Month: November 2017

I recently listened to the soundtrack to the musical Come From Away – the true story of Gander, Newfoundland, a small town that unexpectedly hosted 7,000 visitors from around the world that were diverted there immediately following the terrorist attacks on September 11^th, 2001.

Gander is a town of only 6,000 yet they housed, fed, clothed and comforted double that number – for five days — when 38 international flights were forced to land in Newfoundland when American airspace was closed. The musical tells the story of Gander’s efforts to accommodate their unexpected guests and relays the scope of their quest to do so. In one song, a resident contributes a tray of sandwiches and the organizer says: “We need 50 more.” “Sandwiches?” “No, trays.”

As an event planner myself, I think of the hours and hours of preparations and countless meetings that would have been involved if Gander had known that a multitude of jumbo jets would be descending upon them. They would have developed spreadsheets, plans, supply orders and made countless other arrangements if this was expected. But somehow they pulled it off anyway, with less than an hour’s notice.

I am in favor of proactive planning, but sometimes I think we invest too much effort into it. Even with meticulous preparations, you cannot anticipate every need or situation and it reaches a point where it is futile to try.

Do your best to be ready for the expected, but allow yourself some latitude to accommodate the unexpected as well.

Thanks Emily for sharing the soundtrack – I highly recommend it to others!

They are smaller than a penny but have been labeled as “one of the most destructive pests ever seen in North America” – referring to the Emerald Ash Borer. This tiny insect feeds off the leaves of ash trees, but its larvae bore through the bark and feed on the tissue under it, thereby cutting off the water flow and killing the tree.

The spread of the disease has been hastened by transportation of wood, wood chips and firewood out of infected areas, and there are currently 14 states under quarantine because of this pest, including my Iowa. It is estimated that within the next several years our state will lose 17% of its tree population with the death of 50+ million ash trees, raising ecological, logistical, aesthetic and commercial questions about how to respond to such a massive loss of timber and the accompanying branches.

While there is not much that can be done to save a tree once it is infected, there are some steps that can be taken to prevent the invasion of the larvae and to prolong the tree’s health.

I think the same is true for organizational “borers” – the insidious few who infect an organization’s culture and diminish its health. There are things an organization can do to foster a climate that keeps the nay-sayers at bay and allows for free flow of trust and information, but once toxins permeate the environment it is hard to rid them except through cutting relationships with those that are spreading the negativity.

Organizational borers are often small and work undercover – like their equivalent the Emerald Ash – and many times management does not pay attention to them until it is too late. Don’t let your culture fall victim to disruption through neglect. Proactively address the little bugs before they bore into your foundation.

Source: Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach

Have you ever heard of a hospitalist? I had not until a friend was in the hospital, then I learned that a hospitalist is a doctor who cares for you (just) in the hospital. Instead of having primary care doctors or specialists make rounds, a hospitalist cares for admitted patients instead. The hospitalists are on duty 24/7/365 so a physician is always available to handle emergencies and on-going care.

“Hospitalists know every specialist and department,” reads the brochure. It seems that hospitalists are the healthcare equivalent of a utility infielder in baseball or a stringer in journalism. They are the good voice in the chorus or the administrative assistant who handles a variety of tasks.

In short, their specialty is being a generalist.

There are so many areas today where people specialize: coaches for each aspect of the game, accountants for certain types of businesses, lawyers who practice in one segment of the law and tradesmen who complete one segment of a construction project. All this specialization leads to depth, yes, but it also leads to a more narrow view of the whole.

Think of how you can incorporate the hospitalist concept into your organization. Is there an area which could benefit from a generalist? Or maybe someone to handle a variety of tasks? Or perhaps you just need someone well-trained to handle the extra workload or to increase your capacity at certain times of the year?

Generalists may not be specialists, but they certainly are special.