Are you ready to celebrate?

This year is Baptistcare's 40th anniversary and we are encouraging each of our facilities and programmes to organise an event some time during the year with a 1970's theme. We'll be sending out packs to all areas to help you in planning this event.

In the week commencing March 26 we will be launching our Baptistcare Recognition Awards. This will be a very important part of our 40th anniversary year, because these inaugural awards will be presented at a special gala dinner on September 7.

During the week of the 26th we would like you to hold a morning tea or some opportunity at each Baptistcare facility and programme to launch the awards and make people aware of how they can participate.

There will be six awards, five that are based around our Baptistcare values and one other which is the CEO's award for leadership and advocacy.

This is a year to celebrate. Let's do that by recognising our colleagues who are putting Baptistcare's values into practice in their day to day work.

Lessons from Jessica

Thanks to those contributed to the discussion from last week’s blog on accountability. Here’s another thought on the same subject.

A few weeks ago Jessica Watson was named Young Australian of the Year in the Australia Day honours. Jessica, at the aged of 16, became the youngest person in the world to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world, completing her journey in May last year after 210 days at sea.

As a solo yachtswoman, Jessica did not achieve this great feat without being accountable. She had six major sponsors who expected her to honour their investment. She maintained regular contact with a team of people, including her family, who were intimately concerned for her safety; and detailed reports were kept of her position, wind directions, and weather. She had thousands of Australians reading her blog each day and expecting to hear the details of her adventure. Most of all Jessica was accountable to herself, by maintaining her health, safety and emotional stability.

Some of us have a habit of travelling solo and feel that accountability is an intrusion into our privacy; but we could do well to learn from Jessica Watson. While there may be times we work alone, and perhaps even work best alone, it is important we recognise the importance of the team that is around us, and acknowledge their contribution to our success.

Too often people’s emotional and physical health deteriorates because there is a failure to see the signs that the conditions on the ocean are changing. By building effective accountability structures into our lives we are able to benefit from other people’s wisdom and take adequate precautions to deal with the big waves that are coming.

What is accountability?

The fifth of Baptistcare’s values is: Accountability for our performance.

For some reason the word accountability seems to conjure up negative ideas. Maybe it comes from bad experiences in the past, but sometimes when people talk about accountability they give the impression that accountability is about punishment, or at the least, something to be feared.

Essentially accountability is about taking responsibility; accepting that we all need to give account to someone for what we do, and as a result take responsibility for our actions.

At a basic level we need to be accountable to ourselves; to answer to our conscience that we have done what had to be done according to the best of our ability.

But most of the time we are required to be accountable to others. In organisations like Baptistcare that includes ensuring that contracts to government are met, legislation is followed and work schedules are met.

Even more important than such formal accountability is the need to be accountable to the people we serve. Whether we are washing someone’s floor, attending to their health needs, writing a report, fixing a tap or paying a bill, we need to accept responsibility for our performance.

As we carry out our duties, the resident of a nursing home, the recipient of mental health services or the participant in a disability programme may not ask us for a formal report but they are expecting a job well done, a friendly smile, a willing spirit, and an attitude that reflects hope and generosity.

What does accountability mean to you?

Some more thoughts on stewardship ...

Whether it is about buying cars, Coke or washing detergent, television commercials tell me that the most important person in my life is me. Of course, at one level they are quite correct, because if I don’t look after myself I just may not be in a fit state to look after anyone else. But there is a sense in which my concern for the good of others is a very important part of who I am, so to neglect my need to love and support others is in essence a neglect of the real me.

Take this argument a step further. If all my responsibilities are focussed on me and my needs, these responsibilities eventually lose their value. However, the value of these responsibilities, and therefore the benefit that I will gain from them, comes when I acknowledge that what I am doing has a higher benefit.

The responsibilities that we have as employees of Baptistcare, or for that matter the membership of our local club, or as a member of a family, gain greater significance when the focus is not upon what I can get out of the relationship, but what I can contribute to that relationship or situation.

