Skills Society Leadership Workbook

SKILLS SOCIETY LEADERSHIP WORKBOOK

SKILLS SOCIETY LEADERSHIP WORKBOOK Introduction................................................................................................................................................................. 2 What is this workbook about?.............................................................................................................................. 2 What’s in it for you?............................................................................................................................................... 3 What do we mean by leadership?........................................................................................................................4 How to use this leadership workbook..................................................................................................................6 Keep learning & thank-you!.................................................................................................................................. 7 Exploration #1: Who are you as a leader?..............................................................................................................9 Activity 1A: One page profile.................................................................................................................................. 11 Exploration #2: Getting to Know Skills Society’s History and Movements within Disability Rights Over the Years.......................................................................................... 16 Skills Society: What we do and who we serve................................................................................................... 18 Activity 2A: Skills Society’s vision and mission reflection................................................................................24 Overview of how funding and wages work in the PDD sector.........................................................................25 Key milestones in Skills Society’s history...........................................................................................................28 Learning about disability movements in Alberta’s history...............................................................................34 Activity 2B: History of disability rights and justice reflection..........................................................................42 Exploration #3: Your Values and Skills Society’s Values...................................................................................44 Activity 3A: Reflecting on your own values........................................................................................................46 Exploring Skills Society’s values..........................................................................................................................48 Activity 3B: Is there alignment?...........................................................................................................................50 Skills Society sees leadership as being a steward of Skills Society’s vision and core values.......................53 Applying Skills Society’s values in action...........................................................................................................54 Activity 3C: Bringing Skills Society’s values to life in your everyday life.........................................................56 Exploration #4: Supporting Citizenship and Our ‘Thrive in Five’ Approach..................................................58 Our work is grounded in supporting engaged citizenship................................................................................59 Activity 4A: Supporting the engaged citizenship of the people you serve......................................................62 Our ‘Thrive in Five’ approach................................................................................................................................64 Activity 4B: Everyday actions that support people to thrive............................................................................66

Exploration #5: Building Leadership in Others and Fostering Teamwork.....................................................68 Skills Society sees leadership as striving for collaboration as much as possible......................................... 69 Skills Society sees leadership as building leadership in others...................................................................... 69 Skills Society sees leadership as being a team player..................................................................................... 70 Activity 5A: Being a team player.......................................................................................................................... 72 Activity 5B: Building the ideal team.................................................................................................................... 74 Exploration #6: Celebrating Diversity and Being Anti-Racist..........................................................................78 Skills Society sees part of good leadership is recognizing and celebrating diversity while also being anti-ractist.................................................................................................................................................. 79 Activity 6A: Striving to be more inclusive and anti-racist................................................................................ 82 Exploration #7: Fostering a Healthy Organizational Culture...........................................................................84 Supporting a healthy organizational culture..................................................................................................... 85 Activity 7A: Skills Society organizational culture reflection............................................................................. 90 Exploration #8: Building a Reflective Practice....................................................................................................94 Skills Society sees leadership as being an active listener................................................................................ 95 Skills Society sees leadership as strengthened by good reflective practice................................................. 96 Activity 8A: A framework for building a reflective practice............................................................................. 98 Exploration #9: What Kind of Leader Do You Want to Be................................................................................ 102 Activity 9A: Bringing leadership practices to life in your daily work............................................................... 104 Activity 9B: My less than one minute speech on what Skills Society is and why I choose to be part of it in support of people with disabilities........................................................................ 108 I’ve completed the workbook…now what......................................................................................................... 109 Resources..............................................................................................................................................................110

INTRODUCTION

What is This Workbook About? tatawâw ᑕᑕᐊᐧᐤ tatatâw is Cree for “Welcome! There is room here for who you are, where you are from, and who you are becoming”. This was shared with us by Jacquelyn and Hunter Cardinal, two Indigenous leaders in our community. tatawâw resonates with our Skills Society shared vision of a community where everyone is valued and belongs, and we invite you to join in this spirit as you move through this learning exploration. This workbook is meant to honor who you are, where your presepective is coming from, and the leader you are becoming. Thank you for joining us in this collective journey.

It can often be tough to know how to live a vision, mission and values of an organization. Even with well crafted vision and value statements, when we’re part of a diverse collective trying to improve quality of life, increase engaged citizenship, and boost belonging of marginalized populations, knowing how to ground vision and values in everyday practice can be complex. Recognizing this, we designed this workbook. We hope this book might help you:

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continue to grow your personal leadership style, learn more about the values of Skills Society, and create some tangible ways you might bring this to life with people you support, your teammates and community.

By reading, reflecting, and, at times, sharing with your teammates and supervisor, the workbook will help deepen your understanding of our vision and values at Skills Society, help you bring your own unique gifts to your work, and support your growth as a leader.

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What’s in it for You?

Completing this workbook within the expected timeline is an expectation of your job and part of new values and leadership education through Skills Society. You’ll have moments carved out in your job and team meetings to read, reflect, and answer the questions in the workbook so you don’t have to do this on your own time.

The workbook is built on the following principles 1.

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This leadership workbook will help you…

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Grow a leadership practice: you’ll develop knowledge and skills you can use when applying for future jobs and advancement within the organization and beyond Serve the people you support better: you’ll enhance your values and skills as a practitioner and ally Get clarity and gain tools: you’ll get more clarity and see more actions you can apply to help Skills Society with living our shared values as an organization Enhance your leadership purpose: you’ll get clearer on your own personal leadership purpose and aspirations and this will help with enhancing your own sense of purpose and meaning in the work you do to support people with disabilities

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Being a leader is a mindset and practice everyone can participate in Leadership can come from anywhere in an organization We have to know ourselves - our own personal vision, values, strengths and weaknesses - if we want to lead well and steward alongside others People can’t simply be told to hold a value or vision and expect that it sinks in and becomes action overnight. People have to take time to listen, reflect, probe their own assumptions, and think of their own ways of how to put values and vision into everyday practice

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What Do We Mean by Leadership?

Leadership at Skills Society is something that can come from anywhere and anyone in our Skills community. When we talk about leadership in this context, it is not about supervisory responsibilities, but more about thinking bigger than ourselves, being a good example and recognizing that we can all be seen as important leaders enacting our vision in everyday ways.

Our vision at Skills Society is bold and we should all strive to exemplify it. It takes all of us working together, leading, supporting, learning and stewarding our vision into reality.

Being Good Stewards You likely have heard our shared work referred to as striving to be centered in good stewardship practices. To steward means that we are responsible for taking care of and nurturing something bigger than ourselves. Stewardship is different from ownership. Many of us at Skills Society are standing on the shoulders of leadership giants, some who have come before, and many who are still at Skills Society on the front lines and in management, leading positive change in order to improve the lives of people with disabilities1. It is important and humbling to embrace the word stewardship to describe leadership within all our roles within Skills Society.

1. Ben Weinlick Executive Directors Report. Onward, Getting the right mix of the old, the new and a dash of surprise. Skills Society Annual Report 2019.

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The intentionality behind the use of the word stewardship is such that it identifies that we are all currently the keepers of a vision that came before many of us, and that we are also the shapers of a positive future for many that will rely on Skills Society after our time as stewards has come to pass. Many have come before us and will come after us to ensure that Skills Society continues to be a leader and catalyst within our sector and province to help people with disabilities have full lives in community.

This workbook will help you reflect on what being a good leader means at Skills Society, what being a leader means to you, and will help you grow a conscious leadership practice that honors your unique gifts and helps you see ways you can contribute those in stewarding Skills Society’s vision and mission.

What is Good Leadership at Skills Society?

In the Spring of 2021 the leadership (about 30 people) of Skills Society came together to explore ‘What are the key ingredients to Skills Society leadership?’ and ‘How might we be good examples and stewards of a healthy organizational culture and lead people?’. The following are the guiding principles, and leadership qualities that were co-created by this diverse collective of perspectives. Throughout this workbook you’ll have the opportunity to explore these principles more deeply and reflect on building these qualities into your leadership practice.

Skills Society sees good leadership as: • • • • • • •

Being a steward of Skills Society’s vision and core values Striving for collaboration as much as possible Building leadership in others Being a team player Recognizing and celebrating diversity and being anti-racist Being an active listener Strengthened by good reflective practice

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How to Use This Leadership Workbook We don’t imagine this workbook being completed all in one sitting. In fact concepts might sink in more and your reflections deepen by taking a bit in, thinking about it, writing some reflections down and moving to the next steps over a period of weeks. Do it at your own pace. It also could help to share some reflections with colleagues and get ideas together over time.

You might take some down time on a shift to pull out the workbook, and reflect. You might also explore together at a team meeting key concepts and activities together.

At a performance review, team meeting, or one on one coaching moment with a supervisor you may be asked to pull out your workbook, reflect together, and plan ways to bring leadership qualities into your everyday work.

There isn’t really a wrong way with how to engage with this workbook. Work with your Team Leaders and Manager to find moments at work to complete the readings, reflection and activities. This is important to complete. Some suggestions might be…

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You might take 20 mins a week after writing daily log notes to work through the activities.

Monthly team meetings are usually 3 hours, you might take an hour or more as a team to work through the booklet a few times.

You might have down time while folks you serve relax in their homes. See if appropriate to take some time to pull out the workbook in those natural down time moments during a day or week.

Keep Learning & Thank-You! We want everyone to remember that Skills Society strives to be a learning organization. We want all employees at Skills Society to continually learn, grow and increase their capacity to support the people we serve to experience citizenship and belonging. No matter how long we’ve been with Skills Society it doesn’t hurt to check back and reflect on our vision, mission, values and Thrive in Five approach.

There is lots of depth, stories, purpose and meaning packed into our vision and core values we are all called to steward.

You can view all of these on our website ‘About Us’ page:

You’ll notice there are a few examples and reflections from myself (Executive Director) in the workbook. This is not meant to put focus on me, but is included for two key reasons: 1. In response to some folks wondering who I am as a leader at Skills Society. I hope you’ll learn a bit more about what motivates me as a leader, why I steward the way I do and how I see leadership and a healthy culture at Skills Society.

2. To be an example and model, showing that I reflected on these questions as well. I feel I can’t ask others to do this leadership work, if I haven’t done the work myself.

Lastly, thank you so much to Rebecca Rubuliak, Paige Reeves, Matt Ashdown for contributing to the creation of this workbook, and Jaime Calayo for the design.

Best wishes, and thank you all for bringing your full selves as leaders stewarding our collective vision. A vision of contributing to build a community where all individuals are valued citizens deserving respect, dignity and rights.

With warmth, Ben Weinlick and the Senior Leadership of Skills Society

P.S. Please always feel welcome at the office. Stop by for a chat, or maybe even share an insight on leadership from your explorations. You’re always welcome and we’ll be happy to see you.

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LET’S BEGIN!

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EXPLORATION #1:

WHO ARE YOU AS A LEADER? 20 min

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Leadership starts with you!

It’s important to reflect on our own preferences, strengths, and values as we build our leadership styles. From time to time, in team meetings you will share your perspective and learning with others. Sharing and learning the preferences, strengths, and values of those we work alongside can also help to inform how we lead together and create spaces that are inclusive and affirming.

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ACTIVITY 1A On your own, fill out the one page profile. You might cut out a picture or draw a little self portrait of yourself in the circle. The section on ‘things to be aware of when working with me’, is an opportunity to share things like your perspectives, your working preferences, or insights into your communication style.

For example: “I’m often task oriented and taking time to connect and chat small talk, can be tough for me, but I know it can be important for others” or “I’m introverted and sometimes can’t answer right away and need some time to reflect and think before I respond, a little patience and I’ll share great insights!” or “I like to think about the big picture when problem solving with others, but the details to implement an idea can be hard for me”

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BEN’S ONE PAGE PROFILE

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Profile drawing of me:

Six word story about me:

A little about me and my values:

Things to be aware of when working with me:

• Deeply motivated to seek truth and meaning • Try to do my part to reduce suffering in the world wherever possible • My brother has a significant disability and influenced me to commit a large part of my life to empowering people with disabilities • I like to ask why a lot and probe my own assumptions and assumptions in systems • I seek win-wins whenever possible • I almost went to art school and I strive to bring creativity to Skills to help improve supports • My 2 kids, wife and I created our own family values we strive for. They are...

• Seek Truth even if its hard • We believe deeply in human rights for all • We love th absurd, odd, different and weird parts of life, because it helps us not get stuck • We value how to think, more than what to think • We look out for those who need support and protect animals • We strive to show appreciation and kindness

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Steward of vision, staying curious and open

I will ask a lot of questions. I can be direct with a question meant to have all of us look at our assumptions and this can be jarring if not in the habit of asking why a lot I truly try to see everyone has qualities to contribute and love helping others find their qualities I think calling people in vs calling people out is more powerful for long term learning and health relationships I will often ask - “ok what is the underlying challenge we’re trying to solve here?”

I will often ask - “is this a systemic issue? or are these issues from a few perspectives? what are the options for a good response that fits the situation?

