself off the hook. The simple truth is that I don’t really want to see my health the way my doctor sees my health. I prefer to foolishly forge ahead in my state of denial. Who needs my doctor’s objective view of some potential health issues that I may be ignoring! It is just easier to pretend everything is just fine.

Maybe you don’t avoid regular check-ups with your doctor like I do. But how about this: if you are a leader when is the last time you have given yourself a check-up from the neck up? Too many leaders avoid times of regular self-analysis to track their development as a leader. Here are a few questions I have used over the years to make sure I stay on target.

1. Am I involved in work that I have real passion for?

If you really intend to be productive and happy with your work you have to love what you do. Can you honestly say as you approach you work day that you really love what you are doing? Passion is critical to leadership development.

2. Am I spending the majority of my time focused on things that bring out my strengths as a leader?

Too many leaders waste time and effort trying to improve in areas that are never going to become strengths. It is better to focus on using the majority of your time on projects and assignments that point out your strengths as a leader.

3. Am I determined to improve as a leader?

This is one of the most important factors between leaders who keep growing and those who settle for status quo. How many projects have you left undone for some easy excuse? How many times have you let an obstacle get in the way of accomplishing an assigned task from your boss?

These are just a few questions that help me to stay on track and push myself as a leader. I would love to know some of the questions that you have found helpful for developing yourself as a leader.

Alvin Helms

Gratitude in Recovery

  

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There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not encouraged, inspired and empowered by those in our New Life Program as they go through the process of getting free from Drugs, Alcohol and Abuse.

The challenges they face seem insurmountable to them when they first enter the program, but soon they are doing seeing a whole new world of possibility, a world without the pain and slavery of addiction, opening up to them.

Unforunately, I’ve also lived long enough to see many who return to their addiction and drop out of the program to return to the streets.

Is there a common denominator, a key ingredient to those that succeed as opposed to those who drop out? Is it will-power? How about intelligence? No, it’s neither of those things.

Without a doubt there are common attitudes and key actions that help people succeed in recovery.

In my opinion, one of the key ingredients of success in recovery is…GRATITUDE.

The world of addiction is a world of selfishness. You cannot succeed in recovery without addressing your past selfish behavior, but it’s more than that, you must abandon it completely. You must cultivate an attitude of GRATITUDE.

Just as gratitude is a common attitude among those who succeed, so bitterness is common among those who relapse. “It’s your fault”, “If only you would have…” and “I never got what I needed…” are common phrases I hear from those who leave in bitterness.

Always be grateful. Grateful for those who walk along side of you and give you correction and direction, grateful for those who have helped you along the way, those to whom you may have taken advantage of the in the past. Grateful for a second chance. Grateful for housing, food, health, friends, clean water, and safety. Be grateful for everything.

Don’t let bitterness take root in your heart. It will lead to relapse and pain.

David Curry

Julie Washburn hired as Executive for Wash. Food Coalition

  

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Our congratulations and kudos go out to Julie Washburn, Director of Need a Break Services on her being hired as the new Executive Director for the Washington Food Coalition. Here’s a link to their website.

We are sad to see her go, but we are happy to see her take on this great new challenge. She has done a wonderful job directing the Need a Break program and we owe her our gratitude.

Here at the Rescue Mission, we know that part of the price we pay for having a great team is that other organizations will want to hire them away. I love that! We never lose when a friend is blessed.

Please make sure that you take the time to thank Julie for her service at the Rescue Mission. We will have notify all staff when we have made arrangements to honor Julie and send her off in style.

Here’s a copy of the notice Julie sent out yesterday:

David Curry

Where Can You Find Wisdom? Power Session XTRA

  

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This past week in our Friday Power Session we talked about Wisdom. Wisdom is different from knowledge. To have wisdom you need good judgement, discernment, intuition, character and a base of knowledge and facts.

Most of the modern world is concerned about getting knowledge -facts, figures, information- but forgets that without wisdom it all falls flat.

But how and where do you find wisdom?

