Many thanks to the board and staff for a their work in bringing our fiscal year 09/10 to a successful end. God has been faithful in providing, and we are so ever grateful to our donors who make the Rescue Mission their personal mission in life by supporting us financially.  As we close the financial year June 30 we have a balanced financial statement and have been able to changed lives for the better.

Here’s some highlights of last night’s board meeting:

1.  The board has been working all year on refining our back-office structure so that we can say with confidence that each part of our organization meets the highest professional standard.  With this in mind, the board has been re-working and adopting the bylaws or the organization (those rules and standards which guide us over the long haul) and adopting some board policies (those guidelines which govern the proper management and oversight of the board and organization).  The new polices and bylaws were adopted last night.

2.  The board adopted a new budget for 2010/11. Our budget this year is quite conservative in this uncertain financial environment, but moves us forward on several key points: Innovation -this year we will be implementing streaming technology which will allow us to share our teachers between our various campuses, thus saving resources and doing more good.  Excellence in facilities -we are continuing to improve our facilities so that they inspirational, clean and organized.  Support for the staff -this budget will allow us to continue to work on our goals of providing health care and improved pay for the front lines staff.

3.   Discussion of Sound Transit mitigation negotiations.  The board was briefed on the ongoing lawsuit Sound Transit is pursuing against the Rescue Mission.  I won’t bore you with a recitation of the facts here but here’s a link to my past blog on Sound Transit v. Rescue Mission.

Once Again, thanks to our board of Directors for volunteering their time and talents to give guidance, oversight and insight to me and the Rescue Mission.

David Curry

Recently I received a thoughtful email from a team member at the Rescue Mission about what are the boundaries for using social media such as Facebook and Twitter at work.  I’ve heard this concern in other places as well, from employers who are looking at our use of such tools and wondering where productivity ends and distraction begins.

Rather than look towards setting down rules that can be enforced only through vigilent monitoriing, I like to work on just a couple of key principles.

1.  Encourage and measure greatness in the job and don’t worry too much about micromanaging people.  Inevitably people will have to use the phone, internet, and other tools for personal tasks during the day and largely this is understood.  The problem arises when people begin to take advantage of these devices to divert from doing their jobs and instead overwhelming use them to do ANYTHING other than their job.  If you measure performance, then some of the details take care of themselves.  If you start counting phone calls and time on Facebook, you’ve got a long day ahead of you and you had better commit to blocking it entirely or being ever-present with your employees.  If however, you measure the outcomes of the job-setting a high standard of excellence and performance, then many of the smaller details will take care of themselves.  You will find that focusing on standards of excellence and performance will help you identify those who are wisely using their time and being productive.

2.  Hire great people. So much of these type of issues is tied up with the maturity of those you choose to join your organization.  If you have to address these issues, and sometimes you will, then you are probably dealing with someone who has other issues as well.  When you hire great people you no longer have to be the babysitter or policeman.  Instead, you can focus on your tasks and job as a leader and just encourage them in their growth.  Conversely, if you hire people you can afford, or someone who is a quick fix for filling the position, watch out.  You’ll be spending most of your time monitoring their behaviors and before long you’ll feel like a first rate private detective.

David Curry

One of the goals the Rescue Mission, and I assume all great organizations, aspire to is to perform their service to the customer with a level of professionalism.  To my understanding that means to serve with the excellence and commitment of someone who was so good that people would actually PAY them to do that service.

Professionalism=good

Profesional=bad

Let me explain.  Too often someone who is a professional only does the bare minimal, the exact standard that was required in the financial arrangement that they struck.  It was a transaction.

An Amateur on the other hand, does something for the love of it. Most people hear the word amateur and they think novice and beginner.  Not so.  The root of amateur is AMA- to love.  An amateur is someone who literally does something for love.

It would be a worthy goal for each of us to do our job as if we were an amateur (for the love of it) and not just a professional (for the paycheck).  As soon as you start thinking you’re a professional, you lose something.  Can you be paid to do something and still do it for love? Absolutely.

No professionals nee apply, only amateurs.

David Curry

Now that the media has picked up on Sound Transit suing the Rescue Mission let me fill in a few details for those who are interested.

Sound Transit is putting in a rail line for commuter trains/Amtrak from the Tacoma Dome to Lakewood which will run just a few feet behind the Rescue Mission Downtown Tacoma Campus on South Tacoma Way.  I’ve attached a link to the news article which articulates most of the details pretty well. Yet there are a few details which I’d like to give you a back story on:

1. Rescue Mission can’t and won’t stop the train. The railroad has all the power they need to condemn the land and there is little we can do to affect this.  That is why we need the public to be aware of this problem and to speak out against Sound Transits insensitivity towards the homeless.