For coming to good decisions I will try to consider anecdotes/stories from multiple perspectives, number we might have on an issue, and data from best practices around a challenge

Gifts, strengths, skills and viewpoints I have:

Something unexpected about me:

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I try to consider the big picture and individual perspectives - this means looking at challenges through both a systems thinking and on the ground people perspectives of those struggling with an issue I strive to work on staying curious and creative which I think helps to see possibilities No matter my role, I’m forever tech support at Skills and I don’t mind it ;) Deep knowledge of disability rights movement histories, tensions and legacies in our systems today Very keen to help people, organizations, and community to learn how to problem solve better I’m really into new ways of solving complex challenges that are not just band aid solutions I’m trying to be a good Treaty relative - honoring Indigenous folks who came before us and being in good relationship with everyone we share this land with

I try to be a beginner at something once a year this has led me to learn about: • • • • • •

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Archery Print making Designing motorcycles Redesigning an off road 90’s Landcruiser Building software Design and architecture

Being a beginner at things over and over helps me see in new ways These explorations often give me ideas to apply in my work around tackling complex challenges as diverse collectives

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Profile drawing of me:

_____________________’S ONE PAGE PROFILE Six word story about me:

Give it a try, or ask a friend, child, colleague to draw you!

A little about me and my values:

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Things to be aware of when working with me:

Gifts, strengths, skills and viewpoints I have:

Something unexpected about me:

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EXPLORATION #2:

GETTING TO KNOW SKILLS SOCIETY’S HISTORY AND MOVEMENTS WITHIN DISABILITY RIGHTS OVER THE YEARS 50 min

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Skills Society Leadership feels strongly that none of us can be good leaders and allies in disability services, if we don’t have a decent grasp of our organizational history, the different movements related to disability rights that have helped make things better for people, and the historical injustices people with developmental disabilities have faced. With this in mind, we’re going to zoom out for a moment from personal leadership reflection to examining and reflecting on the field we all work in. The timeline and information on the following pages summarizes the key milestones from Skills Society and the disability community

in Alberta over the last 100 years. We are grateful to all the leaders and changemakers who have made their mark and worked to support the rights and citizenship of people with disabilities for nearly half a century.

This next exploration will require the most reading and reflection of the whole workbook. You can move through it at your own pace and chat with a colleague if there are parts that are harder to understand or surprising. As you read and learn, we encourage you to take your time and deeply reflect on your reactions, biases, assumptions, and insights that arise.

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Skills Society: What We Do and Who We Serve Skills Society was started in the 1980s by parents of adult children with developmental disabilities who wanted more for their sons and daughters. Back then, their goal was to reduce their sense of isolation by removing them from institutions and placing them back into the arms of society.

Over forty years later, Skills remains connected to our roots by keeping our services person-centred and focused on the unique needs and aspirations of every individual. Our work has never been easy but our goal is simple: help people with disabilities to live safe, dignified, and meaningful lives.

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Today, Skills Society is one of the largest developmental disability service organizations in the Edmonton Region.

We are a not-for-profit charitable organization that provides support services to children and adults with developmental disabilities, survivors of brain injuries, and their families. For some, this may involve a few hours of outreach support each week. For others, it involves 24/7 supported community living. No matter the need, our work is rooted in providing people with disabilities with the same opportunities and choices, the same ability to share their gifts and talents, and the same sense of belonging that we all enjoy. About 95% of our funding comes from the Government of Alberta. The remaining comes from fund development, and revenue from our Action Lab social innovation space and consultancy.

OUR VISION A community where all individuals are valued citizens deserving respect, dignity and rights.

OUR MISSION We support individuals with disabilities and their families in their right to learn and grow in the community. Our services strengthen belonging and encourage and support individual choice and opportunity.

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A Journey Metaphor In the following pages you’ll deepen your understanding of Skills Society’s vision and values. There is quite a bit of detail and a metaphor might help with remembering the purpose of each element.

Imagine we’re on a metaphorical journey alongside people with disabilities and families we serve: Our Vision is the destination we want to reach together.

Our Mission is like a boat we’ve built to get us to our destination.

Our Values and Thrive in Five approach are what each crew member on the ship needs to know and practice in order to be able to lead, set the sails properly and keep everyone on course towards our destination.

Our Skills Society Leadership and Healthy Culture Practices you’ll learn more about through this workbook, are the ways we interact and collaborate together on the ship to ensure smooth sailing.

It takes everyone working together with vision, mission, values and good leadership practices to help us reach our destination.

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OUR VISION

VALUES + THRIVE IN FIVE

OUR MISSION

You might wonder with this metaphorical ship, “Who is the captain?” or “Who decides who does what on the ship?”. On this ship, everyone is a servant leader(a steward) and able to step in to help. People we serve and families are often navigators-pointing out where the destination goal is and what it looks like. Some leaders are guiding the wheel of the ship and sometimes they step away while others step in and help keep the ship moving. We can switch in and out of these roles because ideally each crew member embodies what it is to be a good leader. Being good leaders together enables continued progress even through tough waters we might face.

Throughout the journey we all need to be checking in check the various navigation instruments and compass - and ask ourselves “Are we on course?” or even, “Is there a scenic detour showing up that we want to take that will add some adventure to the journey?”. As leaders on this journey alongside people with disabilities we serve, we need to be continuously reflecting about when we need to step in to lead more, or when we need to step back and let others

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Citizens We Serve Adults with Developmental Disabilities Skills Society is proud to provide community support for approximately 350 adults with disabilities each year.

We create individualized support plans tailored to an individual’s needs and wants, as well as to the funding available to them. For some people, we may provide a few hours of outreach support each week. For others, it involves 24/7 supported community living, including assistance with daily living and/or support to create and maintain meaningful connections with friends, family and the greater community.

Supports for Survivors of Acquired Brain Injury Skills Society is one of two agencies in Edmonton to receive funding from Alberta’s Ministry of Human Services to provide community-based support to adult survivors of an acquired brain injury. In collaboration with the referring Alberta Brain Injury Network, three employees of Skills Society support survivors of acquired brain injury. Programs include rehabilitation, accessing resources and services, relationship building, and establishing connections in the community. These flexible supports are available to people who are over the age of 18.

Funding for Adult Supports comes from the Persons with Developmental Disabilities Program (PDD), a part of Alberta’s Ministry of Human Services. All adults supported

by Skills Society meet PDD eligibility and are approved for funding. Front line wages for individual support hours of direct service are set by the government- PDD services of the Ministry of Community and Social Services.

Anyone who has been diagnosed with an acquired brain injury can apply for support from Skills Society and referrals often come from health care professionals and caregivers.

Children and Their Families Typically, families of children with significant disabilities often have a more difficult time finding services to suit their needs. Skills Society’s Woodcroft Home serves about 50 families with out-of-home respite care for children with disabilities. Services can range depending on the complexity of care required, but all support is provided by well-trained, experienced staff in a safe and supportive environment.

Skills Society works with Children and Family Services to determine eligibility and all children and families supported

by Skills Society have a current and active contract with the Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) Program – part of Alberta’s Ministry of Human Services.

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30 people

50 children

who are brain injury survivors

375 people served

by Skills Society 295 people with developmental disabilities (PDD)

102 people

66 people

with complex behavioural needs

with complex medical needs

PDD Funded Residential Community Living

PDD Funded Supported Independent Living

Decision making and advocacy

159 people funded 47 with complex needs

136 people funded 55 with complex needs

175 people have family to help 120 do not

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Why do you think our Skills vision and mission is what it is?

ACTIVITY 2A Our Skills Society vision and mission is deep. It could easily be overlooked if just passing by on a webpage, on a wall at our office or in a Skills Society booklet.

It can help us embody our vision more if we can understand “why” our vision and mission matters.

Take some time to reflect on Skills Society’s vision and mission and dig deep on assumptions as to why you think it matters. Jot down your reflections in the reflection boxes. If you’re having trouble, talk it through with a coworker to learn together.

It may seem obvious, but think about and describe why it matters in your own words.

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Why is treating every individual in society with respect, dignity and rights important? Why is it important to you? Why is it important for people with disabilities? It may seem obvious, but think about and describe why it matters in your own words.

Overview of How Funding and Wages Work in the PDD Sector Skills Society is a registered not-for-profit charity. About 95% of our funding comes from contracts with the Government of Alberta Ministry of Community and Social Services. We do not receive any funding from the Health Ministry. The other 5% comes from fundraising, small grants for projects like the CommuniTEA Infusion Project and revenue from organizations renting our Action Lab when it’s not in use by our Skills community.

PDD (The AB Government) works with each eligible person served in the PDD system to determine and approve needs. From those approved needs, PDD works with an individual and potential service provider to determine if adequate funding can be provided in a particular support environment. Some individual budgets in outreach are just for a few hours a week, other budgets for folks in residential are for 24/7 wrap around support. Some individuals are eligible for one-to-one support based on safety needs, but for most people we support, PDD determines that people will have to share support and are not eligible for one-onone support.

a single individual at different times throughout a week.

When multiple people supported by PDD live together, their individual budgets are combined and most positions are budgeted to be shared. PDD has set wage rates for Community Support Worker 1 (CSW1), Community Support Worker 2 (CSW2), Team Leader, Awake Nights and Sleep Nights.

A tough tension with budgets is that the funding for positions comes in at an individual level approved by PDD for each person we serve. However, when 2-3 roommates each with different individual budgets get together to live together, sometimes individual budgets as approved by PDD won’t meet needs and a complex blend of budgets is required to meet everyone’s needs in a support environment. Creating this complex blend of positions for a support environment that meets all needs is negotiated and currently led by Senior Management to help with advocating to properly meet everyone’s needs. To create these blended budgets the Senior Manager seeks out information from Managers at Skills, PDD case workers, guardians and others to ensure real needs are being met.

A budget that gets created is a strategic document.

It is created based on what money we are approved to invoice for each individual by PDD and how we anticipate spending those dollars to support the people we serve.

PDD budgets for a support environment (home with roommates) are based on the positions required to support

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How Skills Society receives funds from government to pay for wages of staff Our employees get paid by Skills Society invoicing PDD monthly for hours worked in a support environment and based on approved individual budgets of people we serve.

The amount we can invoice our funder (PDD) for those hours is approved by PDD. For example, PDD will approve a CSW1 to work evenings during the week at a specific rate, and a Team Leader to work 40 hours per week at a different rate. When the invoice is paid by Government as per our contract, then we can pay our employees. The Government and Senior Management at Skills work to make sure this is seamless and won’t cause interruptions to payroll at Skills.

PDD budget basics • PDD(Government) sets the rates of each position that can be budgeted- CSW1, CSW2, Team Leader, Awake Nights and Sleep Nights.

• Each rate set by PDD includes 12% benefits. Our actual costs for benefits at Skills is closer to 15-16% for each position because, not only does this pay mandatory required portions of Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Employment Insurance (EI), Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB), etc.…but we have additional benefits many agencies don’t, including Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) matching for eligible employees, no cost to employee health spending accounts, long term disability, etc. These are benefits we want to continue to provide to be an employer of choice and treat our employees well. But it means we have to find alternative ways of funding the gap in order to provide these benefits.

There are a variety of activities that happen in support environments that can adversely affect budgets and if not watched out for and corrected, will cause more spending than is budgeted for in the support environment. This will cause overspending and deficits.

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What about Skills Society’s wage grid?

Skills Society has a wage grid along with a wage level assignment formula that is used to place employees on the grid of hourly wage rates for each of the CSW1, CSW2, Awake Night, and Team Leader positions we are funded for through the individual budgets set by PDD for each person we serve. Sleep Night rates are not on a grid and are set by PDD. A wage grid is a common practice in organizations and strives to honour education, related experience in the sector, and years of experience in the sector. It aims to help create competitive wages in the job market. At present Skills Society pays near the top in the sector for non-profit CSW1 positions. We agree and know this is still not enough.

But unfortunately, PDD has not provided any increases since 2014.

When you might hear of colleagues or people working in other similar organizations and making more at entry level, it is likely due to being more a nursing care organization and having Health system funding (such as Health Care AidHCA funding). That is a totally different ministry and funding system and focuses on basic nursing care support not on community disability supports. The individuals we support are not eligible for funding from Health. Those are different systems and funding sources.

As stated in Skills Policy – Employee Compensation, employee wages are limited by available funding allocations. Compensation is based on the position classification as set out in the Alberta Council of Disability Services (ACDS) Workforce Compensation System.

Required skills sets and job responsibilities are also considered. Based on budget allocation, employees are provided pay increments. That means that Skills Society is not able to provide wage increments unless PDD provides us with a sustainable increase in funding.

There is not much margin to work with on our wage grid based on what PDD has provided us since 2014. Based on funding allocations, Skills wage grid differentials where some employees will be at or near the top of a grid and some will be at the entry level allows the agency to be able to make up the difference between the PDD funded and actual cost of our benefits for each position.

This all means that non-profit Government contracted organizations like Skills Society have only ever been able to provide sustainable percentage wage increases to all Sleep Night, Awake Night, CSW1, CSW2, and Team Leaders when the Government has provided it.

