Corporate Congress 2010

Delegates pass 17 bills on final day

Twenty-two AWARE Inc. employees have returned to work in offices across Montana after participating as delegates at a unique corporate gathering that allowed them to sponsor and vote on "bills" to improve the way the company serves customers.

Corporate Congress concluded its three-day session Dec. 3 at Fairmont Hot Springs. This was the 10th Corporate Congress AWARE has convened since 1999.

They were nominated by their peers in October and elected to the gathering in November. The delegates, from AWARE offices across the state, were all non-supervisory and non-management staff, and customers. Delegates were selected to represent every AWARE service and region.

The Congress, which operates in much the same way as the state legislature, adopted 17 measures, including one that would improve passenger safety and service in AWARE's fleet of vehicles and another that would make agency-wide communications more efficient.

The creation of AWARE CEO Larry Noonan, Corporate Congress allows front-line staff in all services to represent fellow employees and consumers in a democratic fashion and participate directly in changing the way the organization does business and serves customers.

"When we gather staff and consumers together and let them tell us what works and what doesn't work - and what we should do differently - it helps the company and benefits the people who use our services," Noonan said.

Said Chief Operations Officer Jeff Folsom, who facilitated the event: "Other companies hire consultants to get the sort of feedback we get from Corporate Congress. At Corporate Congress our employees and consumers are the consultants. Over the years we have adopted nearly all of their suggestions."

- By Tim Pray and Jim Tracy

Corporate Congress 2009

Delegates pass 20 bills on final day

The 2009 Corporate Congress wrapped up on Friday, Dec. 11 at Fairmont Hot Springs resort. The 24 delegates representing all of AWARE's services and service areas came to the congress three days prior with 50 bills between them. Over the course of their time there, they debated, revised and tabled the bills until 20 were ready to be presented to the Board of Directors, CEO Larry Noonan and medical director Dr. Len Lantz on the final day.

The delegates were elected by their colleagues in October, and they immediately went to work as representatives of their service or service area. Service representatives represent every employee who works within the service, regardless of their community. Service area, or district, representatives represent every employee who works in the area, regardless of their service.

Bill construction

After distributing countless surveys and holding discussions with their constituencies, the delegates carefully constructed their bills in a way that reflected areas in which AWARE’s services can be improved.

On the first morning of the congress, after presentations by Noonan and Board President Jack Haffey, the delegates were separated into the two ‘houses’ of the congress: the district representative house and the service representative house.

Each elected a president and began a frank discussion on their house’s bills, and in the same moments that the delegates were meeting one another for the first time began deciding which of their bills required the most protection during debate and which ones could be let go.

After the house caucuses, the delegates were divided into joint subcommittees, divided by the general themes that ran throughout the bills. The training joint subcommittee discussed and revised all the bills that suggested more training, regardless of the subject of that training.

Those bills that were written to stress service-specific issues were put into their own committee, the policy committee went over all bills that had an administrative theme, and, finally, the client committee discussed all bills that were specifically client related and included such issues as continuing education, customer nutrition and issues concerning resident life in AWARE group homes.

AWARE’s leadership committee, which is made up of service administrators from around the state, provided the staffing support to the delegates. Their duties included everything from providing information regarding administration and service protocol to fetching water, sodas and candy upon request.

It was made clear at the beginning of the congress that the staff were in no way to attempt to influence the direction of a debate and that, for the three days of congress, it was the delegates who were in charge. Staff were also required to take every relevant note during the course of debate.

They were responsible for providing new copies of revised bills to the delegates, often involving several hours of photocopying long after the delegates had wrapped up their work for the day.

Long and stressful

The second day of the congress was by far the longest and most stressful, but it ended with the 2009 Unconditional Care Awards banquet which saw more than 200 guests, including staff, legislators and other community partners from around the state. Returning for their second year to provide the musical entertainment was the Anaconda High School Stage Band which kept the mood festive.

After speeches by CEO Noonan and Dr. Len Lantz, AWARE CFO Geri Wyant began her presentation of the 2009 Unconditional Care Awards, 10 of which are given to AWARE employees and customers and are named after each of the 10 principles of unconditional care.

The winners of the awards were Nicole Baldwin, Rick Duckles, Vern Ruttenbur, Dave Venturelli, Barbara Mueske, James Nolan, Janis Zeier, Patrick Maddison, Anna Rapson and Ki-Ai Mason. The Unconditional Care Employee of the Year award was given to Shawna Schaar. AWARE’s Educator of the Year award was presented to Kathy Kelker, Executive Director of Head Start Billings.

Finally, the George Groesbeck Advocacy Award was given to State Senator Jesse Laslovich, who gave a poignant speech after receiving it.

On the final morning of the congress, the delegates were clearly taxed after two days of hard work and debate, but one by one read their final bills to Noonan, Dr. Lantz and the Board of Directors.

