Route Recommendations

A few months ago I attended my first professional conference since pre-Covid. As I prepared, I had to dig into my memory machine to what was once second nature – what do I need to pack to take with me on the road? As I opened my old travel computer bag, I pulled out my business cards and realized that a lot of the information was no longer accurate. Uh oh! I must have business cards with me or networking will be less effective. I remembered seeing some posts about a new digital business card and got to Googling. After reading some reviews and trying a few apps, I landed on one called HiHello. What is great about a digital business card is that any time you change any piece of your contact information, you don’t waste time, money nor impact the environment creating new cards.  Besides, no one wants to sit and enter your information into their contacts. With a digital business card, a quick scan of a QR code allows your colleague an easy way to save your contact information. You can also use HiHello to scan their business card while you stand there and it automatically enters their data into your app. Cheers to saving the environment (and time!). Try mine now … scan this code: 

Jumping Back In.  For a variety of reasons, people need to step away from their professional careers for an extended period of time.  When they are ready to jumpstart their work again, sometimes the fear of the questions about the gaps in the resumes may prevent them from applying for roles that are “stretch” opportunities.  Consider including in job descriptions a statement about being open to those with gaps in their professional timeline and consider including questions in screening forms or initial interviews that include, “What is something you learned in your time away from the workplace that will help you in your career?” or “Share a vignette from your time away that demonstrates skills you could bring to this role.”   (Note:  I write this after starting to jump back into my career after 3 years away for family medical leave in which I gained many new skills.)

This suggestion comes from a more personal place, but still applies to organization thinking. Phrases like “You Do You!” and “Organizational Culture” and “Maintaining Brand Identity” are really important to take seriously. About 10 days ago, I sat at my mother’s hospital bedside as she fell into a cancer-induced coma, and I started thinking about her burial and shiva. I realized that our family has it’s own brand and “organizational” culture and I wanted to honor her and our family identity by imbuing a traditional Jewish funeral and shiva with our own flare. From sprinkling seed paper confetti flowers onto my mom’s coffin before guests shoveled dirt to fill in her grave, to an outdoor shiva at a park pavilion complete with delivered frozen custard from our family favorite location, we stayed true to our own values and approach to life.  Organizations should deeply consider how they can take traditional Jewish moments and inject their own culture and identity into them. 

Three times this week colleagues/friends (frolleagues?) reached out to me to help them think about closing programs for June 2021, opening programs for September 2021, or “Open Houses” for August 2021 with the goal of recruiting new synagogue members who have religious school-aged children.  You can thank the last one for this Route Recommendation inspiration. DO NOT INVITE PEOPLE TO YOUR EMPTY BUILDING! 

Anytime you want to showcase your program, you must “showcase your program.”  That cannot be done with a mostly empty building/room, some blasé snacks, a powerpoint presentation and a Q&A.  So what’s the answer? Plan a lovely, meaningful program that truly showcases the experience one might have if they were an active participant in your offerings. Plan it for your CURRENT PARTICIPANTS (members): a family education program for religious school; a fun Kabbalat Shabbat experience for synagogue membership; a multi-faceted (educational and social) for teen engagement; a volunteer activity paid with some values learning for young adults. And then offer the current members incentives for bringing prospective members. For example, if it’s for religious school, offer the current parents $25 off their next year’s school tuition for each new family they bring to the event; if it’s a general synagogue membership event, offer them money off of High Holy Day tickets or discount towards their Mishloach Manot orders; if it’s a teen program, offer a discount on (or free) swag … Incentivize your current participants in doing outreach and engagement on your behalf.  Your current participants are 10x more effective at marketing than your Facebook posts or ads in the local Jewish news. Leverage that.

Those who know me well, know that I have spent the year doing something I have never done before – I’ve “parented.” Due to Covid, my nephews (16 and 14) spent the year in virtual schooling. Predicting some of the challenges they would face, the decision was made that I would temporarily relocate to my city-of-origin (St. Louis) for the school year and provide hands-on assistance in their learning. The oldest lives with ADHD and anxiety (as do I) and as a result he struggles significantly with an Executive Function Deficit. With my sister-in-law working full time virtually teaching middle school and guiding the other son, it was clear my hands and educational knowledge were needed (my newly minted EdD put to good use!). In order to make life “easier,” (no one wanted to get up an extra hour early to prep for the day and travel between the houses), the 16-year-old moved in with my mom (where I am also living) and spends Sunday evenings through Friday afternoonsin our care.  I was given full access as a guardian to the high school and teachers, digital access to the THREE on-line portals needed to stay in touch with the school, his homework, and his grades, and an open-line of communication to his tutors (because lord knows I cannot help with AP Computer Science, Chemistry and Advanced Algebra).