Up to and including in 2014, when sustainable increases have come, each position deemed eligible for the increase

by PDD received the percentage increase.

What the Skills Society Board and Leadership believes around wage issues in our sector Remember these are not partisan issues and we don’t align with any particular political party. We need proper wages so that people with disabilities can be safe and supported properly.

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Everyone in the sector deserves to be fairly compensated and raises are needed! ASAP! Not having a wage increase since 2014 doesn’t happen in any other sector. It is unfair, doesn’t help workers keep up with inflation and general cost of living and government of Alberta needs to fix that immediately There needs to be immediate short term fixes to the wage issue and a longer-term strategy to rebuild the education institutions that can build the knowledge, skills and competencies required to support people to not just survive but thrive, belong and have the same opportunities as any other citizen Across the province in disability services there are major issues with staff recruitment and retention that is unprecedented. The main cause of this issue is staff wages. If the wage issue is not fixed by Government soon this could put people we serve into crisis from not having staffing. It’s already happening in some parts of the province It’s becoming harder to find and recruit staff with deep knowledge of disability rights and history and how to support community connections and belonging and this can result in quality of support diminishing

We also believe your choice to work in this sector and serve people with disabilities is deeply meaningful and important work that makes lives and our communities better. You deserve to be fairly compensated.

To learn more about the sector and wage issues go to www.adwa.ca and www.acds.ca

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Now Let’s Learn From Key Milestones in Skills Society’s History

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1900s Systemic Institutionalization and Eugenics in Canada Many people with disabilities are forced to live in institutions away from their families and community.

1970s

Emergence of Disability Rights and Deinstitutionalization Families speak out against institutionalization and the exclusion and negative treatment of people with disabilities.

Key Learning People with disabilities deserve the same rights as every other citizen. Dehumanization and oppression can emerge despite actions being well intentioned for the greater good.

Key Learning Grassroot movements build and lead to change.

1980s Community Living Movement

1981: Skills Society is born Then called The Society for Knowledge in Learning Living Skills, Skills Society was started by families and was a key player in supporting people in moving from institutions to community. In the beginning Skills Society supported 25 people.

Key Learning People deserve good lives in community filled with dignity, respect, and rights.

Exploring different support models Jewell Manor, Avenwood, Kiwanis Place From the beginning we have strived to provide supports that are responsive to people’s needs. As we’ve learned along the way our models of support have evolved.

Key Learning Artificial settings are not as rich for learning as real life, important to meet people where they are at.

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1990s Rights and Responsibilities

Developing the “Rights We Want” Document This document was created by people with disabilities and outlines the rights and responsibilities they want. The document continues to be foundational to our work today.

2000s

Engaged Citizenship, Art Activism, and Grassroots Community Development

Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts Key Learning Everyone has rights and responsibilities.

People with disabilities deserve the same rights as any other citizen.

Self Advocacy Movement

Skills Society helped launch the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts. A place for artists with disabilities to make their mark as engaged citizens.

Key Learning Art and activism is an inclusive and countercultural way of change making.

People with disabilities claim their right to be recognized active citizens, coming together to organize, share stories, and advocate for social change.

Take Six Productions & Through the Eyes of Artists Film Project Key Learning The good life is different for everyone. It is important to ask people with disabilities themselves what they want and envision for their life.

The people we support, with their allies, created short films exploring, inclusion, belonging, citizenship and rights.

These projects were about creating video stories that told influential decision makers not to forget about people with disabilities and showed them important considerations from the perspectives of people with disabilities.

Key Learning Films make stories more inclusive for folks who struggle to read and write and stories can be a powerful agent of change to elicit empathy and influence policy making.

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2010s Social Innovation

Created the Senior Leader of Organizational Learning Role

Person Centered Planning and Learning Communities Keeping a person we support at the center of planning and decision making has been present from the start.

Skills Society went deep into learning and spreading person centered practices. We created training, stewarded learning communities and action research.

Key Learning It is important and complex work to steward meaningful goal planning and our person centred approach to planning must never be lost at Skills.

This role was unique for a non-profit and helped with intentionally stewarding a robust culture of creativity and innovation in order to explore how we can continually improve our practices as an organization in order to provide better support to people and their families.

Key Learning Innovation culture building is delicate and long game work. Need a role to help steward good ideas to emerge from anywhere within the organization.

Project Citizenship The people we support, University of Alberta students, and staff from Skills Society came together to explore the notion of citizenship and ways to remove barriers that limit citizenship and full participation for individuals with disabilities. Begin to be recognized internationally for our work and are featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Key Learning Stories of citizenship bring an important sense of pride to folks we serve. Stories inspire, however sustained behaviour change of supports may not be nudged along by stories alone.

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2010s Social Innovation

Action Lab A social enterprise of Skills Society, the Action Lab creates opportunities for creative community collaborations to tackle complex social challenges.

Key Learning Seeking Creative Collaborations and Embracing Complexity are especially vibrant through our Action Lab. Creation of the lab was a tipping point for solidifying an innovation culture at Skills and opened up opportunities to influence systemic change making in support of marginalized populations.

MyCompass Planning Skills Society, in partnership with others, creates a game changing social innovation that humanizes case management and improves the quality of life of people receiving supports through human service organizations.

Robust Training & Complex Needs Support Skills Society invests in supporting more in depth training for employees. Funding for adequate training of supports is not enough, but Skills goes the extra mile to provide better training to employees through Mandt training, Keeping People Safe, and the creation of Skills Illustrated. Skills also creates a role that focuses on training and supporting the organization to navigate support of folks with complex needs.

Key Learning Training like Mandt that focuses on healthy relationship building is key to systemically ensuring quality supports.

Melcor Housing Collaboration Innovative collaboration with the YMCA to support safe and inclusive housing for people with complex needs living in the inner city of Edmonton experiencing marginalization.

Key Learning Living our values and making it easier to put individuals at the helm of their lives.

Designing positive interactions between staff and folks served with the aid of MyCompass can be a promising systems change tool.

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Key Learning Being part of creating innovative housing models that support community connectedness of people served and allow people to receive support when they need it on their terms, opens up improved quality of life pathways for folks with complex needs.

REFLECTION MOMENT What resonated? What are one or two things that resonated from our Skills Society history that you want to make sure to remember and communicate to others when asked about Skills Society?

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Learning About Disability Movements in Alberta’s History

Key Movements in Disability Rights History To Be Aware of Below is a summary of key disability movements in Alberta in the last 50 years. It’s important to recognize this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding the evolution of disability rights in Alberta - these brief summaries have been designed to be short and accessible, offering key points to help leaders on the ground working alongside people with disabilities. They do not capture the nuance and depth of each of these movements that have been elaborated upon within disability studies by activists, scholars, and changemakers over several decades. They also did not happen in isolation or one after another - many of them have and continue to take place at the same time and influence one another. If you’re interested in a deeper dive we’ve provided some links and resources to get you started.

Interested in a deeper dive and learning more?

Check out additional resources here:

Leadership Workbook

Where ideas for these movements have mostly come from until recently For about 50 years, many of the disability rights movements were influenced and shaped by diverse perspectives. Some of these included: • • • • • • • •

Lived experience of families and people with disabilities wanting change Grassroots community organizing ideas (Saul Alinsky) Paulo Friere and Critical Pedagogy Influence from the Civil Rights, and Women’s liberation movements of the 60s and 70s in North America Social Role Valorization (Wolf Wolfensberger) 1975 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons Asset Based Community Development (John McKnight) Learning organization and community of practice theories for changemaking (Peter Senge, Margaret Wheatley, Etienne Wenger)

“People we serve, whether directly requesting or not - are asking all of us by nature of being supported by Skills to not become complacent nor settle. We are all being called to keep striving to support people we serve to make life the best that’s possible - and what’s possible can often be expanded by leaders who have a conviction that the good life is for everyone no matter what.”

- Ben Weinlick

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Institutionalization and Eugenics Before we take a look at some of the key movements in disability rights in Alberta, it is important to pause and acknowledge why these rights movements have, and continue to be needed. These rights movements have been necessary because of a collective history of treating people with developmental disabilities as less than human, and in terrible ways, in the not-so-distant-past. Alberta has a dark history of institutionalization (forcing people to live in large groups and harsh living conditions away from their families) and eugenics (forcing people to be sterilized and preventing people from having children). Although institutionalization and eugenics are no longer actively happening in Alberta, some of the remnants of these ideas, discriminatory attitudes, and false beliefs around what people with developmental disabilities can do and have rights to, still exist today. This is why movements like the ones described below still exist and are important as we continue to advocate for people with disabilities to be seen and valued as citizens just like anyone else.

De-institutionalization and Community Living Movements The ideas of deinstitutionalization and community living began to surface in Alberta in the 1970s out of a growing recognition that institutions are no place for people to live, that they create space for abuse and other harms to happen, and that people with developmental disabilities deserve the same rights and treatment as any other Albertan. A key focus during this time was helping adults with developmental disabilities move from large congregate care facilities and institutions to live in regular homes in community alongside all other citizens. This was a grassroots movement, started and led mostly by families who wanted more for their children. Several different support organizations, some of which still exist today (including Skills Society), were started during this time to support people in the move from institutions to regular houses in neighborhoods.

Challenges we’re still grappling with: Even with the values of community living well established today, there can still be ‘mini institutions’ embedded in neighborhoods where people still don’t really have a vibrant home life, much choice in who they live with, or control over what their life looks like. It can feel like their home is still a medical-like setting, rather than a real home where medical needs and belonging needs are equally supported and centered.

At Skills Society, we strive to show the values of the community living movement in our work. We do not run group homes. We support people who live in their own homes. We don’t have facilities with ‘beds to fill’. Based on approved funding from PDD, we help people meet potential roommates, decide if there is a match and they want to live together, and work with them to find a good living arrangement that suits the wishes and needs of all roommates.

Family Movement In institutions, often families were told they didn’t know how to support their loved one and only medical facilities could meet the needs of their loved ones. Before the 1980s it was very hard to question this assumption and children and adults with disabilities ended up not being allowed by the system to be raised at home or to live in community.

One of the big drivers of deinstitutionalization was families of people with developmental disabilities who wanted their loved ones to live in regular community neighborhoods.

What living outside the institution looked like was different for each person - sometimes this meant being supported to live with a family member in their home, or sometimes it meant people living in their own home while still seeing and connecting with family.

Challenges we’re still grappling with: Sometimes our current systems expect families to have to do everything forever for a loved one with a developmental disability. This is not sustainable, nor how most families engage with adult family members without disabilities.

Often a parent has to be a parent in addition to a team leader, manager of contracted services, hiring HR person, payroll admin, and support staff to their son or daughter.

Collectively as a service system, we struggle with how we can have a system that allows family members to be family members, creates space for individual autonomy and for families to be supported in co-creating hopes, and support systems alongside a loved one. Sometimes there can also be challenges if the wishes of an adult with a developmental disability are quite different from their parent or guardian.

In addition, some people with disabilities don’t have family to help and so we need to support people to make close connections with unpaid supports and allies through community connections.

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Normalization and Social Role Valorization Movements Normalization, also known as social role valorization (SRV) was a group of ideas that was developed from the work of Wolf Wolfensberger in the 70s and 80s. These ideas shaped many supports and services during these times and pieces of SRV can still be seen in supports and services today. In particular SRV underlies much of the early disability family movements and some of the values underpinning SRV are still very much present in training workshops and resources available to families today.

A basic tenet of role-valorizing efforts is the notion that the good things any society has to offer are more easily accessible to people who have valued social roles (e.g. son/daughter, employee, neighbor, community leader).

Helping marginalized people have more socially valued roles was seen as a way towards people being afforded the same privileges others with valued roles in society enjoy.

Helping people find valued social roles includes things like helping people find their gifts and contribute those in a meaningful way in places where they live, work, and play.

In general, the idea of helping people find their gifts and contribute those is still in practice and a good thing today.

It’s important to recognize that SRV did help in early days to get supports and systems to think about not putting people with disabilities into devalued and dehumanizing jobs such as sheltered workshops where people would make only a few pennies a day for quite involved labor. There is still merit in thinking about supporting meaningful roles people can contribute and take part in. When we ask ourselves, are people with disabilities enjoying lives pretty much like any other citizen, in terms of work, education, home life, participation in the community and so on, we are asking good questions that have roots in role valorization ideas of the 70s and 80s.

Challenges we’re still grappling with: A key critique of SRV is that it’s based on the notion that the person has to adapt to society to fit in, rather than society having to adapt and uproot discriminatory assumptions about disability. Some of the ideas in SRV can push people to adhere to assumptions of what is “socially normal” or valued in society and then make people with disabilities adapt to meet these assumed static norms of society.

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This is usually at the expense of people being welcomed and celebrated for who they are on their own terms.

Wolfensberger called this “normal” - the “culturally valued analog”. In SRV there is often a search for how to make people with disabilities more like the culturally valued analogs in society. This can leave out many unique identities and interests and assumes there is a static and privileged definition of what is socially valued as “normal”.