For me stewardship means acknowledging that all that I have has been entrusted to me by God. It enables me to be thankful that I have a job, a family, a roof over my head, and some great friends. Stewardship means putting my best into what I do and nourishing the relationships I have so that the people around me will benefit. It means taking personal responsibility for maintaining a high and noble view of life and looking beyond the present and the mundane.

Stewardship is....

I’d love to hear your ideas.

Stewardship

Strange as it may seem to some people, I like books. I have a bookshelf on which stands a number of books that were handed down from my dad. To some observers they are just old books, but I hold them with pride because of their age and what they represent to me. I treasure these books, not because they are mine, but because I have a sense that I am holding them on behalf of a previous generation.

This is the essence of stewardship. Dictionary.com describes a steward as a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others. Christians usually add another dimension to stewardship, acknowledging that God has given us the responsibility and privilege to look after his creation and recognise his sovereignty in all things.

We’ve had a bit of a break over Christmas but as we come back to reflecting on Baptistcare’s values, we come to the fourth which is “Stewardship of the responsibilities in our care.”

As we think about all that we have responsibility for in the workplace, the hardware and property, the people, the relationships, and the intellectual property, we can take the view that these things are just paperbacks that we have picked up at the local book exchange, or we can treasure them like some of my dad’s old books that carry memories, emotion, history and value.

Working for Baptistcare is a means to put bread on the table and a roof over our heads, but greater worth and value is given to that job when we recognise our role as stewards of all the responsibilities in our care.

Can you suggest any ways that we exhibit this sense of stewardship in our workplace?

Become the change

Baptistcare’s value of courage and justice in our actions, brings to mind the concept of advocacy. This is about standing up for what is right on behalf of those people who are not able to speak for themselves. As supporters of our elders, people with disabilities, and people with a mental illness, Baptistcare is in a position to defend and protect some of the most marginalised people in our society. How do we go about doing this?

I was in a restaurant and took advantage of their feedback form to bring attention to the lack of disability access. A simple example. As we put ourselves in the place of the people we serve and begin to recognise discrimination, ignorance, or fear of difference in our society, it becomes harder to keep quiet.

Ghandi said: We must become the change we wish to create.

The Nazareth Manifesto

The third of Baptistcare’s values reads: "in fulfilling our mission we are person-centred and embrace courage and justice in our actions."

It is appropriate that we consider the matter of courage and justice in the same month that we celebrate Christmas, the birth of the One who stood for courage and justice in both his life and his death.

A part of the Bible that has been special to me tells about one of the first public events performed by Jesus. He went to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue where he was handed a scroll. In what has become known as the Nazareth manifesto Jesus read the following words:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

To live such a manifesto requires courage and justice.

Integrity and Respect

We continue to look at Baptistcare’s values, and will spend some more time looking at the statement: Integrity and respect in personal and organisational behaviour.

I’ve tried my hand at juggling on a number of occasions, but in most cases have failed to keep two balls in the air, let alone three. Yet when you watch a professional juggler it looks so easy. In most workplaces we find it necessary to keep several balls in the air and just when you’ve got the pattern going nicely someone throws in another ball or two just to keep you on your toes.

When the pattern of juggling falters and your ability to look like a professional is not going as planned, both integrity and respect come under a great deal of pressure. If we are not people of integrity when the juggling becomes too hard, we will not only depend on sleight of hand and other circus tricks to get us through, but at the first sign of failure the greatest threat comes to the people who are nearest to us.

People of integrity recognise that respect for those around us, whether they be family, friends, colleagues or clients, is of the highest priority, along with our ability to respect ourselves, not allowing our personal values to be compromised.

I’d love to hear your comments about how you maintain integrity and respect in a world of juggling balls.

Respect in our behaviour

Baptistcare’s second value is “integrity and respect in personal and organisational behaviour”.

I have been watching over a number of years the growth of a programme called “Choose Respect” that was developed by a friend of mine. “Choose Respect” has been introduced into a number of schools in Western Australia. A study that was conducted at Boddington District High School in 2007-2008 in conjunction with Murdoch University showed that referrals for serious disruptive behaviour were reduced by 90 percent during the time the “Choose Respect” programme was implemented.