1. Hang out with wise people. Seeing how people with insight and discernment manage their lives is one great way to gain wisdom. It’s different than hanging out with smart people, who can be wise, but are not necessarily so. It’s also different from hanging out with powerful people, who may have connections and methods to control, but not necessarily the wisdom to do good. You’ve got to be looking for a wise person.

2. Read Biographies. It’s a little easier to see what a wise decision was in retrospect. Reading the life stories of great people and great events will help you see what a wise decision looks like. Wisdom is often at odds with what’s happening RIGHT NOW, which often is highlighting a quick fix. Learn from those who’ve made tough decisions in the past, were thought to be wrong in their day, and yet now are seen as wise.

3. Read Proverbs. Proverbs has the best possible condensement of wisdom. You can’t read a sentence or two without seeing something that will make you smarter. It’s so full of stuff that its smart not to read too much in one sitting. Read and apply.

DC

Why Pacing Yourself is a Mistake

  

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Often you’ll see society trumpeting the value of pacing yourself, de-stressing, and having “balance” in your life. What they’re trying to say is admirable, “don’t work so hard you freak out, or die at your desk like some guy I once read about on Nightline”. Even on this blog you’ll hear me encourage leaders to unplug from technology every once in a while, have a REAL life – one that doesn’t have any connection to work, staff, your business challenges, and networking.

Yet out of those well-meaning tips arises a real problem – pacing yourself.

“Pacing” yourself means that you are deliberately going at less than full speed in order to make sure you reach the end goal without over-exerting. I know because I often pace myself when I’m out on a run, or I’m half-way through a bike ride and I get the impression that I’ve exerted too much energy on the first half of the ride and seriously doubt that I’ve got enough juice to make it home.

Short of pacing yourself so that you don’t injure yourself, pacing is almost NEVER a good idea at your career. It’s become the secret codeword for retiring on the job, or getting a few extra months of vacation.

Back when work was largely assembly line, mindless stuff, maybe you could get away with that, but this next generation is requiring us to do only the things we love and to do them with our whole heart. Pacing yourself flies in the face doing what you love.

Instead, go all out -100% engaged, 100% committed to what you’re doing. Then, when you are unplugging you can feel free to be 100% in the moment instead of worrying about work and what you didn’t get done. Be present, be engaged, be there 100%. Stop pacing yourself waiting for the magic moment to shine and just shine.

DC

Things I’m Trying “Offline”

  

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On a recent blog I talked about how important it is for leaders to experiment with technology and innovation “offline”- away from the pressure of observation and fear of failure, so that they can educate themselves on how technology can/will affect the future of their organization.

Here are a few things I’ve been using “offline” that have either become part of my strategic vision for the Rescue Mission or are thus far in the experimentation phases.

1.  Twitter/Facebook. For the past 16 months I’ve been publically promoting twitter/facebook as a way to connect with others, but for months previous I was perplexed and bewildered why and how it was important.  It seemed to me pointless.  I’ve written about this before, so I won’t delve too deep here, but it is now part of how I believe people will connect about the things that are interesting to them.

2.  Skype.  I used this technology privately for years, first with ichat, and then with skype, but only recently have made it a part of our strategy at the Rescue Mission to have more meaningful interactions with technology.  I think many small communications never happen because our staff put them off rather get drive across town to clear up a communication issue.  Not for much longer, we’ll just get on video-chat and get it done.  Fast, free, interactive.

3.  All web-based entertainment. Our family has gone mobile.  We shut off our cable TV and signed up to stream Netflix into our home.  We just plug the computer into the TV screen and off we go.  I wasn’t sure if this would work, but so far it’s been great, and much cheaper too.  Netflix is just $9 a month unlimited viewing.  In addition, sites like Hulu and others have shows that stream live too, for free.  We’ve also shut off our home phones and just use mobile phones now.  Some of these things have been done by others long ago, but for us it was hard to cute the cable, literally.  I’m experimenting to see what all can be done. This kind of thinking is helping me develop a strategy to stream our recovery content at the Rescue Mission and beyond.  Who knows what’s next.

