Wexner Newsletter: October 11, 2012 25 Tishrei 5773
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Do you know Jewish leaders in Cincinnati, Dallas, or Washington DC?
You’re Invited to Nominate candidates for Wexner Heritage Program 2013 Groups
The nomination process for Wexner Heritage 2013 has begun and we need your help! If you know outstanding volunteer Jewish leaders in Cincinnati, Dallas, or Washington DC you may nominate them for the Wexner Heritage Program by
clicking here.
We count on Wexner Alumni, Members, and Fellows to help us identify candidates for the Wexner Heritage Program. As always, we seek volunteer Jewish leaders aged 30-45 who have outstanding leadership potential. The Wexner Heritage Program is an intensive two-year adult Jewish learning program that inspires and energizes these leaders to deepen their commitment to Jewish life. Guidelines for what we seek in candidates can be found here. If you wish to discuss a particular candidate, or if you have any questions about Wexner Heritage, please contact Rabbi Jay Moses, Director, at 614-939-6060.We are especially excited that Cincinnati and Dallas will be having the Wexner Heritage Program for the first time, and we appreciate your taking a few minutes to apprise us about those you know who would benefit from what our alumni repeatedly describe as a “life-changing experience.”
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I’ve Been Thinking….
Living our Values and Leading the Way
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By Shifra Bronznick. Shifra Bronznick is the Founding President of Advancing Women Professionals & the Jewish Community, and a senior fellow at NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action. Shifra can be reached at Bronznick@betterorg.com
Marty Linsky, a Wexner faculty member and my long-time colleague, often teaches about the challenge of adaptive leadership. Marty always says, “Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can absorb.”
That’s true, and so is the reverse. Leadership also requires absorbing disappointment and not becoming so frustrated that we miss small indicators of progress, the bright spots that illuminate the road to fundamental change.
Nowhere has this truth been more apparent to me than in the Better Work, Better Life Campaign, launched by Advancing Women Professionals & the Jewish Community in 2009, with the aim of enlisting 100 Jewish organizations in improving their policies around paid parental leave and formal flexible work arrangements.
Our audacious goal was to complete the Campaign in one year. Three years later, with sixty-two Jewish organizations on board, we are short of our goal but proud of those who have enlisted, including large institutions like JFNA, UJA-Federation of New York, the Joint Distribution Committee, the AVI CHAI Foundation, and the Weinberg Foundation and smaller start-ups like Yeshivat Hadar, Mayan, Moving Traditions, Keshet, and the Jewish Women’s Archive.
We have learned a lot from both our disappointments and bright lights along the way. At the start, most of these organizations said they couldn’t afford such policies. At large agencies, the concern was about “opening the floodgates” to large numbers of people taking advantage of flexibility and paid parental leave. At smaller organizations, the concern was of replacement costs for personnel on paid family leave.
When we discussed formal flexibility – rather than informal arrangements at the discretion of department managers – leaders worried about loss of control. How would they know if staff members were actually working? How would they monitor progress? Certainly, these conversations were disappointing. Why were we stuck in this organizational rut, with dedication still being measured by face-time? Meanwhile, in every other sector, telecommuting and digital communications were the hallmarks of innovative workplaces, where performance was appraised by measurable outcomes.
We had to honor the resistance, understanding that internal change can be difficult for mission-driven organizations because it can be perceived as a distraction from external goals. We persisted – presenting, educating, and advocating. We also were fortunate to have a few CEOs and Human Resource Directors who made the shift early on and agreed to partner with us as peers to their colleagues in the field.
We came to see our own Jewish values as a bright light that might move the conversation along. Many organizational leaders wanted to align their Jewish values – around family, community, learning and spirituality – with work policies. These values are obvious when considering family leave for a new baby, but they also make sense for staff with spouses, parents, or children suffering from chronic illness. They also matter if we want to encourage young professionals to pursue graduate degrees to become Jewish professionals.
Other organizations adopted these policies to strengthen their ability to attract and retain talent and to make professionals feel valued, an element of job satisfaction that ranks high on every employment survey.
Establishing and managing these policies does demand new work structures and an outstanding reliance on collaboration and communication, but the innovations appear to outweigh the difficulties. As these following examples show, the commitment to Jewish values is yielding measurable benefits:
• Over two years, AJWS provided ten staff members with paid parental leave, all of whom returned to their jobs. Through this shift, AJWS achieved significant cost savings and increased organizational capacity. The typical cost for replacement of staff is 150% of annual salary, including recruitment, training and loss of institutional memory and contacts.