At Skills we strive to help people find their gifts and interests, contribute those in unique ways, and be valued for who people are, as they are. So, yes, we should help people find meaningful roles based on their unique gifts. Defining what a meaningful role is though, should be co-created by a person with a disability, their supports, and informed by ideas in the culture and society the person lives in. tangible example: We shouldn’t be too quick to A assume that a person we support can’t work and can only volunteer forever. If the person wants to work, we can get creative in helping see possibilities for that person to contribute in different and unique ways to a workplace. Perhaps they can work, but the way they show up in the workplace might look a little different and that’s ok.

Self-Advocacy Movements The voice of people with developmental disabilities is often not heard in key decisions that affect their lives.

Although many folks might need advocates and allies to speak up for their interests, the self advocacy movement that started in the 80s/90s really aims to empower people with developmental disabilities to assemble, learn about their rights, speak up, and create advocacy campaigns around key issues they face. The Self Advocacy Federation in Edmonton and the Disability Action Hall in Calgary are examples of collectives of self-advocates coming together to work on systemic issues. Self advocates helped to develop our foundational “Rights We Want!” document that is reviewed every year by people we support, staff and families at Skills.

Challenges we’re still grappling with: Some folks still need allies to help them communicate needs, wishes and ideas. How can we get more creative to listen and be attentive to wishes and needs of folks with developmental disabilities who can’t as easily communicate ideas? Historically, some within the family movement have not always been supportive of self advocacy groups. This stems from a belief in family movement perspectives that people with disabilities should be embedded and included in all types of justice movements (e.g. movements around racism, feminist movements, etc.), not “segregated” in a disability only movement. At Skills, we see a need for both inclusion in any type of interest group a person with a disability wants to be involved in, and also that people with developmental disabilities may want to be part of collectives of only people with developmental disabilities to share kinship, community, and be supported.

Person-First Language Movement Being attentive to the language we use is important.

Language can help liberate or oppress people as language conveys often hidden assumptions we need to be more aware of. In the old medical model perspectives on disability, people with developmental disabilities were often seen as just their disability or just a label the medical system put on people (for example people were wrongly referred to

as “handicapped”, or “down syndrome girl”). These systems often saw developmental disability as something to cure or fix and this too often dehumanized people as it implied that people were not good enough as they were. These older medical model systems and ways of thinking tend to omit the human being trying to have a good life, like any other citizen.

In the 90s there began to emerge what was called a personfirst language movement. In this movement instead of referring to people as, for example, an “autistic person” or “down syndrome person”, there began to be a shift towards focussing on the person, not their disability label.

So, for example, if you are using person-first language you would say “person with autism”, or a “person with down syndrome”. This person-first language continues to be used frequently today and is generally considered to be a respectful way of talking about the experience of disability in Canada.

Other, different types of language movements have grown since person first language emerged. For example, you might have heard of ‘identity language’. This has emerged from some groups of people who experience disability who don’t feel like person-first language fits with how they experience disability. In identity first movements people who experience disability reclaim their disability identity saying it is an important part of who they are and that they do not want to be distanced from it (in contrast to person first movements). In these movements people have reclaimed their disability label and want to show others that they are proud of their disability. Examples of identity first language might be someone identifying as an “autistic” or “crip”.

At Skills Society, we generally use person-first language when it is necessary to identify a person as having a disability or we use the language that people want us to use. A good practice is to pause and think for a moment and consider if it is even necessary to identify the person as having a disability when talking about them. Sometimes it

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is, but oftentimes it’s not! Often it is sufficient to just use someone’s name or refer to them as a person just like you would anyone else. For example “We support Jimmy” or “I support people in their homes” rather than “my patient” or “my client” or “I support a consumer of service”. At Skills we try hard not to refer to people and where they live as programs (e.g. Program 45B), instead we use language like: “We support Jimmy, Suzie and Bill in their own home on the west end of town”.

Challenges we’re still grappling with: Identity first language doesn’t work for everyone. Some folks with developmental disabilities don’t have the ability to understand and choose for themselves what language they want to be used to describe their experience of disability. In these situations, a good practice is to lean towards person-first language as it is generally considered a respectful way to talk about disability. Another important piece is that advocates and allies can’t really reclaim labels on behalf of other people, only folks with lived experience of disability can. The key thing to remember is to be respectful of how someone prefers to refer to themselves and to always see the humanity and dignity in everyone. Treat people the way you would want to be treated. Call people by their name or how they ask to be referred to.

Person-Centered Practice Movement In the past, but still happening today, people with disabilities were left out of important conversations and decisions that affected their lives. Person-centered practice or sometimes called person-directed planning strives to ensure all disability service planning, policies, procedures, and evaluation are informed by and responsive to the needs of the people whose lives they impact. Learning about this and changing systems to center the voice of people more, became a movement in disability service organizations in the early 90s until present. Skills Society even has this embedded in our culture as one of our 5 core values and helped create MyCompass Planning which is all about centering this value and practice in the daily support of people. Today PDD government policy even states that service plans have to be person centered and the voices of people served and families centered in planning processes.

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Challenges we’re still grappling with: Person-centered practice always starts from asking people we serve what they and their families might want support to look like for them. Asking what a good life looks like to them and figuring out ways to support them in their own unique way that works for them. What can be tricky is if people with developmental disabilities struggle to communicate needs, hopes, and wishes, we have to get creative to learn what might motivate people, what people might like and not like, and what might help them live to their fullest. If people can’t tell us what they might like in life, it can be easy for systems to just settle and stick to basic care without helping people explore and try new things to learn about themselves. Striking the balance of supporting existing needs, while also helping to broaden horizons and try new things will always need to be reflected on when supporting people. Our MyCompass Planing Labs, MyCompass Missions, and Videos in MyCompass all help everyone to learn about person centered practices and get ideas on how to support broadening horizons. Please take the time to look at the videos for each planning pillar in MyCompass.

Disability and Sexuality Movements There has long been assumptions and prejudice in attitudes around sexuality and people with developmental disabilities. Sex and sexuality is a big part of being human for most people and equally important to many people with disabilities in the world. Often families and support workers find it awkward to acknowledge and know how to respectfully and safely navigate supporting someone to explore safe relationships and sexuality. This is very sad as one of the more common things that people with developmental disabilities say they want in order to make their lives better is having a partner and exploration of romantic relationships. Our systems, and services have historically not been well equipped to support people with relationships and healthy sexuality. When there were still post secondary programs around disability and community living, a big emphasis in those programs was equipping graduates with knowledge to understand the stigma

surrounding these issues and how to safely advocate and support people with disabilities who want to pursue romantic relationships.

Challenges we’re still grappling with: It is easy for systems and services to ignore and brush under the rug requests for support to explore romantic relationships, and sex education. If a parent or guardian doesn’t want their son/daughter to explore relationships even if their loved one really wants to, it can be easy for service systems to justify ignoring requests from people they serve because their guardian doesn’t want them to pursue further. With post secondary education programs now all closed, many staff are not trained and equipped to navigate these tough conversations and help people advocate for their right to explore relationships safely.

With social media and dating apps and the potential for exploitation of people with developmental disabilities, sex education and safety is especially important nowadays. At Skills we are exploring further potential training for staff and people we support to take, but funding for this type of training is rarely supported by our Government funder.

At present, within Skills, talking about how to respectfully navigate this important but tricky area is best had with a manager. There is also a good video on MyCompass under the relationships pillar that shows up for everyone when creating a new plan. The video highlights principles to consider in safely supporting romantic relationships in this area.

Engaged Citizenship Movements In the late 90s and early 2000s, movements began around looking at rights, and developmental disability through the lens of citizenship. Here citizenship is meant more broadly than just membership to a country. Here citizenship refers to our roles as active citizens in our communities - being neighbors, contributors, and leaders. Too often people with developmental disabilities were/are treated as second class citizens. By exploring with people with disabilities what being valued as a full citizen means, it helped to co-create knowledge around what people, systems and disability support services should focus on to help people be seen, heard and valued as full citizens. Inherent in the citizenship movement was that there is not one perfect definition of full citizenship, but that what a good life as a full citizen means is always being co-created with people with disabilities.

Skills Society embraced and led around this movement

for many years. We had initiatives like Project Citizenship that was internationally recognized for explorations of citizenship and disability. In project citizenship - people with disabilities, Skills support workers, and University of Alberta students and professors explored what being a citizen can mean and documented many types of stories that illustrated ideas that people with disability recognized as important in supporting full citizenship. Check out the stories from this work here:

Leadership Workbook

Challenges we’re still grappling with: Sometimes people get confused by the word citizenship and think it is referring to membership to a country (for example being a Canadian Citizen). But in this approach citizenship is meant more broadly as how we all are citizens - active members of our communities. People also often longed for clear definitions and principles of supporting citizenship and got confused by the complex idea of always striving to co-create knowledge of what citizenship means and looks like. Fast forward to today and we have a really decent model embedded in our work around 4 key principles of supporting citizenship. In the model there is still lots of room for co-creating knowledge of what a person we serve feels being valued as a full citizen looks like for them. Stories of engaged citizenship did help to overturn negative stereotypes and showed how we can’t settle for just supporting good enough lives.

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Accessibility Movements So much of our built environment, services and systems were not, and still are not, built to be accessible and inclusive of people with physical and developmental disabilities. Accessibility can be defined as the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be inclusive and usable by people with disabilities.

Accessibility is strongly related to universal design which is the process of creating things and environments where there is access for the widest possible range of abilities and situations. Physical disability rights advocates have worked for decades to get simple policies and practices in place so that for example there are wheelchair accessible bathrooms in public spaces, no step entrances, and curb cuts so that people using wheelchairs or with other mobility impairments can easily move about a neighborhood or town.

Challenges we’re still grappling with: A common assumption held by people is that accessibility work is around things like architecture and making physical environments more accessible (for example advocating for ramps, no step entrances, and accessible bathrooms).

Although these are important parts of accessibility work, they are not the whole picture. More recently some advocates and scholars have been talking about access rather than accessibility. In doing so they are trying to broaden thinking around accessibility to include more than just the physical accessibility of a space. They advocate for things like the cultural and social environments to also be considered when talking about accessibility - how attitudes, language, and approaches also need to be shifted to make all people feel more welcome in spaces. They also draw attention to the disabilities that can be often left out of conversations around accessibility like people with developmental disabilities or those with sensory disabilities (e.g. people who are blind or Deaf). They advocate for things like using simple plain language, slowing down the speed at which content is delivered, offering closed captioning, and visual alarms as additional important parts of accessibility.

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Disability Justice Movements Although people may have used terms like Disability Justice throughout the 70s until today, in the last 5 to 10 years and popularized through social media, Disability Justice is associated nowadays with particular activist ideas that have their core roots in critical theories, and intersectionality.

One difference from earlier grassroot movements is this newer movement grew mostly out of critical theories within academia in Humanities departments of Universities around the world. More recently these ideas are mixing in community among advocates, activists, and disabled scholars taking up the ideas in community activist circles.

The ideas of current disability justice formed in response to a recognition that disability rights movements are sometimes not enough to bring about the kinds of change people with disabilities need. For example, rights can give people access to spaces, but they cannot guarantee that someone will feel a sense of belonging in that space as a colleague and friend. They recognize that while rights are a really important part to the puzzle, there is also deeper social and cultural work that needs to be done to help to continue to shift attitudes and perceptions around disability. Disability justice movements are generally anchored in intersectionality, and equity ideas. Equity means giving people whatever they need to thrive even if it is more or less than the next person. This is different from equality where the idea is to give everyone the same treatment. Disability justice tries to help people recognize that it’s not fair to treat everyone the same, when different marginalized groups are discriminated against differently, and have different privileges and needs. Drawing on intersectionality this movement tries to recognize people as experiencing multiple, often interconnected types of oppression and believes it beneficial to have all justice(equity) seeking groups work together for justice for all. Disability justice movements also mix in a number of different theories and ideas, including ableism and disablism, to help explain why people with disabilities continue to face discrimination, prejudice, and poor treatment. Ableism and disablism are terms used

to describe the systematic discrimination of people with disabilities. Ableism and disablism can help us see the ways the world has been built for people who do not experience disability and is therefore often exclusionary to people with disabilities. Ableism can help point to, often hidden, ways people with disabilities are disadvantaged.

Challenges we’re still grappling with: Many of the theories talked about within this movement (e.g. intersectionality and ableism) are complex and can be difficult for people with intellectual disabilities to understand and also difficult to understand how they might be relevant to practice and things happening on the ground in support of people with disabilities. Sometimes disability justice approaches can also lean towards shaming call-out culture that do not create space for people who are maybe at the start of their learning journey about disability rights to learn and grow. There is also a tension in that when asking all equity seeking groups to come together and work together, it can end up leaving out important immediate issues of specific groups. It is quite hard to get people to work on one cause let alone all causes in unison. There can also be a challenge with this movement around activists squashing individual ideas and perspectives in favor of representing the collective good of the whole. This can cause conflict, in-fighting among activists and ironically - suppression of unique voices and perspectives. It is still early days with this movement and lots being explored and worked out.

conviction of not settling has been there in all disability rights and justice movements from the beginning.