4.  IPad/Kindle. In this day and age, every leader needs to be considering how their message will be delivered effectively and widely.  The new tools are quickly changing the game.  Frankly, I’m stunned by the lackadaisical attitude most leaders have towards these tools.They see them as mindless distractions.  I see them as the wave of the future, or at least the forerunners of the way we will need to deliver our message in the years to come.  The next book I write may well only be available by ebook, and will most certainly be interactive and involve audio and video content.  Perhaps my “book” will just be an enhanced iPhone/Ipad app.  Why not?  Why be afraid to spend a few hundred dollars in order to get  a glimpse of the future on behalf of those you serve?  If you don’t have the nerve to pull the trigger on such a purchase, you probably shouldn’t be in the corner office.

What are some of your experiments?  I’ve been challenging leaders to get off their collective backsides and experiment.  Am I off my rocker?  Let me know what you think?

David Curry

Leaders Must Struggle With Innovation & Technology

  

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In many ways, leaders know that their personal struggles and private development is almost always a pre-cursor to challenges and issues they will struggle with on a larger basis on behalf of their organizations, churches, businesses and work-groups. Simply put, those things you learn on a personal basis will inform your leadership decisions, both positively and negatively.

Yet rarely do you find a leader or one who aspires to leadership who clearly relates these lessons to the private struggle with innovation, technology and the pace of change.

Note: If you are willing to struggle with technology and the pace of change, you WILL be a leader.  If you won’t, you aren’t. Period.

The embracing of new technological innovations to business and life is thus-far largely generational. Young generations who are growing up with these gizmo’s and gadgets use them intuitively and the older generations miss the early adaptations and often miss the point of the innovations entirely. This is problematic for organizations if you consider that most executive leaders don’t fit into the younger generation. Even at 42, I don’t consider myself native to these technological innovations.  I laugh when I’m accused of being a Techie, since I didn’t have a computer until I was well into my first job and have had to force feed myself on understanding the role of technology for today’s non-profit organization.

Leaders MUST dive headfirst into understanding the potential of innovation, both technological and web-based, in order to help imagine a better future.  Here’s the challenge as I understand it:

1.  You’ve got to try stuff YOURSELF. Leaders, don’t kid yourself that you can hire someone, or that your younger employees will drag you into the future.  That’s not leadership and in this day and age, it’s just not a safe bet to stand pat.  Dive in and try out new technologies (smartphones, ipad’s, kindles) and start using some of the web-based services (youtube, skype, blogging, twitter, facebook, foursquare) to see how the world is changing.

2.  Spend time thinking and dreaming.  How are you going to talk with your supporters in the future?  What if direct mail cost $3 a letter?  How can you mobile all your followers in a moments notice?  How might you share information inexpensively within your organization?  Are there services online for free that could be used to benefit your organization?  Are there ways to connect with people, younger generations, that are not available to you by other means?  Can you use these tools to effectively build intersst in your cause?

3.  Make Changes OFFLINE, in your private life. Before I ever thought of using twitter/facebook/skype and other tools for the Rescue Mission, I used them myself, offline.  I use the word “offline” to suggest trying something privately, without the pressure of observation and fear of failure, so that you can determine how something ought to be used.  If you make a big change without first trying something or understanding it yourself you risk near certain failure.  A leader has to get out in front. Even with technology.  Especailly with Technology.

4.  Ask lots of Questions and experiment. Those of us who are challenged in this area have to lose the fear of asking questions.  Ask, Ask, Ask.  Why this? What if?  What is that?  How are people using this?  What is next?

Tomorrow I’ll share some of the things I’ve been trying “offline” that are influencing my leadership decisions.  What are you learning about how innovation and the new technological tools can be used to help more people, connect with others and save valuable resources?

David Curry

Bonus material: E+R=O

  

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(Occasionally when I teach a lesson I’ll add bonus material online for those who wish to go deeper. This post is just such additional material.)

