Heart, Hope & Honesty by Craig & Scott de Fasselle

"This is the story of Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). They are dedicated workers few have heard about who help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It is a practical guide that shows those who hire DSPs how to get off the DSP Hamster Wheel of Recruiting, Hiring, and Turnover, It highlights why DSPs are essential workers and why they are vital to those they serve and the community."

Heart

We put too much emphasis on “what” we do vs. “why” we do it. We need to show how meaningful and rewarding the job is. We need to “sell” the job. “How can you recruit the right people without first-hand experience of the work they will do?”

Recruitment & hiring has to be done by people who are passionate about supporting the people we serve. The onboarding process needs to last at least six months. We need to make a personal connection with each new hire. The first step in the process is to start a relationship.

Post short videos on social media of great DSPs sharing why they love their jobs. We have to capture a person’s attention to draw them in. Potential applicants need to feel the passion. The average person does not even know what a “DSP” is or does.

Our great DSPs want all of the staff to care about the service recipients the same way they do. They don’t do it for the money. Great DSPs form strong bonds with those they support and their coworkers.

Problems as seen by good DSPs:

                    “Quality staff is not being hired and there’s a lack of consistency.”

                     Staff attitude.

                     Lack of motivation.

Hope

We need to get off the DSP Hamster Wheel! We need to control what we can. We can control how we communicate to potential hires and how we treat them from the first contact forward.

We need to proactively recruit DSPs. Passive recruiting does not work. We need to actively recruit people who value fulfillment and that love the idea of helping others. Advertise an “ideal DSP profile”. Create an interest in the position.

Prevent “ghosting” by communicating each step of the way. Text reminders! Warm, friendly reminders with emojis. Everyone looks at their texts. People don’t answer their phones, listen to voicemails or read emails.

Training. We need to train new hires by communicating and guiding them LEGO-instruction-style: simplify text; guide them step by step.

Have a staff mentor (“Chief Heart Officer”). Again, it’s about building relationships. Simple conversations from leaders who are not direct supervisors can help increase retention. We need to support our PCs as well on an ongoing basis.

Culture improvement. This takes an ongoing commitment to change. It requires consistent effort over time. A great culture is built on communication and empathy. People want the opportunity to express their frustrations, concerns, and opinions. They want to be heard. If concerns are not voiced, “infections” will grow. If ignored, the infections will spread. We need to treat the root cause and not merely the symptoms.

Trust. When there is real trust, productive conflict will quickly lead to the best ideas. Artificial “harmony” where there isn’t trust is dangerous. People need to address the elephants in the room. A fear of conflict results in choosing an artificial harmony over constructive, passionate debate. People need a safe environment to share their concerns.

Regardless of a person’s role in the company, everyone needs to work together to succeed.

“Driver”: sets the vision for where we are going; pushes everyone forward.

“Runners”: the top performers; puts the work first; they don’t make excuses or ask for much. Listen to your runners.

“Joggers”: the team players doing a good job; conscientious; rarely create problems; they believe they are doing their best, but they can and will do better with support.

“Walkers”: while they contribute to the forward momentum, they tend to do the bare minimum; they resist change and complain; their complaints slow others down or start a toxic culture; probably never learned about a strong work ethic.

“Riders”: they hide behind others and only perform when someone is watching them; lack a good work ethic and tend to be hard to motivate. These are the “dead wood”. They need to be eliminated from the company.

Every day at work should be a team-building activity. Communicate expectations very specifically and positively. When staff have fun at work, they will work together more collaboratively. People need to feel a purpose and that they are a part of something greater than themselves.

It’s better to have high trust, lower performer team members than high performers, low trust. Low trust is toxic to a team. The individuals that everyone trusts are the most valuable members of your team. 

Accountability. Being a good “accountability partner” means not letting each other off the hook; encouraging and pushing your partner; having an open, sharing & growth mindset; meeting consistently.

Honesty

Three categories of people we should target to recruit DSPS:

-        Mature individuals

-        College students

-        High school students who are unlikely to go on to college

We need to emphasize the rewards of being a DSP. It’s a recession-proof position and the job is far more than a weekly paycheck. “So why worry about the hourly pay when you recruit DSPs? If someone cares about an hourly check, they probably aren’t ideal for this work.”