Here’s a small sample of what I learned that have implications for educational leaders:

• When you shift gears at the last minute due to your poor planning, you REALLY frustrate and complicate the lives of the parents. Sometimes things happen beyond our control, and in those cases it behooves you to communicate as to WHY the changes had to happen.  Don’t just arbitrarily make a change and not communicate the WHY.
• If a learner has special adaptations they need to succeed, consider asking previous teachers, camp counselors, tutors, coaches, aunts/uncles/grandparents what has worked best for them in helping the learner in other areas of their life. Go beyond asking the parents for input in order to paint a full picture of support. The insights I was able to bring helped broaden the understanding the educators working with him have.
• Parents need to tag out some times. Encourage parents to hire education support staff to help their children – even in supplemental Jewish education and informal learning experiences. Often the children will hear things differently from a non-parent than they do from their parents (since that relationship comes will all sorts of other “baggage.”) This person can follow up on assignments, help manage to-do’s, assist in focusing the child on the task at hand, help gather supplies, and so much more. Consider if you can hire staff to do this for multiple families across your programs (even if you charge them a nominal fee for the support).

At some point I may write a full blog about what I’ve learned, but for now, sharing these tidbits seems like a good start.

Whoa!  We could not have predicted this!  From 99% in-person Jewish learning, engagement, worship and holiday/Shabbat celebrations to 100% virtual?!?

For those that may not know, I have received my last two degrees virtually.  

My Master’s Degree was done primarily through synchronous video learning.  Synchronous happens when everyone logs in at the same time and joins together via video.  In my case, it was a professor in Cleveland, with a small group of learners in Dallas (where we came together at the Jewish Federation building once a week per class), and occasionally with other small groups of learners in other on-site locations (Atlanta, Houston, etc).  Some of our works (papers and projects) were submitted via email to the professor, tests were sent to a staff member at the Federation who handed us a sealed envelope, the professor watched us unseal and take the tests, and put them completed back in the envelope to be mailed back to the professor by the neutral Federation staff person.  There was a lot of collegiality and friendship among those of us who sat in the same physical space together.  Once in a while, the professor may visit us in person (typically once a semester) and we had little to no relationship with those in the other cities.

My doctoral program was 90% asynchronous.  Facilitated on-line with out any visual contact with other classmates or professors.  Discussions were held through a web portal, assignments emailed to professors, and quizzes (the few that we had) given on-line. The synchronous portion of this program was “in residence” for two weeks each summer in Boston where we sat in a classroom on a campus with cohort-mates who were in our same concentration (aka minor) and with our professors.  These became the only peers we built a relationship with.

Through these experiences, and then my subsequent role teaching some on-line classes to both teens and adults, I learned a lot of about on-line virtual facilitation.

So what’s the recommendation for educators and facilitators through this?

• Add in extra time to your on-line synchronous (video) sessions for check-ins, socializing, community-building, schmoozing! If you plan to teach for 60 minutes, schedule 75-90 minutes of “class time.”  If you are leading t’fillah that begins at 7 p.m. invite people to come on-line at 6:30 with a L’Chaim for schmoozing and invite them to stay 10 minutes after for Challah or nosh. 
• If you are planning on asynchronous facilitation in a multi-week program, launch your program first with a synchronous video gathering – so people can see faces and personalities of those they will be engaging with in written dialogue. Maybe have a mid-program video check-in and end with a video siyyum (closing program).
• Basically – the people behind the screens are important and it’s important to give dedicated time for program participants to get connected.

The High Holy Days.  Tishrei.  Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur. (and Sukkot and Simchat Torah).  In my doctoral research, I engaged in in-depth interviews with Jewish teens who are 17/18 years old, who went through supplemental Jewish education through to bar/bat mitzvah and then disengaged in organized Jewish life. As we explored together what meaning Judaism still held for them and what they could see observing as they move through to their adult lives, the participants each mentioned some aspect of Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur – but it wasn’t consistent.  One mentioned renewal – like New Year’s Resolutions and one mentioned Sweet Kugel for break fast. Another mentioned big extended family dinners and another mentioned his intellectual connection between fasting and world hunger (being thankful he didn’t face that every day).  There was a resounding push/pull from them about missing school for the holy days and none of them mentioned that this issue had even been talked about in their religious education – how to manage their school (teachers, administrators, counselors) in the face of choosing religion over academics for a few days a year.  In considering your curriculum for supplemental schools (and even summer camps), examine how we teach (if we teach) our young people the skills they need to navigate being an American Jewish Teen.   (Note:  the ADL has some good materials for parents on this topic.)

Is your board healthy and thriving?  Are you getting everything you need from the individual members and the collective entity?  BoardSource is a fantastic national resource and suggests a full board assessment every two years.  Their resources (for fee) help you evaluate everything from meeting efficiency to leadership culture to organizational impact. 

If your board hasn’t had an honest self-reflective check-up in a while, check out BoardSource’s resources here.  For on-going board tips and tricks, follow them on Twitter.  (Note:  This is not a paid advertisement,  I am just always impressed with their information and materials.)