Schools that adopt “Choose Respect” also adopt a code of behaviour which reads: To choose respect is to make a conscious effort to:
• Treat others with Respect, no matter how they treat you;
• Treat yourself with Respect;
• Forgive others who do not treat you with Respect;
• Resist your natural desire to pay back or take revenge;
• Apologise when you do not treat others with Respect;
• Support others who are not being treated with Respect;
• Ask for support when others do not treat you with Respect.

It’s a little word, but it holds a wealth of meaning. What does respect mean to you and what sort of behaviour do you expect from people who are showing you respect in the workplace?

Integrity in behaviour

The second of Baptistcare’s values is integrity and respect in personal and organisational behaviour.

I’ve flown in a few light aircrafts in my time, but the most memorable was a flight in a Lake Buccaneer, which is a very small (four seater) amphibious aircraft. The flight from Derby to Cockatoo Island in the far north of WA was not without some trepidation but the most frightening part was trying to land and take off from the crocodile infested ocean around Cockatoo Island. People in the industry describe the Lake Buccaneer as having the aerodynamics of a dead cat when the power goes, and it’s probably just as well that I didn’t find out till after the flight that it had sunk on two previous occasions in its life.

I wouldn’t describe the aircraft as having integrity, but it worked. It got me to Cockatoo Island and back without crashing, sinking or falling apart, although the way it rattled and roared I had my doubts on a number of occasions.

The way we behave in the workplace or for that matter, in our family and social life, may be acceptable by some standards. We can get things done that are expected of us and generally speaking we get by without any major problems. But can we described as having integrity in our behaviour?

Quite often integrity isn’t obvious until there is a crisis. When the storm breaks or the seas are rough I think we can judge a person’s integrity by the degree to which they display a wholeness of character that doesn’t resort to defensiveness, anger or blame.

I’d be interested to hear your comments about how we can show integrity in our personal and organisational behaviour.

Dignity and Compassion

In my last blog we talked about dignity in our relationships, but it is worth noting that the first of the values espoused by Baptistcare is dignity and compassion in our relationships. What is the significance of having these two words (dignity and compassion) coming together in the same sentence?

The dictionary describes compassion as: Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. The question is, where does the emphasis lie: With me or with you? We can place the emphasis on me as the provider of compassion, or on you as the recipient of compassion.

As the provider of compassion I most likely want something in return, at the very least thanks or gratitude. As the provider of compassion, I will most likely assign some value to the compassion I am providing. In other words, I will sum up whether some situations or people are more eligible or more worthy of my compassion than others. The result is that there is a power imbalance. The provider of compassion has the power and is using that power to his or her advantage.

If the focus is on the receiver of compassion, the situation changes quite significantly. Now I will be trying to find out what the needs of the person are, rather than thinking about my own needs; I will be concerned about how the person feels about my involvement in his or her life, rather than imposing something against their will; I will treat that person with dignity so that compassion is not something that is imposed but something that is shared.

I’d love to hear some examples of how dignity and compassion work together.

Dignity in our relationships

In future blogs I want to reflect on Baptistcare’s values. These are the behaviours that we expect to see as we go about our mission and strive to reach our vision: To transform and enrich lives.

I will never forget the time I went into a real estate agency to assist an Aboriginal woman in her search for secure housing. The woman’s dress was dirty and she had sores on her face, but she had a basic right to housing. I had listened to her stories of repeated rejection and mistrust and offered to go with her, thinking (rather self-righteously) that my advocacy would help to overcome some of the barriers of race. I was a middle class Caucasian male who previously had no problems with negotiation, but as I stood alongside this woman to advocate on her behalf it was as if my skin colour had suddenly changed and my dignity was crushed by the words and attitudes of the person at reception.

In contemplating how to treat another person a question I like to ask myself is: “How would I expect this person to treat me?”. I would like to be treated with dignity, and no matter who I am or what I have done, or what my relationship with the person is, I would like to think that my basic humanity is respected. The least I can do is to return that respect.

One of the great poets of our time, Bob Dylan expressed the view of so many when he said:

So many roads, so much at stake;
So many dead ends and I’m at the edge of the lake;
Sometimes I wonder what it’s gonna take to find dignity.

What are some ways that you would express dignity in your relationships?