Recently I had a chance to meet with a mixed group of front line employees. We had a good discussion covering a number of topics. One gentleman mentioned that he was spending too much time on paperwork that covered routine procedures that he already knew.

He raised a good point. FM is shifting from a culture where folks kept a lot of knowledge in their heads to one where we record that knowledge. Why is this critical? Taking a look at our workforce, we mirror what’s happening in the rest of American culture – namely we’re getting older. In some of positions we’ve got 60% of our staff who are eligible to retire within the next five years. We can’t afford to have them leave without recording what they know.

We experienced a small taste of this when we shifted from zones to districts. We were fortunate in that for most questions we could just call the person because they’d moved to a different part of campus. We don’t want to be in the position of tracking down folks after they’ve retired.

As far as walking through standardized checklists goes, it’s been proven in a wide variety of work places to improve safety and outcomes. That’s why folks ranging from airline pilots to doctors follow prescribed procedures so they don’t forget something obvious that they’ve done thousands of times before. While it may seem to take more time to walk through it, in the long run it saves time, money and promotes safety.

Community Fund Drive

Some of you may be wondering what organizations benefit from your contributions. Thanks for taking the time to make a contribution back to our communities. Here’s a brief profile of the umbrella federations representing 400 non-profits:

* Community Health Charities Minnesota – An alliance of leading
nonprofit health research and service organizations whose mission
is to improve lives affected by chronic illness.

* United Negro College Fund – The nation’s largest, oldest, most
successful, and most comprehensive minority higher education
assistance organization.

* Community Shares of Minnesota – This federation supports
organizations committed to ending poverty, reducing violence,
building affordable housing, providing affordable healthcare,
fighting discrimination, winning peace and meeting other urgent needs.

* Minnesota Environmental Fund – This federation targets funds to
protect, conserve and restore Minnesota’s environment.

* Greater Twin Cites United Way – The United Way builds partnerships
to innovatively solve our community’s most critical issues and
ensures strong results by upholding the highest standards.

* Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless – This federation helps
Minnesotans meet basic needs for food and shelter by funding food
shelves, food banks, on-site feeding programs, shelters and
transitional housing programs.

* United Arts - Reaches over 300,000 Minnesotans each year through
grants that ensure quality arts education in schools and sustain
important community-building arts programs.


For more information on the federations, please see the CFD web site http://www1.umn.edu/cfd/charitable/index.html .