With our beautiful vision, values, and guiding principles at Skills remember to continuously ask yourself, have you settled for good enough? Have you done enough to help remove barriers? Have you and a team gotten creative enough to help people find their gifts, strengths and ways to meaningfully contribute them in unique ways in the community? Have we settled for good enough in supporting belonging of people? Have we done enough to help people discover and sustain real friendships and supports in community?

Challenges we’re grappling with: Figuring out how to continuously spark that conviction in yourself, your team(s) and movements you contribute to is key in being a stellar ally of people with disabilities we serve. As much as we would like to mandate a conviction like this to never settle, it’s really up to you and whether you find it and bring it to life everyday in your support of people.

People we serve, whether directly requesting or not- are asking all of us by nature of being supported by Skills to not become complacent nor settle. We are all being called to keep striving to support people we serve to make life the best that’s possible - and what’s possible can often be expanded by people who have a conviction that the good life is for everyone no matter what.

Good Enough Isn’t Enough - Not Settling, Always Striving for the Good Life The common theme in all disability rights movements has been families, self-advocates, front line and system leaders who have held a deep belief that good enough isn’t enough - there is a conviction in these movements that we all have a duty to not become complacent or settle. We have to do everything possible to help people have their best lives possible like any other citizen is afforded in society today.

Although we have just started to articulate what this energy is that unites us (see 2022 AGM report), we recognize this

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ACTIVITY 2B History of Disability Rights and Justice Reflection Take some time to reflect on the disability movements in Alberta’s history and answer the following questions.

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What actions can you take? Is there something you want to learn more about? What are some ways you can make sure this knowledge and history is not lost? What are some ways you can support people we serve to keep learning about their rights and responsibilities?

What can’t we forget? What’s something you sense from disability rights and justice history that we can’t forget as we move into the future?

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EXPLORATION #3:

YOUR VALUES AND SKILLS SOCIETY’S VALUES 25 min

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Reflecting on Your Own Values Values are beliefs and principles that are important to us and guide our decision making. Reflecting on your work with Skills Society, what personal values do you bring with you? What values do you want others (your team and fellow colleagues, or the organization) to recognize and acknowledge?

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ACTIVITY 3A

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1.

First, review the list of values. If there are values missing, add them to the blank spaces.

2.

Put check marks next to the five values that you bring that you feel are most important for your work with Skills Society.

Autonomy Authenticity Attentiveness/Mindfulness Belonging Challenges Communication Community Compassion Competence Contribution Courage Creativity Curiosity Decisiveness Dependability Determination Diversity Effectiveness Empathy

Equality Family Flexibility Friendship Freedom Growth Happiness Health Honesty/Integrity Hope Humor Humility Independence Innovation Intelligence Kindness Learning Open-Mindedness Passion

Patience Productivity Quality Recognition Respect Risk Taking Security Service Strength Teamwork Trust Truth Variety Wisdom _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________

Adapted from Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. (2017) The Leadership Challenge Workbook

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Exploring Skills Society’s Values Skills Society has a set of organizational values that guide the work we collectively do and helps keep us focused and inspired. Think back to the journey metaphor on page 16. Skills Society’s values are part of what each crew member on the ship needs to know and practice in order to be able to lead, set the sails properly and keep everyone on course towards our destination - a community where everyone is a valued citizen.

PRACTICE IN PERSON-CENTRED WAYS

We never forget to keep the voices of those we serve at the centre of our planning and practices.

Why it Matters In the past, people with disabilities were left out of important conversations that affected their lives. We believe that our planning, policies, procedures, and pathways are more effective when they are informed by and responsive to the needs of the people whose lives they impact.

Take a moment to read through Skills Society’s values:

EMBRACE COMPLEXITY

We know that supporting people’s citizenship is complex. Through creativity, determination and collaboration we can tackle any challenge.

Why it Matters Helping people with disabilities live fulfilling lives is not an easy, straightforward road. It is complex work - from the needs of the people we serve to the interconnected policies that shape their world. Rather than shy away from these challenges, we meet them head-on with creativity, determination and collective effort.

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SEEK CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS

BUILD AND SHARE KNOWLEDGE

By working with others, we build a stronger community of neighbours, leaders and advocates.

In order to continually improve the support we provide, we’re not afraid to learn from others and try new ideas.

Why it Matters We believe that real social change comes from collective effort. By sharing resources and working closely with other like-minded organizations, we raise the voice of the disability community and take a leading role in building more inclusive communities.

Why it Matters In order to become better problem solvers, we work hard to learn through our actions and study excellence in others. We are committed to trying new ideas, seeking input on our work, and building a learning organization each and every day.

ADAPT & EVOLVE

We build our supports to adapt to the unique needs of each person. At the same time, we strive to shift our services and priorities to meet changing times.

Why it Matters Life is full of change. We know that if our strategies and systems are too rigid and static, we risk our services becoming less useful or relevant. Instead, we are stronger when we are more agile in responding to changing contexts and uncertain times.

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Personal Value

E.g. Communication

ACTIVITY 3B Is There Alignment?

Now think about your personal values and how they relate to Skills Society’s values. For where you see one of your values lining up with a Skills value, put them next to each other in the boxes below.

Say a couple reasons why you see a link between one of your values and a Skills value. You decide how and in what ways they might link!

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Skills Society’s Values Practice in person-centered ways

How do you see the link(s)?

E.g. I value clear communication and feeling heard and understood. I bring this value to my work of supporting people with disabilities in person centered ways - I strive to listen to the people I serve and their families and ensure they also feel heard and understood.

Practice in person-centred ways

Seeking creative collaborations

Build and share knowledge

Embrace complexity

Adapt and evolve

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REFLECTION MOMENT If you have a personal value that does not align with a Skills Society value, take some time to reflect and determine how you might resolve the tension. Kouzes & Posner (2017) offer insights on how you might do this: “One way to find a better fit between your personal values and those of the organization is to engage in a dialogue with your manager.

Another way is to talk it over with your family or a close colleague. Sometimes we find that the conflict is a result of a lack of clarity, and sometimes it’s because we can’t figure out how to meet our needs and the organization’s at the same time. Whatever the root cause, you must address the conflict. You cannot be a good role model of what the organization values if you are not fully on board with the values of the organization” (p. 39).

Adapted from Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. (2017) The Leadership Challenge Workbook

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Check the box that fits best at present.

I ’m good! I see links and alignment between my values and Skills Society’s values. I’m on board with representing Skills’ values and see how my own values will support my work as well. I’m ready to move on to the next exploration H mmm. I see some tensions and big differences between my values and Skills Society’s values. Below, write down how you will address the differences in a good way that honors your integrity and personal values and allows you to be on board to represent Skills’ values in your work with people with disabilities:

Skills Society Sees Leadership as Being a Steward of Skills Society’s Vision and Core Values What this looks like in action…

•

Grow awareness of what our core values can look like in action - All Skills employees participate in some immersion training around our core values through the Skills Illustrated course that all employees are required to take upon hire. Reading and filling out this workbook is helping too!

•

Be role models by leading by example - People we serve, families and our colleagues are watching and looking to see if we can be trusted by our behaviour. We are all expected to act professionally. When mistakes are made, all Skills employees are expected to own their mistakes, learn from them, and take corrective action. This will result in continuous improvement, both as individuals and as a team.

•

Individual team contributions to Skills Society’s values - Having a team conversation about ‘who we are, what we stand for, and how we will show this to the world’ is an important component of becoming a high performing team. Conversations with team members about how their individual contributions contribute to the larger goals of the team is motivating and becomes an easy way to develop annual goals as employees. At Skills Society, we strive for all of our teams to be made up of high performing leaders.

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Applying Skills Society’s Values in Action At Skills Society we lead through our values. Our values are deep and not just simple slogans that can easily be remembered. In recent years we’ve added principles of what each value can look like in action to make them clearer. These identified actions are just some of the ways our values can show up in daily work.

Take a moment to read through some examples of what our Skills Society values can look like in action:

PRACTICE IN PERSON-CENTRED WAYS What this looks like in action • We focus our services around the lived experiences of the people we support • We plan our services in creative and engaging ways in order to make them meaningful and relevant • We ensure our solutions are the most empowering, least intrusive and safest for the people affected • We build and strengthen healthy relationships in everything we do • We work equally to solve big picture problems and onthe-ground needs

SEEK CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS

What this looks like in action • We treat invitations to collaborate as opportunities to help achieve our vision and mission • We use the Action Lab and other initiatives to open up relationships and spur innovative ideas • We look beyond our organization for new and different ways to achieve our vision • We place trust at the centre of any relationship – because that’s what enables collaboration • We embrace the sometimes slower nature of collaborative work when it is necessary

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BUILD AND SHARE KNOWLEDGE

What this looks like in action • We actively seek out new knowledge and view continuous learning as essential to our role as leaders • We learn through reflecting on our actions and studying the work of others • We strive to mix solutions that are old, new and sometimes surprising • We generously share what we build and learn with others

EMBRACE COMPLEXITY

ADAPT & EVOLVE

What this looks like in action • We stay razor focused on our vision and mission yet flexible in how we pursue them • We constantly scan our world – inside and out – to identify opportunities and barriers for our work • We boldly seek out new insights – even failures – and adapt our work to reflect our learning • We promote clear and constant communication to enable us to pivot quickly if required • We adjust and revisit decisions when new information is presented or as political, social, and environmental contexts shift • We remain open to new solutions in the face of changing times • We listen deeply to understand what is really going on and what is needed

What this looks like in action • We experiment with multiple ways to address tough issues in order to improve the chances we find a solution • We embrace ambiguity, difficulty and tension as opportunities for creative thinking and innovative responses • We are comfortable knowing that measuring success in our work is not an exact science with clear answers • We are relentless but patient in our efforts to navigate and make progress on tough issues

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I can bring the value Practice in Person-Centered Ways to life through the following actions…

I can bring the value Seek Creative Collaborations to life through the following actions …

Additional ideas of ways I can bring this value to life...

Additional ideas of ways I can bring this value to life...

ACTIVITY 3C Take some time to reflect on our values and in what ways you can bring them to life in your everyday life. Jot down your reflections in your own words in the first row of reflection spaces.

As you learn, come back to these reflections over time and add ideas.

You can do this on your own, or with a coworker to help generate ideas.

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I can bring the value Build and Share Knowledge to life through the following actions…

I can bring the value Embrace Complexity to life through the following actions…

I can bring the value Adapt and Evolve to life through the following actions…

Additional ideas of ways I can bring this value to life...

Additional ideas of ways I can bring this value to life...

Additional ideas of ways I can bring this value to life...

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EXPLORATION #4:

SUPPORTING CITIZENSHIP AND OUR ‘THRIVE IN FIVE’ APPROACH 25 min

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Our Work is Grounded in Supporting Engaged Citizenship For many of us, citizenship is something we take for granted. It can be defined in many ways, but at its core, we believe citizenship​is about our sense of value and belonging. This sense of citizenship doesn’t always extend to people with disabilities. That’s why Skills Society was formed – to provide people with disabilities with the same opportunities and choices, the same ability to share their gifts and talents, and the same sense of belonging that we all enjoy. ​Citizenship​is what we strive for every day.

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Relationships Surrounded by people who love and care for them, sharing their lives with others

To help everyone in the organization understand what we mean by this we’ve created a Citizenship Model.

This can be used as a guiding compass to help you and your team understand all that goes into supporting people’s citizenship.

Skills Society Citizenship Model It can be helpful to think about citizenship as having four different interconnected parts: Relationships, Belonging, Participation, and Rights.

Participation Meaningful things to do and places to go, the opportunity to share gifts and talents with others

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Rights Equal access to opportunities, freedom to choose, independence

Belonging Feeling valued, respected, and an important part of society

Supporting Citizenship Involves Both ‘Keeping People Safe’ and ‘Helping People Thrive’ Supporting citizenship is really complex work - it doesn’t look the same for everyone, there is no ‘recipe’ or set way of making it happen for people, and people’s ability to have inclusion and citizenship in their lives is often impacted by barriers outside of their control (things like community member attitudes, inaccessible built environments, poverty, or limited funding for support). Because citizenship is so complex, it takes a mixed approach of ‘keeping people safe’ and ‘helping people thrive’.

Helping people be safe can be things like: • Supporting personal care and personal hygiene • Helping people take their medications on time • Helping people find a good place to live • Helping people find a job and/or meaningful roles in community • Helping people discover gifts and interests that supports mental and emotional wellbeing

Striking a balance Sometimes it might seem like keeping people safe is emphasized more in your work and in policies and procedures. This is because these are very important pieces that cannot be forgotten. But we also want to remind you that the pieces around helping people thrive are equally as important and also should not be forgotten. If we truly want people to lead rich, inclusive, good lives, then we need to find a balance of ‘keeping people safe and alive’ and ‘helping people thrive’.

Helping people thrive While helping people be safe is important, it is only part of the work of supporting citizenship. Another, sometimes forgotten part of citizenship is looking beyond safety and basic needs towards how we can help people thrive.