The same Leadership Committee that was charged with staffing the congress will now be responsible for the implementation of the bills.

About half of the delegates will have termed out by the time preparations begin for the next congress (each representative serves a two-year term), but those entering their second terms will provide insight and leader- ship through a vigorous and one-of-a-kind process of development and organizational cooperation.

- By Tim Pray

Corporate Congress 2007

AWARE 'legislature' concludes three-day session, approves 23 measures

A select group of employees and consumers returned to their home towns in early December after spending three days participating in a unique gathering that allowed them to sponsor and vote on "bills" to improve how AWARE delivers services.

Corporate Congress 2007 convened Dec. 5 at Fairmont Hot Springs near Anaconda, with 22 delegates from every area of the state representing all AWARE services. The delegates were all non-supervisory and non-management staff, and consumers.

The Congress, now in its eighth year, operates much like a legislature. Front-line staff in all services represent fellow employees and consumers - their constituents - in a democratic forum and participate directly in changing the way AWARE operates.

Elected by their peers in November, delegates took their responsibilities to heart, arriving at Fairmont ready to promote and defend bills they had brought with them covering everything from training to technology and respite care to retaining staff.

Typical of the measures the Congress considered - and eventually adopted - was one sponsored by Stevan Papich of Great Falls.

Papich's bill focused on helping people who live in Mental Health Services group homes throughout Montana achieve independence. He said it grew out of conversations with staff, case managers and family members, and "my own opinions."

"Each group listed has a stake in giving the residents the best services and care possible to enable them to some day live independently," Papich said.

He defended his proposal in public, winning over the delegates in a speech on the floor.

Corporate Congress 2007 opened with introductions and orientation, followed by a reading of bills and assignment of each, depending on the nature of the legislation, to one of three committees: service development; advocacy; or workforce.

Committees then chose leaders and settled down to business. Elected committee chairpersons were Jamie Knott of Anaconda, representing support services; Akhilesh Boehmler of Missoula, representing youth group homes; and Renae Jones of Bozeman, representing intensive family education and support services.

Projector and flip charts

Seated around tables in a large conference room - and with the aidw of a projector, slides and flip charts - the committees plunged into their work Wednesday afternoon, spending three hours hearing the pros and cons of their assigned bills and ending the day with the chairperson debriefing the committee of the whole.

They returned to their tables at 8 the next morning and spent several hours considering the merits of each bill and rewriting them where necessary before shuffling the revised documents to other committees to be discussed further, possibly amended, and ranked.

The delegates devoted Thursday afternoon to combining similar measures and clarifying language.

By Friday morning, after hours of floor debate, side sessions and more floor debate, delegates had adopted 23 measures, including one to develop a pool of emergency respite care providers, another to offer refresher courses during holiday and summer breaks for staff who work in schools, and yet another that would encourage experienced employees to introduce new employee to stakeholders in the community.

Acting as advisers and assistants and gofers, meanwhile, a dozen managers and supervisors and Congress coordinators Tim Pray and Kathleen Handley kept delegates stocked with supplies and refreshments and answered questions when called upon.

'Making a difference'

Otherwise, the event belonged to the delegates, who expressed confidence that their suggestions would lead to action.

"It's amazing that what we do is making a difference throughout the company," said payroll technician Lisa Huber of Anaconda, representing Administrative Services.

Said Flannery Harpole, a youth case manager in Helena who represented the Helena-Great Falls District, "It's valuable for employees to know decision-making includes feedback from staff."

"Everyone has good ideas and can express them openly. Everyone has a say," said Lorna Stutz of Billings, representing adult developmental disabilities services, residential.

"I'm a stakeholder in this process," said Papich. "I want to see that our consumers are going to get those things that they need before moving on."

"Overall the organization is running very well, but there is always room for improvement," said Jamie Knott, support services delegate from Anaconda. "Good things will hopefully come from it."

"I like that we can enact real change from different sectors," said Akhilesh Boehmler of Missoula, representing youth group homes. "It's not just a top-down feel."

"When we gather staff and consumers together and let them tell us what works and what doesn't work - and what we should do differently - it helps the company and benefits the people who use our services," said AWARE CEO Larry Noonan, noting that this year's Congress was the eighth such gathering since 1999.

"Other companies hire consultants to get the sort of feedback we get from Corporate Congress," said Chief Operations Officer Jeff Folsom, who acted as part facilitator, part mediator and part ringmaster for the event.

"You know the definition of a consultant ... someone who comes in, borrows your watch, tells you what time it is, keeps the watch, and charges you an exorbitant fee," Folsom said.

"At Corporate Congress our employees and consumers are the consultants. Over the years we have adopted nearly all of their suggestions."

- By Jim Tracy