It may be a sign of the “flattening world” in which we live, or an emerging generational gap that I may have to face, but I’m struck with new awareness of the use of “My Space” and other web based social networks.

It’s influence is on the news, high debate in schools and homes with teenagers and young adults of college age. I recently learned it is also a communication mechanism of self expression used by some of our staff.

What I’m really curious about is how freely people use this to express themselves- without knowing who is checking this public information. I’ve recently learned that employers and colleges are checking out an individual’s “My Space” account as a reference in decision making for college admission or actual employment. One situation was reported on a news story that the person sought “advice” from readers on whether or not to negotiate for higher salary in a job offer. Too bad the potential employer was also reading her site!

Hillside’s expectation for staff is stated in our ethics policy as:
“We will maintain high standards of personal conduct in our capacity or identity as a personnel or board member of Hillside. (The private conduct of an individual is a personal matter, except when such conduct compromises the fulfillment of the individual's professional responsibilities or causes harm to Hillside and/or its reputation, e.g., supervisor/supervisee dating relationships, situations where the potential for conflict of interest exists.)

I hope that our communication is sufficient enough for staff to raise these concerns to supervisors or managers to attend to whatever their dissatisfactions are, instead of remarking negatively on a web communication.

I would appreciate understanding this more- but am reluctant to set up my own “My Space” to ask that question- so I’ll pose it here in hopes of a response.

Dear colleagues-
It’s the New Year and as trite as it may sound it is a time for reflection and re-evaluation of what matters. I have to tell you as the holidays put a different pace in my step with the personal demands, I was actually happy for them to draw to a close. It does make me pause to think of what really “matters” in how I spend my time. I’ll share that one afternoon last week I was feeling my sometimes too frequent pull of needing to be in two places at once- attending to some funder relationships, details of services, and not well caught up emails. I put it aside and went to an activity with some of our resident young males. It was the perfect choice. Getting a little time with kids helps me stay grounded- and also feel I can extend myself to support staff and acknowledge your tireless efforts to remain positive and teach our youth.

So- my thought for us is to take stock of how we best use ourselves, our skills and special talents and interests. I’m wondering from those of you who take the time to read these blogs if you’d be willing to share how your personal passions could best be used in the workplace. I think it’s when these two things align that we are at our best.

Take care- and Happy New Year!
karen

I am wondering how July came upon me so quickly. Although it seems hard to believe, the Integration Center with me as it’s Leader has been in operation for over 12 years. It’s time for me to pass the torch as this role comes to a close and move on to a new position as the Executive Director for HCC. It is a very exciting yet awesome role ahead of me.

One of the aspects we’ve heard from staff as our organization has grown and recently through Culture of Inclusion interviews is how difficult it is to understand our agency’s structure and the roles of Administrators. I hope to be able to use this as a vehicle to reach more staff and enhance communication from HCC Leaders.

My intention as the supervisor for Residential and Regional Leaders who make up the Chief Operating Team, is to support their role as we work to increase the quality of services across our organization. I am committed to creating more efficient mechanisms for information flow from the COT, and welcome input from staff regarding how successful we are.

The first several months of my new position I intend to visit as many of the HCC sites and teams as possible. I’ll work with Regional and Residential Leaders to coordinate and prioritize these visits- so if your group is interested, email is probably the most efficient mechanism at this point. I think it’s important for me to meet staff, understand your struggles and celebrate your successes. It is a challenging job and I am committed to giving it my best every day.
I look forward to improving our communication!