People over paperwork.

Frequent and positive communication.

Create interest by painting a picture of what a DSP’s day looks & feels like.

Help people stay connected to the cause.

Listen and appreciate.

Build relationships starting at the interview.

Interactions build culture.

Wendy's Rating: ****

Traction by Gino Wickman

 

"Traction offers a helping hand for beginning entrepreneurs and others whose businesses are stuck at a point where hard work and determination are no longer enough for them to survive and grow."

I absolutely loved this book because it gave me and the company I work for a sense of purpose and direction. “If you are not growing, be it internally or externally, you’re dying.” “In fact, most companies need to start with a focus on internal growth before they can even think about external growth. The paradox is that they will actually grow faster externally in the long run if they are focused internally from the outset.”

Traction got me excited about setting a long-term goal for my company. I became eager for each of us on our leadership team to find our “right” place in the company, based on our strengths and talents. I was looking forward to structuring my company “…in a way that reduces complexity and creates accountability.” “You must have one abiding vision, one voice, one culture, and one operating system.”

The company I work for is fractured. The different departments do not support each other. The different leaders do not support each other. We have moved people into positions that they are not qualified for – at every level. We have lowered our expectations, qualifications and standards to such a degree that sustained quality work is nearly unattainable.

“A vital first step is creating a workplace where people feel comfortable calling out the issues that stand in the way of your vision.” “If, on the other hand, the leadership team is not healthy, the organization never will be.” The key element to a strong Leadership Team is trust. There is minimal trust at my company. We have many, many unresolved issues, but our Leadership Team meetings are pointless because we do not trust each other enough to speak openly and honestly. “It is less important what you decide than it is that you decide. More is lost by indecision than by wrong decisions.” It is infuriating to hear again and again that a suggestion, “has been tried before and it wasn’t successful”; “won’t work”; or “you can do that if you want, but we will not”. Instead of always hearing what won’t work, where are the suggestions of what might work?

Get It, Want It, Capacity (GWC): People don’t fully perform because one of the three factors is absent. They didn’t get it, didn’t want it, or didn’t have the capacity to do the job. 

“Get It” = truly understanding their role, the culture, the systems, the pace, and how the job comes together.

“Want It” = they genuinely like the job. They understand the role, and they want to do it based on fair compensation and the responsibility.

“Capacity to Do It” = having the time as well as the mental, physical, and emotional capacity to do a job well. (IE a position requires a commitment of 55 hours a week, but the person is only willing to commit 40, or the person doesn’t have the level of intellect, skill, knowledge and/or emotional intelligence required.)

We put too much emphasis on “what” we do vs. “why” we do it.

Basically, we need to hire the right people.

“Most causes of real issues are people.” You need to identify what the real issues are, which is extremely uncomfortable. To be a successful leader however, you must be willing to be open and honest and make those uncomfortable and difficult decisions for the betterment of the company as a whole. For the greater good. 

Wendy's Rating: *****

Gung Ho! by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles

This book is described as a management tool that outlines foolproof ways to increase productivity by fostering excellent morale in the workplace.  Since the company I work for is struggling, I decided to read this book (and two others). These are my thoughts on the key concepts of Gung Ho!

Worthwhile Work: Knowing we make the world a better place. Knowing why we are needed. 

Shared Goals: “It’s the buy-in that makes the difference. It’s the commitment to making the goal a reality that has to be shared.” Goals cannot be “announced”. There has to be a sustained commitment to the goal(s) by all of us. 

Values: Values are lived. Values sustain the effort of meeting the goal. “Values become real only when you demonstrate them in the way you act and the way you insist others behave.”  I think we are so afraid of losing staff/employees that we don’t live our values. We don’t hold other people accountable to our values as a company. 

We need two types of goals: result goals and value goals. What impact do we want to have on the lives of our staff and community? Here is the difficult part: “You can’t impose agreement to values any more than you can to goals, but you can, and must, impose conformity. If people don’t respect your values, then they work elsewhere. You wouldn’t keep someone who didn’t work for your result goals. Don’t keep people who won’t honor your values either.”