The formula E+R=O is an age old adage to remind us that Events + your Response = the Outcome. Too often we blame events themselves or we focus on the WHY’s of an event when all we really can control is our RESPONSE.

What are some responses that are productive in the face of any difficult event, no matter how painful?

FORGIVENESS. Someone hurting or attacking you, whether intentional or purposeful, is plenty reason to respond with an attack. Yet this rarely helps. Usually it makes it much worse and prolongs your pain. Instead, forgive. This is true even if you’re justified to be angry.

LOVE: so often painful events lead to even more pain because we respond our of selfishness and defensiveness. How about conditioning ourselves to respond with love? This is so difficult it can on be done through God’s help and not through your own resources. It is a matter of conditioning, we’re not programmed to be loving in the face of purposeful attacks. Yet it is possible.

GRACE: often hurt is caused unintentionally, yet we pick up the slight and respond with intention to hurt others. Instead, try grace. GRACE is giving others slack, not looking for the worst explanation for anthers behavior, but the best possible explanation for why they act the way they do.

DC

Dude, Who Moved My Office? Mobile Workers Unite!

  

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For the past 12 months we have been experimenting with some Rescue Mission staff being mobile workers, not having a set office at a Rescue Mission site, but rather a laptop, cell phone and a place to file your papers and pick up your mail (a dock).  Up until now, there have only been a few people who have been mobile workers, mainly those whose job has been outside of the Rescue Mission walls.  Now I’m expanding the group, and I’m in it.

Our Mobile TRM work group will consist of those staff that fit one of the following three groups:

1.  Your job is over two or more Rescue Mission Sites (HR, Operations, etc.)

2.  Your clients are outside the walls of the Rescue Mission (alumni, donors, some case-managers)

3.  Your work is for and with the greater community (donor relationships, CEO, volunteers)

Here’s how this works.  Each mobile worker is designated a docking area, a place where they can pick up their mail and file their papers.  The Mobile worker will be able to use any of the conference spaces at our sites, or any public spaces (coffee shops, etc) to do their work and meet with those they work with.

For me, I’ll be docking at Admin and opening my office for others to use as another conference space.  Alvin Helms, our COO, will also be docking at Admin from this point forward and being a mobile worker – since his work is spread across all sites.

Our mobile workers will be having weekly get-togethers to encourage each other and share how we can be more effective workers.  The first of which will be Monday the 17th at Forza on Pearl St. in Tacoma, 8:30am

If you have any ideas on how we can make this work group function effectively, or if you are interested in being part of this work group, please let me know.

David Curry

Mission Staff: Skype Accounts For All!

  

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One of the things we’ve spent a lot of time discussing internally here at the Rescue Mission is how to continue to use web tools/technology to make us more effective in these lean financial times.  In that spirit I’m announcing a new Rescue Mission policy of having all Mission Staff sign up for a Skype account

Let me explain the How, What, and Why of Skype and why I’m asking all of you to get plugged into this free service.

First the WHAT:  Skype is service that allows users to talk, instant message, and video conference over the internet.  There are free public versions (which is what I’m requesting you all to sign up for) and more advanced accounts.  Signing up is easy and basically requires an email address, a name and a password.

Secondly the WHY: As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we are making every effort to be more effective in meeting our goal of giving hope to those we serve, while also keeping costs down and being as efficient as we can in theses difficult economic times.  These factors have led us to believe that using technology, such as streaming classes between our different campuses, and using phone and video conferencing when appropriate, would be natural steps in our development.  Having tried a few different types of services, I’ve determined that Skype would be the easiest and most widely used service to use for our ordinary, everyday type conferencing interactions.  By all of us being available and signed in to Skype we can instant message or video chat at a moments notice without having to make big arrangments.

