“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” – 2 Timothy 4:7
Commitment To Sustainability As We Continue Forward
I suspect most finance people are conservative in their prognostications, particularly in a pandemic when resources are scarce, so when Toko Thompson described our performance in July as being “decent,” I was not surprised. Toko has done a fantastic job managing our finances, even when it was not popular to use more caution than I would have liked. She told us early on that she was going to be vigilant in her management of our finances and she was not going to let us fail (or, as she put it, “Not on my watch”). Under her watch, July was the fourth month in a row that we generated more revenue than expenses. It was also the first month that we generated a positive variance large enough to fulfill our obligations with the bank as well as our own expectations deemed necessary to care for our capital assets.
For over 40 years, our association has adhered to a policy requiring us to reinvest into our community centers, a tribute to the success we have had as well as the discipline we have demonstrated. Though we have not had the luxury of reinvesting back into our centers these past 16 months, we have been able to maintain them well, a tribute to the commitment of Loren Johnson, Ed Bressette, and the entire facilities management team across the association. We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated team; they are doing miraculous work to care for our assets, which, under these conditions, is even more critical to our sustainability.
Celebrating Each Departments Contribution
I may poke fun at Toko’s conservative nature, but I do understand why she is not letting herself be carried away after July’s performance. We still face fierce headwinds; nevertheless, I celebrate July’s results, if only to acknowledge the extraordinary effort each of you is making. When you examine July’s results, you can clearly see contributions from every single department throughout our organization. The evidence is clear: we would not have had the great month we just had without everyone leaning in together – summer camp, swim lessons, school contracts, membership, fundraising, marketing, information technology, finance, maintenance, human resources, member engagement center, and everyone else not mentioned here. Contributions are coming from every single part of our team. It is truly inspiring. We are One Y and I celebrate that.
Reinvesting In Staff Professional Development
Last week, we conducted the first round of interviews to fill the learning and development director vacancy. We have been without this position since last September, believing there were other positions more critical to fill, but I could not wait any longer, recognizing how vital learning and development is to our organization. I would have preferred to have someone sooner in this role, but it is simply a function of the care we are exerting with every decision we make. I find it interesting that while we have been challenged to attract people to apply to work at our Y, we had a very strong pool of candidates vying for this role. It was exciting to interview such high-caliber talent, particularly when we consider how critical it is to invest into the development of our team.
During the interviews, we highlighted how important we see learning and development in helping us build a culture that makes the Y an “employer of choice.” In the employee engagement surveys we have conducted over the years, our staff consistently express they love working for an organization with our mission, but also state there are areas in their experience they wish were more fulfilling. One of those areas is in their professional development. Staff have shared they do not feel they receive adequate supervision, nor do they see themselves growing in their careers. This will be a primary focus of the new director, for both full- and part-time employees.
In addition to filling the position of learning and development director, we are conducting a search for a new vice president and chief human resources officer (CHRO). We see this person as being someone who will play a key role in helping us redefine our culture. Putting an emphasis on career development is one aspect of redefining our culture, but there are other very important pieces to defining it. One of those pieces is having a fair and competitive compensation package. The pandemic had a significant impact on our compensation package, including being forced to reduce the Y’s contribution into your retirement fund to 1% (now at 6%) and having to delay merit increases until this past month (when we were able to award every employee a 3% merit increase, effective in the July paycheck). We recognize we have to reassess our entire compensation package consistently in order to remain relevant – and competitive – as an employer. A few years ago, we worked with Milliman financial consultants to conduct a comprehensive analysis of our salary structure. Dorita Rogers will take the lead in a renewed commitment by our Y to review our current salary structure; she will work with Milliman once again. It is critical we offer our staff a living wage.
Both learning and development and compensation will fall under the new CHRO’s area of responsibility, but they are both too critical to delay moving forward with while we work to fill that vacancy. We are working with a search firm to assist us in the process of finding candidates for a new CHRO, a function that has become even more necessary in these current conditions. Last year, we altered our performance measurement matrix, which has been an ongoing sore spot for our employees. Having a fair and equitable performance management system is vital to having a strong staff culture. We have to acknowledge – and reward accordingly – that our employees make unique contributions to the success of our Y. We believe our current matrix was a significant step in ensuring fairness as well as being equitable in measuring performance for our staff.
We have been operating as One Y for nearly a year. We embraced it as our rally cry, and it is the reason we have been able to have four successive months of positive net and an exceptional month of July. We also know the world around us is rapidly changing, and it is essential for us to adapt to the change. We have to evolve as an organization, investing in our staff, being competitive in our compensation package, and strengthening our culture where staff are treated fairly and equitably. There is no doubt that you are the strength of this organization and the reason this Y is moving forward every month. It is essential that our culture reflects your importance. I am firmly committed to making that happen.
#StayStrong #StayWithUs