Here is another statement which I agree with: “Managers keep control by pretending information is sensitive and withholding it. It’s great for power trips but it doesn’t lead to trust.” I understand that we have to maintain confidentiality outside the workplace and be in compliance with HIPPA laws, but the leadership team could benefit by sharing information in certain situations. It would also be a way of being more consistent within the company. Part of the breakdown of trust between departments is from inconsistent implementation of policies and performance management.

2)    In Control of Achieving the Goal:  We need to decide who is best in each (well-defined) role within the company. “The real secret of successful management is discovering what people do naturally and then figuring out how to adapt the organization to take advantage of natural behavior.” If everyone’s “role” at was better understood by others then there wouldn’t be so much mistrust, negativity and anger between departments/positions/roles. It always comes back to “perception” of what others are doing when they are not at the office. People do not trust that other people are doing their jobs. Why do you trust some people more than others? Transparency builds trust.

3   Cheering Each Other On: It’s how most of us get through the day each day. But we quite obviously don’t support other departments and they don’t support us. There is certainly no cheering going on at our company.

     Enthusiasm equals mission times cash and congratulations. Gift cards don’t fix problems. Gift cards and money are great when acknowledging someone’s hard work, but they don’t “fix” problems. In my opinion, another differential; another wage increase; another referral bonus; a hiring bonus; a retention bonus – whatever you want to call it – will NOT fix problems.  It will not bring us the motivated, invested, quality staff that we need. “Running a business from numbers is like playing basketball while watching the scoreboard instead of the ball. Look after the basics if you want success, and the first basic is the team.”

One final quote from the book regarding cash vs. congratulations: “Lots of labor troubles have spirit issues at the core. Lack of respect may be the biggest. But you’d look a little silly walking around with a picket sign demanding affirmations that what you do matters and that your contribution is valuable. So cash becomes the measuring stick. It’s easy to count and it’s easy to compare.” Employees need help understanding that what they do is valuable.

Trust, honesty, integrity, values, transparency, quality. This is what's important to be a successful company.

Wendy's Rating: ****

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

This is one of those books that if you love books, it's hard not to like. Characters who love books are endearing to me, even if they are "quirky". A.J. owns a small book store in a small town. He lost his wife and unborn child to a car accident and he has been on his own for awhile. He is definitely not talented in "marketing" his books. He is very particular in what types of books he will stock at the store. I guess you could call him a "book snob", although he does invest in some best sellers for the summer season/tourist season.

Amelia is a rep for a publisher who develops a relationship with A.J. over time as she visits his bookstore, Island Books, seasonally to show him the new books. They very slowly fall in love with each other. Or rather, it takes them a long time to each acknowledge they have feelings for each other. Meanwhile, one night A.J. takes his prized possession, an extremely rare book of poems by Edgar Allen Poe called Tamerlane, out of its locked, climate-controlled case, gets drunk and leaves the book out on the table after he passes out. Unfortunately, it's stolen. Since the book was his "life insurance" and "retirement fund", he is devastated by the loss. (So was I!)

When it seems like A.J.'s life cannot get any worse, something amazing happens. A woman leaves her two-year old in Island Books with a note attached to the child's Elmo doll, asking A.J. to raise her. Shockingly, A.J. feels attached to the child, Maya, almost immediately and petitions to be her foster parent. I say shockingly simply because he is a grouchy childless widower! We do find out who Maya's birth parents are, but I won't share that information here since I had no idea myself until it was spelled out for me. ;)

So, A.J.'s depressing, small world is suddenly expanded upon the arrival of first Amelia (who does not actually live on the island) and Maya. Although the book was referred to as "marvelously optimistic", many things that happen to A.J. are certainly not optimistic. Even though A.J. discovers some joy and happiness again, it's unfortunately short-lived in the big scheme of things.

This book is definitely endearing. I really loved A.J., Amelia and Maya. It just doesn't have the happy ending I was wanting.

Wendy's rating: ****