Helping people thrive involves helping people find a sense of belonging in different groups and places, building friendships and romantic relationships with others, and helping people be aware of and empowered to act on their rights.

Keeping people safe A part of citizenship is ensuring people are safe, that their basic needs are met, and that their health is looked after.

This is very important work. Over the years, we’ve developed many different tangible processes, policies, procedures, forms, and checklists to help all of us with these pieces.

A tricky thing with these pieces is that they can be hard to measure, quantify, and evaluate. And so they aren’t easily represented in processes, policies, procedures, forms, and checklists. These more ‘informal’ pieces of supporting citizenship often take a different approach and must be actively prioritized if they are to not be forgotten.

Helping people thrive involves some of the ‘softer’ or more ‘intangible’, ‘hard to describe’ parts of your job.

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ACTIVITY 4A

What are some ideas of how you can support healthy relationships of people you serve?

Take some time to reflect on how you support engaged citizenship with the people you serve.

Jot down your reflections in your own words in the first row of reflection spaces.

As you learn, come back to these reflections over time and add ideas. You can do this on your own, or with a coworker to help generate ideas.

Additional ideas of ways I can support healthy relationships of people you serve?

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What are some ideas of how you can support the rights of people you serve?

What are some ideas of how you can support participation of people you serve?

What are some ideas of how you can support belonging in the lives of people you serve? If you get stuck, think about what actions and words help you to feel you belong and valued for who you are.

Additional ideas of ways I can support the rights of people you serve?

Additional ideas of ways I can support participation of people you serve?

Additional ideas of ways I support belonging in the lives of people you serve?

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Our ‘Thrive in Five’ Approach At Skills Society, we help people with disabilities thrive (not just survive) in five pillars of everyday life - in doing so, we help them become full citizens in our society. Our personcentred approach involves working alongside the people we support, helping them create meaningful goals and exploring opportunities for learning, growth, and inclusion.

These five pillars guide each of the services we deliver.

What this looks like: • Making a house feel like a home • Building and strengthening connections with roommates, neighbours, friends and family • Establishing healthy and meaningful routines together • Completing day-to-day tasks like budgeting and grocery shopping

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This work is complex. That is why we have created the Thrive in Five approach. It is meant to help you and your team understand all that goes into helping people thrive.

The five pillars within the Thrive in Five are:

What this looks like: • Making and sustaining friendships along with healthy, romantic relationships • Establishing social networks with friends, neighbors and colleagues • Nurturing family relationships

What this looks like: • Finding and maintaining paid employment • Developing new skills through volunteering • Pursuing education or jobrelated training

What this looks like: • Setting and attending medical appointments • Establishing healthy eating habits and exercise routines • Assisting with personal hygiene • Supporting medication management • Supporting mental and emotional wellbeing

What this looks like: • Participating in neighbourhood activities • Sharing talents with the community • Discovering fun and meaningful things to do

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ACTIVITY 4B The Thrive in Five approach came together a few years ago when striving to get clearer on what good holistic support looks like on a daily level supporting people with disabilities we serve. You’ll notice that these five pillars are also the five pillars of MyCompass that we use to support goal planning.

These are really the areas where our values can come to life in everyday situations of supporting people.

I can help people thrive in their Home Life by doing the following actions:

I can help people thrive and be supported in their Relationships by doing the following actions:

Additional ideas of ways I can help people thrive in their Home Life:

Additional ideas of ways I can help people thrive and be supported in their Relationships:

Think about the people you support currently. How can you help them thrive in each of these areas? Write some ideas in the following spaces.

As you learn, come back to these reflections over time and add ideas.

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I can help people thrive in their Employment by doing the following actions:

I can help people thrive with their Health and Wellness by doing the following actions:

I can help people thrive with their Community Connections by doing the following actions:

Additional ideas of ways I can help people thrive in their Employment:

Additional ideas of ways I can help people thrive with their Health and Wellness:

Additional ideas of ways I can help people thrive with their Community Connections:

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EXPLORATION #5:

BUILDING LEADERSHIP IN OTHERS AND FOSTERING TEAMWORK 30 min

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Skills Society Sees Leadership as Skills Society Sees Leadership Striving for Collaboration as much as Building Leadership as Possible in Others Not a top down approach as much as possible

Empower others wherever possible

What this looks like in action…

• Open communication: Communication should flow both ways and be as timely and clear as possible.

• Listen and bring people together: Employees, individuals, and families need to be free to voice their opinions and make their cases respectfully and professionally.

• Roles and scope: Be clear on roles within a given challenge a group is tackling together. Strive to be clear on what is possible to change and what is out of scope for the group to work on.

• Seek ways to bring in gifts and strengths: Whether a team or a group tackling a tough challenge together, seek to identify people’s strengths, acknowledge them and find creative ways for the group to bring them to the collaboration.

What this looks like in action...

• Recognizing and building off of each person’s strengths, talents and gifts • Helping people to easily be able to offer their talents and gifts • Empower people in our Skills Society community to be part of solution finding Healthy learning organizations are regularly nurturing good leadership practices. Engaging in team meeting conversations around what Skills Society’s vision and values looks like in action to each member can be helpful to remind and reground in the meaning of our shared organizational vision and values. Completing this workbook is part of living this leadership principle of building leadership in others.

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Skills Society Sees Leadership as Being a Team Player “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together” At Skills Society, we are a team and often we refer to being a Skills family. Leaders are expected to take interest in and be active in supporting each other, peers and the entire organization. We are an organization where it is ok to ask for help when we need it. We create a culture of gratitude and appreciation to fellow teammates and we all should step in to support each other where possible.

Characteristics of Ideal Team Members We like this simple framework from Patrick Lencioni that describes characteristics of an ideal team player- someone who is humble, smart, and hungry.

Humble - These are employees who focus on the greater good. People that are humble will own up to honest mistakes, apologize when they make them and accept apologies from others, and sincerely appreciate the strengths others bring to the table. Lencioni believes that Humility is the most important trait to being a good team player.

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Hungry - Employees who are hungry are those who are always seeking growth. These are people that want to do more, learn more, have more responsibility, and step up when asked. These are employees that are self-motivated to work hard, take initiative, and go above and beyond their call of duty.

Smart - Lencioni discusses how this is not about being book smart, but that being people- smart is even more important. According to Lencioni, employees who are smart (or people-smart) are aware and perceptive about other people, ask good questions, listen well, and are able to respond effectively.

HUMBLE

THE PAWN

HUMBLE LOVABLE SLACKER

ACCIDENTAL MESS-MAKER

IDEAL TEAM PLAYER

IDEAL TEAM PLAYER SMART

HUNGRY

THE CHARMER

THE BULLDOZER

SMART

HUNGRY SKILLFUL POLITICIAN

All three values are essential to facilitate great teamwork

Problems arise when one or more virtues are mising

Images adapted from Readingraphics Book Summary - The Ideal Team Player

by Patrick Lencioni

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ACTIVITY 5A From the 3 core characteristics of an ideal team player (Humble, Hungry, Smart), write down which one you think is your strongest characteristic of the three.

Then say a little bit about why you think it’s your strongest quality and what actions you take that show it’s your strongest attribute of the three.

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Now, reflect on the other two areas that are not your strongest of the three team member characteristics (Humble, Hungry, Smart). Write down some possible actions and learning you could take to grow in these areas to be part of building better teams you’re part of and for the sake of growth as a leader for the people we serve and for yourself.

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ACTIVITY 5B Think of a time when, as a direct result of something a leader said or did, you felt empowered and recognized for your strengths, gifts, and talents, and that you could easily offer these to your team.

Write a little bit about the experience and the actions the leader took that contributed to you feeling confident, empowered, recognized. Be as specific as you can (What did the person say and do? How did it make you feel? Why do you think you felt that way?).

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Now think of a time where you felt powerless, and not a valuable/recognized member of a team as a result of something a leader said or did. What specifically did they do?

Recall a time when you were part of a team that “just clicked” - a time when it seemed as if everyone was working together smoothly and effortlessly.

Describe how people acted toward one another and what people did that contributed to trust and building a strong team.

If you’ve never been part of a team that “just clicked”, reflect on how you imagine people would act towards one another and actions they would take towards building a strong team.

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Using the lessons from your own experience draw your ideal team.

You may reflect on your current team what’s going well, what’s going not so well - or bring reflections from other experiences as a team member.

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While drawing your ideal team reflect on: • What does communication look like?

• What actions are people taking?

• Draw what an ideal team looks like in action

Now, after imagining this ideal team, ask yourself “How can I contribute to building or strengthening this team?”.

1

Jot down three actions you can take:

2

3

Adapted from Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. (2017) The Leadership Challenge Workbook

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EXPLORATION #6:

CELEBRATING DIVERSITY AND BEING ANTI-RACIST 30 min

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Skills Society Sees Part of Good Leadership is Recognizing and Celebrating Diversity While Also Being Anti-Racist Our Skills Society community is quite diverse. Our diversity is a beautiful thing and, when embraced, a big strength.

At Skills Society we believe a part of leadership is learning how to recognize, embrace, and celebrate diversity in all its forms - culture, race, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. We also believe it’s not enough to not be racist, but that we all need to be anti-racist in order to make sure everyone feels they can belong for who they are. Racism and discrimination is not tolerated at Skills Society and our policies help protect people we serve and employees from discrimination. Being a leader that is antiracist involves striving to be anti-racist yourself but also being an ally, standing up against racism, and getting the appropriate help when you might witness it.

Learning to be good Treaty relatives Did you know that if you live in the Edmonton region you are part of Treaty 6? One part of being inclusive is learning about Indigenous peoples in Canada, the horrible history of colonisation and genocide, and what it means to be better Treaty relatives moving forward. This is important because Skills Society as an organization and all of us as individuals live, work, and play on shared land.

Treaty 6 territory where ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ amiskwacîwâskahikan, the City of Edmonton resides, has a long history of hosting and taking care of diverse peoples.

The first people that gathered here to trade, share, and be in good relationship with one another, were the Cree, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Dene, Nakota Sioux, Métis, and Inuit.

Now with settlers and new Canadians from across the world calling Edmonton home, there is a continued tradition of recognizing, celebrating, and valuing diversity while at the same time always honoring the Indigenous peoples who have long been stewards of the land we share today.

As an organization we have committed to learning how to be better Treaty relatives and you, as an employee of Skills Society, are a part of bringing this commitment to life.

You join senior leadership, managers, and board members who have already begun on their learning journeys of reconciliation and celebrating Indigenous culture and peoples.

All of us, no matter our cultural background, are Treaty people. From Elders we have worked with, like Elder Lewis Cardinal, we have learned that being a good Treaty relative means being good to each other, respecting each other as we are, seeing that everyone has something valuable to share and that we should work together to steward the land and good relationships.

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Work on becoming aware of privileges Privilege can be a helpful tool to help us understand how some groups of people are more likely to experience disadvantage and marginalization than others. If you come from a more privileged background (i.e. white, non disabled, cis gender, straight), it can be helpful to learn about what privilege might mean and how it may bias you towards certain perspectives, values, and behaviours.

Two-eyed seeing is a beautiful concept Skills Society has learned from Hunter & Jacquelyn Cardinal from Naheyawin. Two-eyed seeing means valuing two perspectives equally - for example Indigenous perspectives and Western worldviews - without privileging one more than another.

When looking at privilege it is important to remember a couple of things. Exploring what privilege means is a helpful tool for understanding big picture patterns, but it is not really a helpful tool for understanding people’s individual experiences. Seeing that you have more privileges than another person does not make you bad, nor should it diminish your own individual experiences. Of course, people with more privileges can experience trauma and difficult injustices as well. However, recognizing your own privileges can be an important part of becoming aware of your own biases, helping you understand the ways you see the world and how that might be different from others- recognizing that some groups of people are often not heard and left out can elicit empathy and hopefully deeper listening.

Reflecting on our own worldviews Another part of being a good Treaty relative and anti-racist leader is reflecting on our own worldviews. Each of us has our own worldview, or ‘way that we see the world’, that is influenced by things like culture, experiences, social identities, and personal values. Our worldviews are often taken for granted and not always something we are aware of. Although each of our worldviews is unique, some worldviews are collectively valued more than others and can become almost ‘invisible’ as the ‘default’ way of seeing things. This is not ideal as it means some worldviews can get left behind or not recognized.

It’s helpful to keep in mind that Edmonton generally leans towards privileging Western worldviews and perspectives.

Be aware that Western worldviews are not the only or “right” perspectives in all our communities. Many diverse Edmontonians are navigating being valued for their own identities, cultures, view points, and traditions while also making sense of overt and unspoken biases to Western world views and practices.

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There might be some bumps along the way In any learning journey, if honest mistakes are made in communication and someone is offended by an unintentional comment or question, take the opportunity to learn, apologize and improve. We are all learning and what is most important is that your heart is in the right place to be kind, open and welcoming. We hope you will be brave and come along with us in upholding our Skills Society vision of “a community where every individual is a valued citizen deserving respect, dignity, and rights”.

