DETOX

I have a new job. It's at a detox centre. After 8 hours on the job, I've learned:

- safety for some is a luxury
- listening to someone's story matters
- receiving a smile is a significant reward

Ten Pieces of Advice for Committee Chairs (not tables)

I have chaired several committees and been a member of several committees. In my experience, there are some BIG no no's for CHAIRS to be aware of. My two cents:

1. make introductions or let your team introduce themselves
2. spend some time on your agenda; time estimates are helpful to keep you on track; also indicate which members will be required to speak to certain items so that they can prepare ahead
3. do not MICROMANAGE your team; assume your members are competent
4. give team members the freedom to soar; they all have a vested interest
5. try to have representatives from all generations and encourage input from all; this helps members of the same generation feel supported and improves the quality of input
6. please say "NO" if you can't commit; it's much easier to deal with an up front "no" than a "yes" followed by excuses just because you didn't have the guts to say "no" (applies to chairs and members)
7. please be respectful of your team's time and ensure your meetings begin and end on time
8. have meetings only when they are needed; otherwise communicate by email
9. practice GRATITUDE - thank the people that made it happen; I've found that we often put all of our energy into planning, organizing and running an event and when it's all over and we're able to breathe again, we forget to say thanks
10. CELEBRATE your team - bowling, macarons, a card, a beer - it's all good!

Exploring Work/Life Balance for Leaders

For me, work/life balance is dynamic. It is dependent on variables like the age of my children, my work obligations, my husband's work obligations, and the health of my parents. I have definitely managed some years better than others and was excited about the prospect of learning some new techniques today.

The workshop I attended was hosted by Randy Savoie, author of "Choices". Initially, he seemed to be stating the obvious. But after a few hours of contemplation, I feel his simple suggestions may lead to significant change.

Firstly, there are many, many things that interest us. Unfortunately, there are a finite number of hours in the day. We must make conscious choices to decide who we want to influence and what we find most important.

Step 1 - Take care of your basic needs (sleep enough, eat well, exercise, see your doctor).

Step 2 - Define who you want to influence (think of a dart board with "YOU" in the centre and each group you hope to influence in a separate ring moving outwards). For example, YOU > Family > Patients/Clients > Peers > Community > Province > Canada > World. Understand that having influence at the national or international level is going to require most of your time and you will need to sacrifice time with other groups eg. family.

Step 3 - Define your priorities beginning with the most important in the centre and again moving outward using rings on a dart board. For example, YOU > Family > Patients/Clients > Administration Duties > Staff > Committee Work > Hobby > Volunteer. By spending more time in one area, you need to spend less time in another. Do your actions actually match your priorities?

This exercise quickly self-identified that I am dedicating too many hours to some of my lesser ranked priorities at the expense of some of my higher ranked priorities. I am optimistic that I will be able to make some changes over the next 3 months by allocating less time to my lower ranked priorities, by saying, "No", and by seeing my family doctor.