Lastly  the HOW:  I would like every Mission Staff member to sign up for a Skype account and make an effort to become fluent in using this service.  While there are some who will certainly need to use this service more than others, I’m asking ALL staff to sign up for the account and be available to use the service while you are on your work shift.  1.  Sign up for an account.  2.  Add other Mission staff to your “follow list” so that you can see who is at their desk and able to reply to an Instant message, take a call or video chat.  3.  When appropriate, sign-in to Skype while on your shift and allow it to run in the background while you do your tasks.  As with other tools, such as phones, cell phones, email, etc., you must determine when you are doing tasks that require your focus and when you are available to interact.  It may be that there are some tasks which will require more concentration and focus than others and may not wish to have Skype running in the background.  4.  Use with discretion and wisdom.  This is a tool that is available for us to use to increase efficiency and interaction, not to distract and divide your time.  As with Facebook, Twitter and other tools, I believe that you will act as responsible adults and use your judgement as to how you will use this tool.

Let me anticipate a few comments:

1.  I’m too busy to use Skype.  Please use Skype when it will streamline your tasks and make it easier for you to connect with those at other sites.

2.  I don’t have a video camera on my computer.  Skype is useful for Instant messaging as well as phone calling, although we will be making efforts to invest in net cameras for many in the coming months, years.

3.  I’ll never use it. I would like you to sign up and be available to use it.  There will come a moment when you’ll need to participate in a large conference call on Skype and I don’t want anyone excluded because they’ve never taken the time to sign up and get acquainted with the tool.

4.  I’m a people person, I’d rather just meet face to face. By all means, please continue to do so.  There is no substitute for face to face interaction.  With 6 locations there are many interactions of 5-10 minutes that could be done by Skype conference which would aid your communication.

5. I”m not a people person, I don’t want to be bothered. This is probably not the place for you.  You need to be self-employed or work at the DMV.

6.  My job doesn’t require it. I’m asking ALL staff to do sign up for this service.  It will benefit you even if you expect that you’ll never use a computer for the rest of your days.

My Skype account is: DavidgCurry

I’m sure that there are many more questions that you may have, but I’d like everyone to first sign up and try using the service going into much further detial.  I think that many of your questions will be answered as you use the service.

In the coming weeks we’ll email a list of Mission Staff accounts.

Thanks for you participation in making the Rescue Mission a great place to be and a fun place to work.

David Curry

P.S. A memo from Human Relations will be sent to each Staff member and You can direct any specifc questions to myself or Elis Taylor.

How Personal STRUGGLE Informs Leaders Decisions

  

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One of the blessings of having great leadership mentors is that you can see first hand how their personal challenges, growth, life-stage and personality affects their corporate leadership decisions. It just stands to reason that if you are dealing with an aging parent you’ll see the world differently than you had when you were a young college student. Likewise when you have small children, have had personal illness and have personal issues that you are struggling with.

So how do all of these things shape leaders? Probably in more ways than we can count, and in ways that are sometimes hard to decifer. As a leader, you may have difficulty seeing how your personal life is affecting your leadership positively or negatively because you are too close to it.

Since we know that we’ll all face difficulties, disappointments and set-backs how can we strive to make these issues make us better leaders and individuals?

1. Humility. Troubles force us, we shouldn’t fight it too hard, to realize our limitations and weaknesses. This doesn’t have to be considered a a bad thing. A humble leader makes better decisions, for the right reasons, and isn’t often driven to make decisions to prove his/her worth. For leaders, accepting a stance of humility is often difficult, but a useful outcome of difficulty.

2. Sensitivity. When you have young children, you see the challenges of single mothers much more acutely. When you’ve got ailing parents, you understand life is a deeper way than perhaps you would’ve otherwise. When you’ve been ill and struggling with your own frailty, you can take away valuable lessons. Difficulties make us more sensitive to the struggles of others and in the end can build a stronger character in us.

3. Opportunity. Whenever there is a difficulty, there is an opportunity to make a difference in the life of someone who needs help. Our personal struggles help us to see opportunities to bless others, lift their burden and make this world a better place.

Look back at the challenges you’ve faced or are facing right now. Are you getting the most from that pain or are you allowing it to be a bitter memory that helps no one? Let those things help you to become a more humble, sensitive person and look for opportunity to help others through their difficult times.

David Curry