Employment remains an elusive goal for many. A recent hiring strategy may win pats on the back, but advocates fear it may pigeonhole people with disabilities.
How Equity Is Lost When Companies Hire Only Workers With Disabilities
Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
NEW YORK, NY (July 27, 2020) — This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which President George H.W. Bush, who signed the ADA into law, described as “a declaration of equality.” The legislation was widely hailed as expanding the rights and independence of Americans with disabilities, and as “the most sweeping anti-discrimination measure since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
The ADA banned discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government’ programs and services to ensure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. Today we take ramps, closed captioning and workplace accommodations for granted, but prior to the ADA these were not available for the tens of millions of Americans living with a disability.
The Fedcap Group is honored to recognize the 30th anniversary of the ADA, which brought fairness, opportunity and fulfillment to the lives of millions. We understand the life-changing implications of having the opportunity to reach one’s own potential. Thanks to the ADA and the brave individuals with disabilities who fought for its passage, we no longer think of people with disabilities as different from anyone else.
There is still a long way to go to ensure full rights and participation, but we stand with the nation in celebrating this milestone legislation as well as the immeasurable contributions of people with disabilities to the safety, prosperity and well-being of our country.
A Data Driven Culture Requires Curiosity
A Data Driven Culture Requires Curiosity
July 27, 2020
Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.
Samuel Johnson
Last week I focused on why metrics that really matter are critical to organizational growth and sustainability. I would like to dig a bit deeper into this issue.
One of the challenges leaders face in trying to build an organization where data is the driving force, is getting staff to move past what they think they know to embracing what they do not know; creating a mindset and a culture of curiosity. It starts by hiring staff who are by nature, students of life—always learning, engage in reading beyond their field, have diverse interests outside of work, etc. Smart companies should be looking for people who are eager to learn what they do not know, individuals who are inquisitive, even if the things they are learning are not immediately useful.
Because curiosity is something I value in staff, I started to do some reading/research on the ways that company leaders are assessing curiosity and building a culture where people are eager to learn what they do not know.
There are a plethora of options leaders have to intentionally assess the curiosity of staff. Harvard Business Review cited a series of scientifically validated questions, drawn from extensive research on curiosity in educational settings and the personality traits associated with it. There are also Insight Assessment tools (California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, INSIGHT Health Professional) that are used to measure inquisitiveness and intellectual curiosity. In 2009, Kashdan, Rose and Fincham published an updated version of their Curiosity and Exploration Inventory. They stated: “given curiosity’s fundamental role in motivation, learning, and well-being, we sought to refine the measurement of trait curiosity with an improved version.”
Why does this matter? Because curiosity leads to motivation and innovation. I found a great example of this that occurred at England’s Great Ormond Street Hospital. Apparently, the hospital was experiencing a number of casualties during patient transfers. Thinking about the sectors that are very good at “transfers” the head physician brought in a Formula One racing team to evaluate the hospital’s processes, asking them to make observations based on their own methods. The process recommended by the racing team (a three-step approach to triage) reduced the hospital’s errors by more than 50 percent.
I then began to wonder what within organizational cultures might thwart curiosity. I was intrigued to find a State Of Curiosity Survey, conducted by Harris Poll, that showed employees think curiosity should be more important but they do not feel supported in being curious. According to this poll:
• Only 39% of employees say their managers are either extremely encouraging or very encouraging of curiosity
• 66% say they face barriers to asking more questions
• 60% say their workplace creates barriers to curiosity into their work, and
• Only 10% strongly agree that their managers preferred new and unfamiliar ideas.
If we are to create data driven organizations where employees are committed to asking questions, digging deeper, learning what they do not know, we need to create a culture where curiosity is identified as a top priority, where it is safe to ask questions, where the act of questioning is encouraged. This culture starts in the talent acquisition phase and continues through day to day interactions with organizational leaders and is a major focus of performance evaluations.
Join me next week as we explore this concept further.
As always, I welcome your thoughts.
Building Accessibility Into America, Literally
Stressing the Metrics that Matter
Stressing the Metrics that Matter
July 20, 2020
As leaders, most of us are flooded with data. Tons of data … and so much of it is not analyzed nor understood. As stated by Chris Brahm, Mark Kovac and Peter Guarraia from Bain and Company, “Given the proliferation of data and the new analytical tools designed to pull insights from it, one might think the measurement of business performance has greatly improved. Unfortunately, that is not always so. Too frequently, we find companies or functions within companies that simply measure the wrong things.”
The challenge for us is to do the important work to understand which metrics really matter—those that tell us what we really need to know about our work, and to build a culture across the organization where staff at all levels are hungry for the information.
A well-defined set of organizational metrics brings an organization together around a common set of goals.
At The Fedcap Group our work is driven by the following overarching goals:
Relevance: A commitment to continuous innovation and modernization. An organization must remain ahead of the curve—understanding the emerging trends in practice, funding and technology and how they impact service design and delivery. We simply cannot do what we have always done. If we do, we may continue to serve problems, but we will not really solve problems. Relevance means that the organization is positioned to thrive regardless of the inevitable twists and turns of the marketplace.