Here are some known ways to be inclusive and support diversity as good leaders:

• •

•

•

• • •

Strive to use clear language - Avoid jargon, slang terms, euphemisms, and colloquial expressions.

Strive to consider different cultures have different body language cues - Comfort levels vary across different cultures when it comes to things like personal space and touching for example. When in doubt, try to leave at least one arm’s length between you and your colleague.

Practice active listening - This will help you to build clarity and provide a check in to eliminate any potential misunderstandings. Ask clarifying questions rather than make assumptions.

Strive to be open and inclusive to cultures and perspectives different from your own - Getting to know co-workers from culturally diverse backgrounds will help you to build strong relations, and is a valuable tool to building strong team dynamics.

Strive to be open to different worldviews as being enriching to our collective human experience.

Strive to become more aware of your own biases and privileges that could be influencing how you collaborate with teammates.

Make space for voices that might be more often left out.

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ACTIVITY 6A Read, listen and reflect on the below three resources.

1. Go to our Equity Diversity and Inclusion Learning page to learn about ways we are striving to be more inclusive and anti-racist. Find and reflect on our Skills Society Anti-discrimation commitment.

2. Watch the videos on our website from Naheyawin on what it means to be a good treaty relative .

3. Read the anti-racism bystander intervention guide from Our Shift Lab Initiative.

Leadership Workbook

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What have you learned around what actions you can take to get better at embracing and celebrating diversity?

What are some actions you can take to commit to being anti-racist?

Further suggested learning:

•

Irshad Manji’s Moral Courage approach to Equity, Diversion and Inclusion.

•

Edmonton Shift Lab speakers series videos on Anti-racism.

•

If you want to learn more about the concept of privilege, check out this Shift Lab speakers series with Shelley Tochluck.

•

University of Alberta certificate course called Indigenous Canada.

Leadership Workbook

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EXPLORATION #7:

FOSTERING A HEALTHY ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 20 min

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Supporting a Healthy Organizational Culture Organizational culture is, in a nutshell, the spoken and unspoken dos and don’ts that people learn and copy by watching others. It is also how we interact together, what we notice leaders and peers focus on, what rituals and habits get modeled and what gets rewarded intentionally and unintentionally. If we’re not conscious about the ripple effects of values, policy, leadership behaviour, communication and how we are all responsible for creating a healthy culture, we can find ourselves in a work environment that is not desirable. There are always areas to improve, but we hope every employee takes pride in the Skills Society culture everyone has been working on cultivating for many years. We have very low turnover and from surveys very high satisfaction generally among employees. A healthy culture is delicate and not something to take for granted.

Unique team cultures inside larger organizational culture values It’s important to be aware of the difference between general organizational culture and team cultures which can each be very unique and different across the organization. Where there is the most work to be done is in aligning individual team cultures and Skills Society’s vision, values and big picture of culture. That said, we want to also make space for each team to find their own style, team values, to get important work done together, but also to not lose sight of the fact they are part of a larger vision as an organization, and larger culture of excellence to make lives better for people with disabilities in our communities. If there is an unhealthy team culture in a home that has not been addressed, this could be construed by team members that

Skills Society’s culture overall is not healthy because it’s not healthy among members of a direct team working together.

Managers and Team Leaders are expected to address culture challenges within each team and to steward and model healthy culture building that reflects Skills Society’s values and what we’re known for in community and beyond. What working on healthy culture generally looks like is outlined below and will grow and evolve over time.

A healthy organizational culture starts with each of us There is a tough tension here to navigate with culture On the one side a healthy organizational culture is not something given to others, but on the other hand if we all act in healthy, supportive and ethical ways then we all reap the benefits of a healthy culture we can feel good about coming to and thriving in. So, first we need to recognize we are all responsible for the culture that Skills Society creates.

Many look to us all to model what being a stellar leader and representative of Skills Society looks like in action. In the following activity you’ll reflect on and write down what kind of leader you want to be and what it looks like in action for you. You’ll explore some questions that will help you find more of your purpose as a leader. At some point you’ll share with others your learning and reflections on what kind of leader you are striving to be or keep being.

As an example when our current Executive Director went into the new role, he wrote about, and shared about his leadership style. This signaled what to expect from him, to learn a bit more about his approach and to signal the kinds of leadership principles he values in an organization.

His example on the next page is one way of describing a leadership style and not the only way.

A healthy culture is delicate and not something to take for granted.

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Grounded in our 5 core values, I strive to put the following leadership principles into daily practice Executive Director Ben Weinlick shared in 2019 his leardership principles

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Person-centered support There is not a one size fits all solution to supporting people. This is a deep practice at skills where we need to keep assumptions in check and deeply listen and respond to what folks we serve truly need to live their full potential.

Be careful not to make knee jerk reactions and decisions Need to look at the big picture and strive to consider ramifications and unintended consequences of hastily made decisions.

Seek win win solutions that keep people most safe and are least intrusive We are responsible to do our best to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people we serve and our employees. We also need to work at ensuring we don’t unintentionally create unnecessary intrusions into the lives of people we support.

Take the work seriously, but strive to not take myself too seriously.

Sense of humour, and fun helps with relationships and evidence shows makes people better problem solvers in complex situations.

Don’t avoid conflict and don’t create unnecessary conflict. You will find me seeking clarity, asking for viewpoints and seeking to find win wins as best we can.

Being the son of a psychologist, I could never get away with avoiding conflict. Conflict will eventually happen when humans do stuff together. Not all conflict is bad.

However unresolved conflict harms culture, relationships and our ability to do great work.

My default mode is collaboration, seeking input and ideas. I will strive for clarity on who makes decisions and in which situations.

We all have important contributions and perspectives.

Seeking deep input, and ideas makes for better solutions.

People are also more supportive of change initiatives when they feel they have been part of shaping the change effort.

I will often say things like, “Ok, what’s the core problem we’re trying to solve here?”

I do this for clarity and to help with aligning people to find pathways forward.

Progress over perfection Growth, learning, and openness helps us lead with a bit more humility and embrace complexity better than thinking we have to be perfect.

Prototype first before big roll outs Little tests of ideas helps to keep assumptions in check and see if something will work the way we think it will.

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A good culture actively practices gratitude At Skills Society we are committed to highlighting the gratitude we share for one another and contributing to more meaningful relationships with those we work with. Showing appreciation for one another at work increases wellness, builds empathy for one another and improves self esteem.

One way we do this is through the Skills Society Shout Out Wall where employees post brief write-ups of gratitude for one another, acknowledging, appreciating, and sharing instances when someone goes ‘above and beyond’ in their work making a positive impact in someone’s life.

A good organizational culture shows that team members each have gifts to contribute We talk about recognizing gifts and strengths of people we support and that becomes easier if we also recognize gifts of team members and offer ways they could contribute those to teams and bigger Skills Society initiatives. You might use a team meeting to facilitate everyone filling out and discussing their one page profile which highlights each team member’s gifts, strengths and ways they might contribute those and feel valued for them. Try to find specific ways people can contribute gifts.

A healthy culture has many leaders who strive to walk their talk In Kouzes and Pozner’s seminal leadership book, The Leadership Challenge, they highlight that the number one quality people look for in leaders is if they are honest. In other words, whether aware or not, people are constantly evaluating whether they can trust someone. Trust is not something given, nor can it really be expected. Trust is earned by being consistent and showing others by example that we are trustworthy. Here it’s important to not overpromise and under deliver. When being asked for something, listen and also make sure to be clear on what you can and can’t control and what your sphere of responsibility is. People might not always like it, but they will respect your honesty. Also important is to follow through on what you say you will do when you say you will do it. If something shifts beyond your control then get back

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to people before a deadline and explain when you will follow up and how you will deliver what is expected of you. No one is perfect, mistakes and inconsistencies will happen.

When they do, use those opportunities to model taking responsibility and correcting them. If you find it’s more usual you don’t follow through when you say you will, be assured that others notice this much more than you do. It is important to correct this or trust will be hard to earn.

A healthy culture does not tolerate gossip and divisive behaviour In any organization and community, gossip exists. Leaders in healthy organizations address gossip, lead by example and don’t participate nor shy away from addressing unhealthy gossip and the division it sows. This is not easy to do, but we expect all employees at Skills to not engage in gossip, not spread unchecked assumptions, and to be on board and supportive of the strategic direction of the board and senior leadership. We all know and have seen how destructive gossip can be to employee morale, and can hold back teams and the organization from accomplishing our shared vision. Healthy practices to address gossip and divisive behaviour can include…

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In general, bring a perspective that gives people the benefit of the doubt and assumes good will first.

What can be tough is just trying to avoid gossip by staying silent, but staying silent while gossip ensues can create a culture that gives permission for gossip to continue and harms relationships and morale.

In some situations, as gossip comes up, you might just say, “You know, I don’t know if I have all the facts about the situation, and I kinda feel uncomfortable talking about the person or situation”, and/or “Have you tried talking with the person directly about your concerns or to see if there might be assumptions being made?”

If you’re in a small group and someone is making a statement expressing an assumption about why an action, or strategy was taken. Ask if they have checked their assumption with those they are speaking about.

You might ask if they are seeing the whole picture of a situation.

A healthy culture cultivates innovation and creative thinking Skills Society is known nationally for our very creative and innovative approaches and culture we have cultivated for more than a few decades. We believe a culture of creativity and innovation is important because it helps us solve challenges better, helps us keep our supports and services relevant and helps empower our community members to continue to learn and improve.

Healthy practices to support creativity and innovation in team meetings and collective problem solving include things like…

Being open minded and not too rigid in our perspectives • “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything” - George Bernard Shaw • We are more creative, innovative, and open to feedback when we have an open mind. Research shows that leaders who are open minded tend to be more self-aware, trusted, and interested in growing their skillset.

Building trust and a safe space for ideas to emerge • Building trusting relationships with the people we support, families, employees, and other members of the individual’s support network is an important foundation.

Be available, consistent, proactive, and follow through with commitments.

Being aware of our biases and not seeing all parts of every situation we encounter • In order to be open, we must as leaders see that any of us might not be seeing a whole situation, or only parts of it.

We should be open to admitting biases, and seeing them as opportunities to grow and learn.

Recognizing that good ideas could come from anywhere in an organization • Leaders at the top don’t always have the best ideas. A really great idea could come from front line leaders or people we support. We should be open to ideas from everywhere in our Skills community. We might not be able to implement every idea, but we can learn and foster a culture of being open to new ideas from everyone. Don’t judge ideas too quickly!

Participating in projects • There are always a number of innovative projects that we are working on at Skills Society. Examples of some of the projects to get involved in are CommuniTEA Infusion, MyCompass Planning Labs and the MyCompass Employee Connection Corner.

There is so much to keep learning about and growing around a healthy culture. It is complex and delicate and Skills doesn’t go for a few simple slogans or values. Skills Society recognizes that it can be messy and ever evolving and we invest in stewarding a good culture. Keep the conversation going about culture, and aim at being good examples.

“If there is an unhealthy team culture in a home that has not been addressed, this could be construed by team members that Skills Society’s culture overall is not healthy because it’s not healthy among members of a direct team working together. Managers and Team Leaders are expected to address culture challenges within each team and to steward and model healthy culture building that reflects Skills values and what we’re known for in community and beyond.”

Summary of Good Organizational Culture Practices • Recognize a healthy organizational culture starts with each of us and our actions • A good culture actively practices gratitude • A good organizational culture shows that team members each have gifts to contribute • A healthy culture has many leaders who strive to walk their talk • A healthy culture does not tolerate gossip and divisive behaviour • A healthy culture actively cultivates innovation and creativity

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ACTIVITY 7A

What resonated? As you read and reflected on what the leadership group of Skills Society feels a healthy organizational culture looks like in action, what resonated or stood out for you that inspires you to also bring into your own practices?

Skills Society’s Organizational Culture Reflection Take some time to reflect on Skills Society’s organizational culture and actions you can take to contribute to building a healthy culture. Jot down your reflections in the first row of reflection spaces.

As you learn, come back to these reflections over time and add ideas. Take some time, re-read sections to clarify, chat with coworkers for thoughts and insights.

What continues to resonate?

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What made you curious? From what you read, what intrigued you and you would like to learn more about?

What questions do you have that you could ask a coworker, Team Leader, or Manager about to learn more?

List who you could ask and set up a time to ask to gain clarity.

What responsibility and actions will you take to contribute to building a healthy, creative, supportive culture within your team? We all have a role to play in cultivating a healthy organizational culture. Jot down some words and actions you will take.

What are you still curious about?

Additional actions I will take to contribute to building a healthy, creative, supportive culture within .

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Recognizing that a good healthy organizational culture starts with all of us and our actions, below are ideas for actions I can take to:

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Actively practice gratitude

Actively practice gratitude

Recognize my teammates gifts and strengths

Recognize my teammates gifts and strengths

Strive to put my words into action (i.e. ‘walk the talk’)

Strive to put my words into action (i.e. ‘walk the talk’)

Not tolerate gossip and divisive behaviour

Not tolerate gossip and divisive behaviour

Cultivate innovation and creativity

Cultivate innovation and creativity

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EXPLORATION #8:

BUILDING A REFLECTIVE PRACTICE 25 min

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Skills Society Sees Leadership as Being an Active Listener Good leaders practice active listening and show empathy

What this looks like in action...