2. The Rescue Mission is not concerned that they haven’t offered a plan to mitigate, but that the plan is completely insufficient and uses standards that are not going to allow for habitation and sleep in the downtown campus.  We are seeking for a noise standard that is common in HUD housing, 45 decibels, and they are hoping to achieve 65 decibels.  This one point alone is reason enough for us to hold firm on, as our sound expert assures us that this is not a standard which will be sufficient.

3. The Rescue Mission also has asked that every surface that is exposed to the noise of the train; the east, west and north sides of the building; be giving the same level of mitigation, which they have refused.  That means they have refused even to replace the windows in the Challenge Learning Center, conference rooms and to mitigate sound on the walls of the dormitory sleep quarters because it doesn’t fit their narrow viewpoint.

4.  There is also a damages portion of the negotiations which has not even been addressed.  But we are miles apart on this point as well.

My hope is that we’ll be able to get Sound Transit to commit to a going all-out to reinforce the building against the sound of the 20+ trains each day that will run on this line, but I can’t guarantee that this will happen.  They are in a litigation mode and have not budged in their confidence that they are going to get their way.

Nevertheless, I’ve received assurances that they want to be a good neighbor. My fear is that it may take a judge or overwhelming negative public opinion to force them into that role.

David Curry

Anyone who regularly read this blog knows that I believe that the latest technological advances; smart-phones, social media, ipad’s, Internet; are for the betterment of society in general and non-profit organizations in particular (if they can embrace it).

Yet there is without question a cause and effect of more technology that has been brewing for decades and is escalating ever faster: the more we plug in to technology, the more it can isolate us.

The answer is simple, but goes against our desire to control our circumstances: WE MUST USE THESE TOOLS TO CONNECT WITH OTHERS. It’s not about getting away from others,  but connecting with a broader group in a deeper way.  If all technology does is help you track the going’s on of people you don’t know, then you will be a bystander in life.  If you can use technology to find ways to connect, really connect – in person, face to face, without distraction- then you’ll really see the benefit.

Don’t isolate, connect. More tech = More Touch.

To do my part, I’m announcing soon a coffee house tour during the month of July.  I’ll be buying coffee for any and all who want to come to one of the various coffee shops around Pierce County to meet and connect.  Look for a schedule coming soon.

David Curry

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, I took a week’s vacation and learned something about breaking routines. But I did more than just vacate, I also took a two week break from blogging, tweeting, texting, face-booking, etc.
I’ve written before about the importance of taking regular weekends off from technology, as great and important as it is, to get refreshment but every once in a while you need to seriously unplug from the madness and recalibrate.

Here’s what I learned, what worked for me and what might work for you:

1. Turn the phone off, and if possible, leave it behind. With the work of the Rescue Mission being 24/7, 365 at our 6 locations, I could easily justify never turning my phone off. There’s always something going on that I’m ultimately responsible for. Are you in that boat? All the more reason to turn it off and leave it behind, even for a few hours or minutes. Cutting the umbilical cord of your phone will help speed the process of refreshment.

2. Keep reading, just read different stuff. I love consuming information, and twitter is without a doubt the best and fastest way to get your news and information updates. So i kept reading, but I changed what I was reading. I read a mystery novel, The Fleet Street Murders, which was a total change of pace for me and I greatly enjoyed it.

3.  Turn off your screens for a bit. With the proliferation of screens (computer, smartphone, ipad, tv) you potentially never have to be away from the noise.  Turn it off get away from everything being so instant.  Instant is good, until it whips you into an anxiety-filled frenzy.  What’s the latest on the Israeli-Palestianian Flotilla crisis?  What’s happening with the oil spill in the gulf overnight?  There’s no end to information about stuff you have no control over, yet captivate vital emotional energy.

3.  Get silence. Tech breaks should be all about getting alone and getting some quiet in your life.  Silence builds emotional space for you to re-charge, listen to God, listen to others, listen to what your spirit is telling you.  Sometimes we just need to get some emtional space in our lives to renew.

Those are some of my ideas, what can you add to this list? Let me know.

I encourage you to take a prolonged tech break sometime this summer, you’ll be happy you did.

David Curry

I was blessed to be asked to speak to the various Northwest area directors for Youth for Christ about Technology, Social Media and leadership.  I’ve posted a few extras that will make more sense to them, but you might find interesting as well.

EXTRA LINKS:

1.  I love TRENDWATHING.COM and it’s quarterly updates.  Here’s this latest and it’s all about how people are connecting to each other with the tools of technology.

2.  Interesting article about the generational trends of social networking/txting/email: click here

3. Watch the publishing industry to see where the trends are going in content consumption. It’s going digital: click here for article about Ebooks taking over print in 5 years.

4. Here’s a quick search on my blogs about technology/social media: click here.

Toolkit

1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. Socialoomph
4. Google Reader
5. Ustream