Sustainability: A commitment to long term financial health. None of our work is possible if we don’t remain financially healthy. Sustainability requires that we stay focused on core corporate health indicators, and we build strategies and accompanying structures to ensure our short and long-term financial health. Sustainability advances our ability to innovate and stay relevant.
Impact: A commitment to measurable improvements in the lives of those we serve. We are committed to solving problems, not just serving them. We have set bold goals and we measure our success against the national outcomes of vulnerable populations, not just those who walk through our door.
Every company leader is tasked with the following so that we can authentically describe our relevance, our sustainability and our impact:
1. Determine key performance indicators (KPIs)—what really matters, that advance overarching organizational goals, not just what we are required to report.
According to an article by Bill Dann, CEO of Professional Growth Systems, there are 3 types of measures essential for any organization: outcome measures, strategic measures and core process measures. Outcome measures show you where you have been, i.e., the results of your work. Strategic measures show you if you are making headway to your goals and vision. And core process measures show you if your systems are healthy enough to maintain your desired growth. It is an expectation that Corporate Services and every company of The Fedcap Group engage in the process of defining and measuring outcome, strategic and core process measures.
How many of us have spent time collecting and reporting on data that we know does not tell us anything about impact? While we all care about the numbers of individuals we serve, if what we do is not making a significant difference in their lives, does this data point really matter? While we care about the number of people who “complete” a program, does this matter if there is no real movement in an individual’s quality of life or economic well-being? These are difficult and important discussions that must occur before we spend a lot of time developing mechanisms to capture the information.
2. Establish methods to capture and report data on the KPIs.
This requires that organizations invest in accessible, reliable information systems that capture and provide timely reports on the desired information. It requires staff training and a culture that is hungry for knowledge.
3. Review the data with staff and course correcting as required.
Pragmatically, a measure is no good unless it results in action. And it requires a culture that promotes asking questions, asking more questions, not simply settling for a simplistic analysis of information. It requires action—that when the data tells us something, when we understand what it is telling us, we do something.
How the study of Metrics That MATTER can change an organization cannot be overstated. I will be focusing more on this during the next several weeks, exploring how to build a smart, inquisitive culture capable of getting this important part of our work right.
As always, I welcome your thoughts.
The Connection Between Optimism and Achievement
The Connection Between Optimism and Achievement
July 13, 2020
There was a great piece in Harvard Business Review last week about the value of leading with optimism—especially in hard times. The article focused on the importance of demonstrating to staff the clear connection between positive energy and organizational achievements. This concept rings true for me.
There is no doubt that there have been many times when staff from across The Fedcap Group have struggled and been discouraged by the changes resulting from the pandemic. Through Staff Surveys, Brown Bag Lunches, Focus Groups and regular e-mail communications, I have heard staff concerns about loss of connection, fear of getting sick, and sadness at not being able to see clients and family. I sought to buoy their spirits by communicating a strong sense of purpose and optimism in the future. And I am optimistic. While I am deeply saddened by the loss of life, and troubled by the many small businesses struggling to keep afloat, I do feel that we will come out of this stronger, wiser and more resilient.
The best leaders that I know are intentional in their communications, helping staff see the connection between the direct line between their resilience and organizational successes. Strong leaders are able to describe in compelling terms the ways that challenges can strengthen an organization and evolve its collective thinking about all that is possible, regardless of the circumstances. They strive to inspire a sense of urgency in the work and a renewed strength of purpose that what we do every single day matters.
Highly effective leaders have a transforming effect, and the ability to bring staff to a place of achievement well beyond what they thought was possible. Their optimism is inspirational and contagious –enabling staff to overcome their fears and develop the resolve to achieve.
In one of my favorite books, The Wisdom of the Ego, Dr. George E Vaillant, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, describes individuals who have “both the capacity to be bent without breaking and the capacity, once bent, to spring back.’” That seems to be one of the gifts a leader can give to staff, role modeling this all-important capacity to bend without breaking and to spring back stronger.
As always I welcome your thoughts.
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CWS’ Double Impact Initiative Addresses Food Insecurity and Young Adult Homelessness in Boston Area
CWS’ Double Impact Initiative Addresses Food Insecurity and Young Adult Homelessness in Boston Area
BOSTON (July 8, 2020) — Throughout its 143-year history, Community Work Services has addressed the roots of poverty through employment, education, and housing improvements. Today CWS is bringing that same vision to bear on the crisis of homelessness and food insecurity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
CWS’ recent Double Impact Initiative with Breaktime, a youth-led nonprofit and social enterprise, has a twofold purpose– to help young adult homeless acquire job skills and economic stability, and to create meals for first responders and food-insecure participants in Boston-area communities in crisis. Read more about the program on the CWS New England website.