Recently, I was lamenting with a friend about a gap in programming within the Atlanta Jewish community.  I explained that there was a great program through our local JF&CS for young adults (up to about age 35) where participants were invited to engage in volunteerism around the community (for Jewish and non-Jewish charities).  But at 45, I have long-aged out of this group and found this kind of expression of Judaism missing in my life.  He challenges me: “So why can’t you just start it?”  In less than 48 hours, I had developed a Facebook group and began populating it with events. This personal life-lesson reminds me of two things:  a) the need for gap assessment and b) Just do it!  Sometimes we spend so much time talking about something, over-thinking it, and processing it, that we miss a great window to just begin something. 

UPDATE:  As of February 10, 2019  (about a month in) there are over 70 members of the Facebook group, 8 events scheduled for over the next six months, and the first event has already taken place.  Check out Mitzvah MeetUp ATL here.

News articles emerged this week about a prominent (very wealthy) mega-donor who had made inappropriate comments to the female staff of one of the major organizations he supports.  The organization removed his name from their board list on their website and a source inside the organization said they will not be returning to this funder for a major on-going grant.  This situation begs us to ask – how do we sustain our organizations financially if a donor’s behavior/words are not in alignment with our values?  One Jewish mega-donor made a statement on Fox news slamming Democrats as ignorant.  This same donor has been known to make misogynistic remarks in mixed company. 

On a smaller scale, many pulpit rabbis are fearful of taking an ethical/moral stand on political/justice issues for fear of offending major congregation donors.  So what’s the Jewish community to do? I would like to believe that the high road will ultimately lead us to donors whose values align with our organizations.  The recommendation is to not stand alone as an isolated organization facing these issues. Development professionals and lay leaders need to work together – across organizations – to identify donors whom they can go to together in order to speak about these critical issues.  Open the dialogue, set expectations, and make clear values-driven collective decisions. The power is stronger in numbers and donors will see the collective support and steadfastness behind these core issues if we work together.  

Has it really been two years since I have blogged a “Route Recommendation?”  While I have posted several blogs in those two years, I haven’t stayed on top of this monthly commitment to offer tid-bits of advice.  Some of this may be attributed to the depression (original story: here) but some might be because I spent the 2016-2017 engrossed as the Interim Educational Director at a local synagogue and the last 12 months nose-in to my dissertation (still in progress).  So I wanted to share two gleanings, one from each of these experiences.

• 360 REVIEWS!  During my time as the Interim Educational Director, the concept of 360 reviews came up several times.  The importance of this tool cannot be understated.  It gives the person being reviewed the opportunity to not only hear feedback from a supervisor, but from colleagues, direct reports and clients.  The employee has the ability to choose people from each category as does the supervisor.  This gives balance to the reporting as allies as well as those with concerns can weigh in on the strengths and weaknesses of the employee.  Some categories to consider in this review are: Interpersonal Skills; Problem Solving; Motivation; Efficiency and Prioritization; Teamwork; Interpersonal Communication; Time Management; Integrity, Honesty and Truthfulness; Staff Management; and Content Knowledge.  These categories offer a much broader data set than does an evaluation solely based on “goals met.”  Often times, 360 Reviews are facilitated by an outside neutral consultant.  Organizations should prioritize budget dollars to include the cost of an outside consultant to fulfill this important evaluation.

• GET A COACH!  After staring at my dissertation, largely untouched, for the five years following completion of my coursework, I finally realized that I need a different kind of support and accountability than I would get from my dissertation advisor (who has about 30 other advisees and a full teaching course load).  Hiring a dissertation coach was the best thing I could do to invest in my own success.  Sometimes coaches come to us for various reasons – executive coaching, personal life coaching, fitness coaching.  We should not be afraid to invest in success – of ourselves or our employees – by investing in the cost of a coach.

Dusting Myself Off.
Trying to emerge from “narrow spaces” (mitzrayim).

As Pesach 2016 comes to a close, I am reflective of the narrow space I feel I have been trapped in for a long time.  I can’t believe that I have allowed two years to go by without blogging.  Those two years have been filled with a lot of heartache and struggle due to my depression (refer to this blog post for the original story: here).  A constant questioning if I will ever find my old self again – and the truth is – I am still not sure.  But here is what I do know – that when I am in the moment of “doing my thing” – whether it be presenting a workshop/training, facilitating visioning, mentoring staff, or teaching teens – I am happy.  

I still gut check myself to ask “Am I still in the right field for me?  Do I still have a passion for Jewish education?  Do I still want to wake up every day and do this work?”  And the answer is still “100% yes” – on the days when I can wake up and get out of bed or off the couch.  It is so important that we not be afraid to ask ourselves these core questions on a regular basis.  If there comes a time when you sit and reflect on your passions and the way you embody them in your career and you don’t feel a connect or congruence, then it might be time to change careers – no matter how old or young you are.