• When establishing formal flexibility, UJA-Federation of NY created a system for covering work assignments and tracking results. More than 80 people now have formal flexible work arrangements while continuing to receive promotions and move upward on the career track.
• At B’nai Jeshurun in New York City, Rabbi Felicia Sol successfully advocated for paid parental policy for everyone on staff, from the clergy to the administrative staff.
In each of these cases, there was resistance and anxiety at first. We expected pushback and we got pushback. Why shouldn’t we? After all, we live in one of the very few industrialized countries that does not offer paid maternity leave.
We have thirty-eight organizations to reach in our Campaign goal, and this is just the beginning of the journey. In fact, we along with our partners at Jewish Funders Network are hosting a work/life convening on November 1st, which we expect to be well attended. What if hundreds of Jewish organizations decided to stand on the forefront of the nonprofit sector, by advocating for workplace policies that allow employees – from senior management to the lowest-paid staff member – to pursue high-level performance and fulfill caregiving commitments? When we change the way we work to provide these basic supports, we will strengthen the fabric of our Jewish community and lead the way for the rest of our country.
Calendar of Events
AN ALUMNI NETWORK GATHERING
For
Wexner Heritage and Graduate Fellowship Alumni
We Hope You Can Join Us From Near and Far at This
Exciting Day Long Gathering
Sunday, October 21, 2012 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM Los Angeles
Faculty: Rabbi Sharon Brous, Dr. Shaul Kelner and Rabbi David Wolpe
Registration is now closed and sold out.
Wexner Heritage Groups - Upcoming Seminar Dates
Miami 11 - Thursday, 10/16/12
Seattle 12 - Tuesday, 10/16/2012
Columbus 11, NY RSJ 12 and San Francisco 11 - Monday, 10/15/2012
Wexner Heritage Alumni Delegates Local Gatherings:
HOLD THE DATE
For more information click the CITY to contact local organizers
Pittsburgh – Sunday, October 14th, 5:00 – 7:00pm with Wexner Heritage Alumni Director, Angie Atkins. “New Initiatives to Multiply the Reach of the Wexner Heritage Alumni Network.” Presentation, conversation, hors d’oeuvres.
Seattle – Tuesday Lunch and Learn Series with Rabbi Ed Feinstein: October 16th, November 20th, December 4th. "The Back of the Book -- The Bible we rarely read: Jonah, Ruth, Kohelet, Job.”
Montreal – Wednesday Evening, October 17th: Rabbi Art Green will teach the entire Jewish community, as part of a 3 year Montreal Wexner Alumni Lecture Series.
Atlanta – Tuesday, October 30th, 5:30 - 7:30 pm “Panel Discussion: Demographic Shifts in Atlanta and Their Implications for Jewish life.”
Philadelphia – Wednesday, November 14th, 12:00 pm: Lunch and Learn with Ruth Messinger, AJWS
Israel – Heritage Alumni living in Israel will be gathering for the first time this November. If you live there and have not been contacted, please click here.
Los Angeles –Sunday Evening, December 16th, 5:30 pm: Wexner LA Alumni Event at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The Wexner Foundation
Alumni Breakfast Learning Session
Please join fellow Wexner Heritage and Graduate Fellowship Alumni
to study with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Ph.D.
“Unveilings, Memorials, and Leadership of Communal Finances”
Wednesday, October 24th
8:00 a.m. (sharp) – 9:30 a.m.
The Wexner Foundation New York Office
599 Lexington Avenue (SE Corner of 53rd Street)
New York City
(212) 355-6115
RSVP to estiel@wexner.net by October 7th is required
The session will be made available to the greater Wexner community via livestream.
Please plan to log in to the session at 8:15 a.m.
Eligibility Form Deadline for Wexner Israel Fellowship Program
Monday, November 12th, 2012
SAVE THE DATE
2013 Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program
Alumni Institute
Sunday, February 17 – Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Princeton Marriot Forrestal Conference Center, Princeton, NJ
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES: All issues of the Foundation's newsletter are posted on the Foundation website, wexnerfoundation.org., under the "Jewish Leadership Resources" tab. Should you experience problems opening a "read more" or links through your browser, opening the newsletter in the website will allow you to access the articles or links.
The Wexner Foundation reserves the right to edit newsletter submissions and cannot guarantee the publication of all material submitted. The views expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of The Wexner Foundation.
