What Will You Learn Today?

Sunset off the dock #NoFilter

The other day was a normal, uneventful day, which is why it stood out when 3 seemingly normal things hit me:

Downtown Damariscotta ℅ marinas.com

• Cherish the availability of street parking in Damariscotta while ya can! I needed to pick up a book at the library and voila - a spot was wide open in front of the bookstore and cafe! That won’t be the case for a week from now until September! Little things can bring joy and glee into one’s day - like a parking space! It may seem trivial, but it filled my entire day with a sense of accomplishment (almost like when I lived in NYC and got a parking space 😊).

• Don’t drive to Rachmanioff’s Piano Concerto #2 in C Minor. There is a reason I listen to news and podcasts and not music in the car. Every molecule in my body gets absorbed into the music (especially Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff) and you shouldn’t do “air piano” and drive to the tempo! Since I was little, I can’t listen to classical music, an opera, without it being a whole-body experience - not idea for Rt 1 in Maine! The power of art to bring us alive and make us whole is strong and necessary - and incorporates our entire self.

• Swimming Upstream, as a metaphor, isn’t fully appreciated til you watch fish do it. Our fellow village of Bristol Mills built a fish ladder to make it easier for the alewives (an important bait and ecosystem fish) to make their long arduous journey from the ocean to the Pemaquid River up to Pemaquid Lake or Biscay Pond to spawn. It’s a gorgeous fish ladder surrounded by nature - by water, trees, birds, fish, sounds - all the flora and fauna and fascination. Nature never ceases to teach us, if we’re willing to see and listen.

So, what 1 or 2 things can you learn today - from the mundane things, meetings, errands, glances out the window, things you drive by every single day? And the learning doesn’t have to be deep, complex, life-changing - just a new thing or new way of perceiving. Give it a try!

Break the Model! How Challenging Status Quo Makes Lasting Impact

shutterstock

I want to share the amazing work of Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio*. They are the epitome of how to create an amazing strategic plan that achieves their mission and vision in innovative ways will (hopefully) make them no longer needed. This is not about virtue signaling, but rather my admiration and respect for their foresightful planning, impact, and gratitude for their CEO, Julie Chase-Morefield and team.

Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB) started as a small local food bank serving four rural counties west of Cleveland, Ohio, and is now THE community convener for sustainable ways to reduce hunger. Their mission "Grow hope in our region by creating pathways to nutritious food," and vision of "A brighter future for all by cultivating a healthy, hunger-free community" are being achieved because SHFB doesn’t think like a traditional food bank.

Unlike most food banks that focus on the needs of the organizations that distribute the food (food pantries), SHFB focuses on the needs, constraints, and daily contexts of actual community members who need food. They treat ALL community members with dignity and respect, without judgment or prejudice, because every human deserves dignity.

SHFB has piloted and validated innovative food distribution models, such as putting pantries in local public schools - a huge success. Kids take food home to their family for dinner and weekends, reducing hunger. When COVID hit, SHFB deployed mobile pantries, serving up to 30,000 households a month. The demand for mobile pantries still continues, with 10 to 12 distributions a month even now.

SHFB has several initiatives underway to sustainably reduce hunger, such as partnering with social, health, legal, housing, job, government, and education organizations in creating a downtown HUB in Sandusky, OH and piloting SNAP Outreach 2.0 to raise awareness and support the completion of applications in their region. They have established a county-wide Food Advisory Council with Lorain, OH, to increase access to and consumption of healthy food via a "Food as Medicine" platform with healthcare providers while increasing economic development through urban farm and retail expansion (aided by a USDA grant).

Despite a 40% increase in the need for food, increases in the cost of food and cuts in funding, SHFB remains optimistic that their initiatives will sustainably reduce food insecurity in their region. They’ve already started and made an impact. I have no doubt they will significantly increase food security - and the well-being and futures of those they serve. So, please click the links, look at their plan, learn from how they leverage the strengths of others in creating their initiatives. There is so much to learn! Don’t lose the opportunity!

*Yes, SHFB is a client, but it’s not clear who really benefits as I have learned so much from working with them and am such a better person for it.  Yes, I am in the video (ugh!) – and it’s all true – SHFB is a superb organization with excellent leadership.  No, you can’t hire them away, but yes, they are hiring - go work for them!

What is Time Really Worth & Is it Worth Your Time?

Shutterstock

Do you measure your, and your team’s, Return on Time (ROT)? Yes, it can be hard to measure. Who wants to be recording every second they’re spending on something? How long should a non-mechanized, white collar type task really take? So, I suggest starting simply - and meaningfully. Since much of our time is spent in meetings, start there. Let’s say you have a meeting with 5 of your top performers for 1 hour. There must be a great reason for having that meeting, right? Figure out the hourly salary for each of you in the meeting and add that up. Did you accomplish something at that meeting that’s worth that amount?

I have a few meeting policies:

• No agenda = Deb doesn’t go (ideally I like agendas 1 week before);

• Clearly state the reason for the meeting and expected outcomes;

• Don’t leave the meeting without specific tasks, owned by specific people, with specific due dates and definition of what ‘done’ means and how you will follow up;

• Recap to the attendees within 24hrs with the tasks, etc.

There are a few more - like I like making the agenda items into questions instead of statements (e.g., “What are the issues and successes of X to date?” vs. “Status of X”) because it focuses the discussion on action versus theory. Anyway, this week, start thinking about your personal, and your team’s, ROT, quantitatively and qualitatively. See what happens! Let me know!