• Listen actively and in multiple ways - One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another person has to say. Successful leaders throughout Skills Society are well versed in active listening. Active listening “refers to a pattern of listening that keeps you engaged in a positive way.” It is a way of listening attentively while someone else speaks, paraphrasing and reflecting back what you heard, withholding judgment and advice1.

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Be open to, and value diverse perspectives Our organization is made up of a diverse collective.

All members of the team should feel like their contributions are heard and valued. However, hearing a suggestion or listening to a thought does not mean that a leader can always adopt the idea. When we can’t implement an idea it is important to describe why and state where there are constraints and what we have control of and what is beyond our control.

Humility - The world we share community with is complex. None of us can know everything. Being curious and aware one might not be seeing all there is to a situation can go a long way to sustaining trust and being open to other points of view. When an employee works on being humble, we will be empathetic, have more trust and good working relationships to accomplish our bold vision together.

1. Bryant H. McGill: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-activelistening-3024343

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Skills Society Sees Leadership as Strengthened by Good Reflective Practice One way to practice and strengthen active listening is through reflective practice. Stellar leaders practice regular self-reflection. If we don’t reflect on our biases, decisions, and actions, then we limit learning, opportunities and being responsive to other’s real needs.

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Reflective practice is reflecting on one’s actions and committing to continuous learning. Through reflective practice, leaders are able to explore outcomes that happened as a result of their actions, assess and address unanticipated consequences of their decisions, and commit to continuous learning.

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Reflexivity is essentially thinking about how we think.

It refers to reflecting on one’s own beliefs, biases, thinking patterns, and judgements, and how these things influence us. To really be reflexive, we need to question our own assumptions that we often take for granted1. It is something that takes practice for most leaders.

A reflective practice requires: • an awareness of what information we perceive • how we process that information, and • time to reflect2

1. Reflexivity: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ces/research/current/ socialtheory/maps/reflexivity/ 2. Killion, J. & Harrison, C. (1992). The practice of reflection: An essential learning process. The Developer, Dec./Jan., 3-4

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An example below of reflective practice that Ben Weinlick, Skills Society Executive Director, shared: “I know that when I have people wanting fast answers from me, I have lots of to do items and little time, the way I typically try to control the anxiousness that appears in my mind is to go into a logical, problem solving task mode and plow through. I can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time and it serves me well when working alone, but doesn’t really serve others very well when in relationship and working with others. I have learned I have to let people know what’s happening in my mind. If I don’t let people know where my mind is at and the urge to solve things, then I can come across as insensitive as in that state I will often steamroll the important relational and rapport building stuff and just get right to business. So, I try to do a scan of myself and ask, where is my mind at? If I notice the “task mode” being dominant in my mind, I’ll let my colleagues know I’m in that mode, not to take it personally if I’m a little too focused and ask others to just say if we need time to reflect, check in, connect, support, listen. It’s freeing and people seem to read into things less, if we can state where our minds are at, ask what others might need and carry on together in a good way. There’s that old saying this kinda reminds me of... “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.” And if we’re gonna go together we have to be in good relationship and take time for strengthening that. It’s not easy, but important.”

One simple way to start with self-reflection is you might make a list of your strengths and what you might call a list of “Things to be aware of when working with me”. In this list you might state your work tendencies, a bit about your natural tendencies of how your mind works in tackling a challenge, your preferences and style of collaborating. Like you did at the beginning of this workbook when exploring who you are as a leader through the one-page profile.

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ACTIVITY 8A A Framework for Building a Reflective Practice Adapted from Danglers Connect: Reflective Practice Meetings by Ben Weinlick and Chris Bruce This is a template you can work through when reflecting on a situation. The questions can help to stimulate your reflective thinking and consider actions you might take in the future when faced with a similar situation. Let’s give it a try!

Reflection on a past experience Reflect on a situation that required your leadership and was maybe tricky to navigate or was complex; maybe you experienced conflict or the situation did not go as planned/anticipated.

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Describe the situation. In your own words describe how a challenging situation unfolded.

Reflecting on-action: examining our actions, assumptions, and practices Your perspective During the event described, what was I thinking and feeling about the situation that maybe wasn’t obvious to others, or would not have been seen on the surface?

Assumptions What were my biases (beliefs) in this situation and how might they have influenced how I responded?

What were my assumptions about the situation? About the people involved? What might I have missed because of my assumptions?

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Other people’s perspectives on the situation Reflecting on the situation, what do you think others who were involved might have been thinking and feeling about the situation? Why might they have reacted or interacted with me the way they did? (Strive to see from their perspective for a moment and gain insight)

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Evaluate What went well? What did not go well? Why?

Reflection for action: generating or clarifying knowledge and skills that will be useful for future situations What did I learn through the situation and reflection that I can apply in my leadership practice going forward?

What do I want to remember for future situations? If I were in a similar situation again, how would I respond or behave?

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EXPLORATION #9:

WHAT KIND OF LEADER DO YOU WANT TO BE? 20 min

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Recap of what Skills Society sees good leadership as: • Being a steward of Skills Society’s vision and core values • Striving for collaboration as much as possible • Building leadership in others • Being a team player • Recognizing and celebrating diversity and being antiracist • Being an active listener • Strengthened by good reflective practice

Recap of how Skills Society sees healthy organizational culture: • Recognize a healthy organizational culture starts with each of us and our actions • A good culture actively practices gratitude • A good organizational culture shows that team members each have gifts to contribute • A healthy culture has many leaders who strive to walk their talk • A healthy culture does not tolerate gossip and divisive behaviour • A healthy culture actively cultivates innovation and creativity

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Words I can say:

ACTIVITY 9A In your own words, what are some ways you could bring some of these leadership practices to life in your daily work?

Make some notes of actions and words you can take to represent these leadership practices. You might look back at the previous pages for ideas, you might chat with a colleague for ideas, or you might already see ways you could apply them with people we support, in meetings, in problem solving with colleagues etc…

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Actions I can take:

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What are some leadership practices Skills identified in this workbook, that I know I will have to learn more about and practice?

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Now, after everything you’ve reflected on, summarize in a few words the kind of leader you are and want to become into the future. This can be helpful, foster pride, and a sense of purpose and meaning. What kind of leader do you want to be for Skills Society? for the people we support? for your community and the world?

If you’re feeling stuck, you can use the fill in the blanks below to help write your summary.

My values of _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ guide me and ground me as a leader. (Add from your identified personal values on page 40) In my work supporting people with disabilities in community life I want to be the kind of leader that__________ ________________________________________________________________.

As a colleague, workmate, and employee of Skills Society, I want to be the kind of leader that___________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________.

Ultimately I want to be part of leading others and myself towards a world that is____________________________ ________________________________________________________________.

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ACTIVITY 9B My less than one minute speech on what Skills Society is and why I choose to be part of it in support of people with disabilities

Take some time to reflect and then using the fill in the blanks below, craft a short script for yourself in your own words and grounded in the values and vision of Skills Society.

“Skills Society supports people with developmental disabilities to ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

Our support can range from a few hours a week to Everyone connected with Skills Society is a representative of Skills Society and we should take pride in that and share when asked or when opportunities emerge.

Sometimes you’ll be out supporting people in community and community members might ask you what you do, or who you work for. You might also be asked by your family members, or neighbors what you do for work. In the moment it can be hard to put into words in a simple way the important support you steward for folks we all serve.

24/7 support to live in regular homes in community.

Ultimately our work at Skills Society is about___________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________

I choose to be part of Skills Society because I believe_________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

If you want to learn more or how you can contribute to our vision, check out skillssociety.ca”

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I’VE COMPLETED THE WORKBOOK… NOW WHAT?

Personal goals:

Congratulations and thank you for bringing your full self to this important work! We really believe we all become better leaders when we know ourselves AND know the history, values, vision, mission and expectations of the organizations we work within.

Keep this workbook handy as you’ll be using your learning from the activities in team meetings and in reflecting on goals and accomplishments in yearly performance reviews. We also encourage you to use the leadership book from time to time to reflect back and add new things you learn as you grow and learn as a leader at Skills Society.

Lastly, from what you learned, what are some personal goals and leadership learning goals you think you should set to continue growing? Growing both as an individual and in helping Skills Society make progress on our collective vision of a community where every individual is a valued citizen deserving of dignity, respect and rights!

Leadership growth goals:

Personal goals might be around something you noticed in yourself that you want to work on, or want to get better at to help you grow personally as a leader. These are inward facing goals.

Leadership growth goals might be a goal of needing to further learn about something in the organization, or practice a leadership competency or skill that the people we serve and Skills needs from employees. These are outward facing goals of how you link your personal leadership with the vision, mission and expectations of your role at Skills Society.

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RESOURCES Skills articles on culture to reflect on and draw from for generative conversations

Leadership Workbook

Things to remember when striving to support the good life What makes people happy is different for everyone. Be careful not to impose your own beliefs and wishes on to the person you are supporting Remember to keep the person you are supporting at the helm, directing how we should support them. The individual should be the captain of their ship. Reflect, am I supporting the true wishes and aspirations of the person or am I working in a way that makes things easier just for me as a staff person?

Honor the person’s choices, voice and rights. How are you honoring the wishes and self-determination of the people you are supporting? How are you respecting the dignity and privacy of the person?

Empathize. Every day reflect on what it might be like to receive services and care. How would you insist on being treated? How would you want a loved one treated if they were in care?

Social belonging often happens through people doing activities together, not just being passive observers.

• How can you support people to become ‘of’ community not just physically ‘in’ a group, or place? Being ‘of’ community means a person has rich relationships and friendships and is well known.

• Help people find belonging in community by connecting them with others that share their interests and passions

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Brief summary of some practical tips for support workers around supporting the good life Reflect on how you support a person to be a valued citizen of their community.

• Are there things you can say and do in community that helps shine a light on the positive contributions people with disabilities make?

• How does your daily work help others in community to value people with disabilities more?

How do you help a person you support to develop having a sense of home - their house feels like a home?

Is the home where they live really like a home or is it more like an institution?Is the home a reflection of them? Engage people in making meals and having friends and family over for meals.

Part of our role is helping others to broaden their horizons.

What are we doing to support growth and learning?

• Are we supporting people to try new things they are interested in?

• If people say they don’t want to do anything new, is it maybe because they are afraid because they have been let down in the past? Empathize: See things from their perspective.

Reflect regularly on what is a good life… Are we honestly doing everything possible to support people to live their full potential? Have we settled for “good enough”?

Throughout supporting a person in our Thrive in Five approach you might get ideas from below on what could be integrated.

Supporting Being (Who people are at their core)

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Help people see and discover their gifts and strengths Help people explore new interests Give people positive feedback and praise- the little things count Help people find valued roles in community- Brothers, sisters, good neighbor, volunteer, entrepreneur, engaged citizen Don’t label people Be careful not to push your own values and beliefs on to people See that everyone has something meaningful to contribute Honor a person’s wishes and rights Reflect regularly with teams around whether you are supporting an individual’s emotional well-being, autonomy, choices Help a person tell their story- empowering stories Support a person to explore healthy diet, and exercise routines Support a person to explore and connect with people that share their values and spiritual beliefs Regularly reflect how you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes and then treat people the way you would want to be treated Help a person explore how they might earn a bit of income as this helps people feel proud when achieved.

Help people you support tell stories of what they are proud of Support a person to self monitor- Help them keep track of things that are important to them- using photos helps.

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Supporting Belonging (Not just activities or being “in” community, but “of” community)

• • • • • • • • • • • •

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Connect people in community with places, groups, and people that share their interests, values, passions Help a person you support share cool anecdotes and stories as a way of connecting with fellow group members Help a person you support find valued roles and ways they could contribute to a group they are a part of Support a person to connect with their neighbors- host a block party- give some veggies people grow to neighbors When a person is part of a group, find ways that someone you support could work on a group project with other participants Support someone to be a regular in coffee shop, bar, restaurant, community place Help someone join sports teams, arts groups, Support someone to make their home feel “homey” Support someone to invite friends and family over to their home for get-togethers Join a community garden or community league initiative Encourage people you support to invite fellow interest group members out for coffee or some kind of fun activity Use your support worker role to be a bridge builder with community

Supporting Becoming (This is about continuous growth and learning, possibly helpful with ideas for stretch goals) Note: regardless of disability or not, humans report life quality is best when there is a sense of regular growth and learning of some kind.

• • • • • • • • • •

Help people see new possibilities and learn new things Support a person to be a life long learner Support a person to learn new home and life skills Support a person to take a new class around something they might be interested in Support a person to find employment and learn what it takes to be a stellar employee Support a person to learn to try a new volunteer role where they can grow and learn Support a person to explore school or further education opportunities Support a person to explore new rec and leisure opportunities Support a person to join a self-advocacy group or other social justice group Encourage as much participation in home activities as possible- People may not be able to cook a whole meal, but they can help in small ways.

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