Wexner Newsletter: October 11, 2012 25 Tishrei 5773
|
Do you know Jewish leaders in Cincinnati, Dallas, or Washington DC?
You’re Invited to Nominate candidates for Wexner Heritage Program 2013 Groups
The nomination process for Wexner Heritage 2013 has begun and we need your help! If you know outstanding volunteer Jewish leaders in Cincinnati, Dallas, or Washington DC you may nominate them for the Wexner Heritage Program by
clicking here.
We count on Wexner Alumni, Members, and Fellows to help us identify candidates for the Wexner Heritage Program. As always, we seek volunteer Jewish leaders aged 30-45 who have outstanding leadership potential. The Wexner Heritage Program is an intensive two-year adult Jewish learning program that inspires and energizes these leaders to deepen their commitment to Jewish life. Guidelines for what we seek in candidates can be found here. If you wish to discuss a particular candidate, or if you have any questions about Wexner Heritage, please contact Rabbi Jay Moses, Director, at 614-939-6060.We are especially excited that Cincinnati and Dallas will be having the Wexner Heritage Program for the first time, and we appreciate your taking a few minutes to apprise us about those you know who would benefit from what our alumni repeatedly describe as a “life-changing experience.”
|
I’ve Been Thinking….
Living our Values and Leading the Way
By Shifra Bronznick. Shifra Bronznick is the Founding President of Advancing Women Professionals & the Jewish Community, and a senior fellow at NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action. Shifra can be reached at Bronznick@betterorg.com
Marty Linsky, a Wexner faculty member and my long-time colleague, often teaches about the challenge of adaptive leadership. Marty always says, “Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can absorb.”
That’s true, and so is the reverse. Leadership also requires absorbing disappointment and not becoming so frustrated that we miss small indicators of progress, the bright spots that illuminate the road to fundamental change.
Nowhere has this truth been more apparent to me than in the Better Work, Better Life Campaign, launched by Advancing Women Professionals & the Jewish Community in 2009, with the aim of enlisting 100 Jewish organizations in improving their policies around paid parental leave and formal flexible work arrangements.
Our audacious goal was to complete the Campaign in one year. Three years later, with sixty-two Jewish organizations on board, we are short of our goal but proud of those who have enlisted, including large institutions like JFNA, UJA-Federation of New York, the Joint Distribution Committee, the AVI CHAI Foundation, and the Weinberg Foundation and smaller start-ups like Yeshivat Hadar, Mayan, Moving Traditions, Keshet, and the Jewish Women’s Archive.
We have learned a lot from both our disappointments and bright lights along the way. At the start, most of these organizations said they couldn’t afford such policies. At large agencies, the concern was about “opening the floodgates” to large numbers of people taking advantage of flexibility and paid parental leave. At smaller organizations, the concern was of replacement costs for personnel on paid family leave.
When we discussed formal flexibility – rather than informal arrangements at the discretion of department managers – leaders worried about loss of control. How would they know if staff members were actually working? How would they monitor progress? Certainly, these conversations were disappointing. Why were we stuck in this organizational rut, with dedication still being measured by face-time? Meanwhile, in every other sector, telecommuting and digital communications were the hallmarks of innovative workplaces, where performance was appraised by measurable outcomes.
We had to honor the resistance, understanding that internal change can be difficult for mission-driven organizations because it can be perceived as a distraction from external goals. We persisted – presenting, educating, and advocating. We also were fortunate to have a few CEOs and Human Resource Directors who made the shift early on and agreed to partner with us as peers to their colleagues in the field.
We came to see our own Jewish values as a bright light that might move the conversation along. Many organizational leaders wanted to align their Jewish values – around family, community, learning and spirituality – with work policies. These values are obvious when considering family leave for a new baby, but they also make sense for staff with spouses, parents, or children suffering from chronic illness. They also matter if we want to encourage young professionals to pursue graduate degrees to become Jewish professionals.
Other organizations adopted these policies to strengthen their ability to attract and retain talent and to make professionals feel valued, an element of job satisfaction that ranks high on every employment survey.
Establishing and managing these policies does demand new work structures and an outstanding reliance on collaboration and communication, but the innovations appear to outweigh the difficulties. As these following examples show, the commitment to Jewish values is yielding measurable benefits:
• Over two years, AJWS provided ten staff members with paid parental leave, all of whom returned to their jobs. Through this shift, AJWS achieved significant cost savings and increased organizational capacity. The typical cost for replacement of staff is 150% of annual salary, including recruitment, training and loss of institutional memory and contacts.
• When establishing formal flexibility, UJA-Federation of NY created a system for covering work assignments and tracking results. More than 80 people now have formal flexible work arrangements while continuing to receive promotions and move upward on the career track.
• At B’nai Jeshurun in New York City, Rabbi Felicia Sol successfully advocated for paid parental policy for everyone on staff, from the clergy to the administrative staff.
In each of these cases, there was resistance and anxiety at first. We expected pushback and we got pushback. Why shouldn’t we? After all, we live in one of the very few industrialized countries that does not offer paid maternity leave.
We have thirty-eight organizations to reach in our Campaign goal, and this is just the beginning of the journey. In fact, we along with our partners at Jewish Funders Network are hosting a work/life convening on November 1st, which we expect to be well attended. What if hundreds of Jewish organizations decided to stand on the forefront of the nonprofit sector, by advocating for workplace policies that allow employees – from senior management to the lowest-paid staff member – to pursue high-level performance and fulfill caregiving commitments? When we change the way we work to provide these basic supports, we will strengthen the fabric of our Jewish community and lead the way for the rest of our country.
Calendar of Events
AN ALUMNI NETWORK GATHERING
For
Wexner Heritage and Graduate Fellowship Alumni
We Hope You Can Join Us From Near and Far at This
Exciting Day Long Gathering
Sunday, October 21, 2012 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM Los Angeles
Faculty: Rabbi Sharon Brous, Dr. Shaul Kelner and Rabbi David Wolpe
Registration is now closed and sold out.
Wexner Heritage Groups - Upcoming Seminar Dates
Miami 11 - Thursday, 10/16/12
Seattle 12 - Tuesday, 10/16/2012
Columbus 11, NY RSJ 12 and San Francisco 11 - Monday, 10/15/2012
Wexner Heritage Alumni Delegates Local Gatherings:
HOLD THE DATE
For more information click the CITY to contact local organizers
Pittsburgh – Sunday, October 14th, 5:00 – 7:00pm with Wexner Heritage Alumni Director, Angie Atkins. “New Initiatives to Multiply the Reach of the Wexner Heritage Alumni Network.” Presentation, conversation, hors d’oeuvres.
Seattle – Tuesday Lunch and Learn Series with Rabbi Ed Feinstein: October 16th, November 20th, December 4th. "The Back of the Book -- The Bible we rarely read: Jonah, Ruth, Kohelet, Job.”
Montreal – Wednesday Evening, October 17th: Rabbi Art Green will teach the entire Jewish community, as part of a 3 year Montreal Wexner Alumni Lecture Series.
Atlanta – Tuesday, October 30th, 5:30 - 7:30 pm “Panel Discussion: Demographic Shifts in Atlanta and Their Implications for Jewish life.”
Philadelphia – Wednesday, November 14th, 12:00 pm: Lunch and Learn with Ruth Messinger, AJWS
Israel – Heritage Alumni living in Israel will be gathering for the first time this November. If you live there and have not been contacted, please click here.
Los Angeles –Sunday Evening, December 16th, 5:30 pm: Wexner LA Alumni Event at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The Wexner Foundation
Alumni Breakfast Learning Session
Please join fellow Wexner Heritage and Graduate Fellowship Alumni
to study with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Ph.D.
“Unveilings, Memorials, and Leadership of Communal Finances”
Wednesday, October 24th
8:00 a.m. (sharp) – 9:30 a.m.
The Wexner Foundation New York Office
599 Lexington Avenue (SE Corner of 53rd Street)
New York City
(212) 355-6115
RSVP to estiel@wexner.net by October 7th is required
The session will be made available to the greater Wexner community via livestream.
Please plan to log in to the session at 8:15 a.m.
Eligibility Form Deadline for Wexner Israel Fellowship Program
Monday, November 12th, 2012
SAVE THE DATE
2013 Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program
Alumni Institute
Sunday, February 17 – Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Princeton Marriot Forrestal Conference Center, Princeton, NJ
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES: All issues of the Foundation's newsletter are posted on the Foundation website, wexnerfoundation.org., under the "Jewish Leadership Resources" tab. Should you experience problems opening a "read more" or links through your browser, opening the newsletter in the website will allow you to access the articles or links.
The Wexner Foundation reserves the right to edit newsletter submissions and cannot guarantee the publication of all material submitted. The views expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of The Wexner Foundation.