LiveWorkPlay Staff Team Completes Enhancing Leadership Capacity, Collaborative Performance, Pandemic Silver Linings Reflections

It wasn’t always possible over the past 18 months, but for this closing session, all of the staff members participating in this training were able to attend and share some concluding remarks at the wrap-up on March 23 with David Chalmers from Nexus Human Capital.

David Chalmers (B.A., B.ED, M.ED., MIRHR., LL.M., PH.D) has twenty years of experience working with organizations, their leaders and their teams to develop human capital, to strengthen performance and productivity and to close gaps that inhibit sustainable change. His practice has utilized leadership development, executive coaching and emotional intelligence as levers for influencing sustainable continual growth within organizations.

He has been working closely with many organizations in Developmental Services, and David’s understanding of the pressures and opportunities in the sector has helped in supporting the LiveWorkPlay team within the context of these changes, as well as the added pressures of the pandemic.

“LiveWorkPlay is comprised of a highly dedicated group of learners and leaders who are focused on achieving meaningful results with the commitment of others and toward their own continuous growth and development. It is clear that their passion for learning and willingness to continuously move outside of their comfort zones will continue to create a dynamic and engaged culture.” ~ David Chalmers

“One of the silver linings of completing more than half of this training during the pandemic is it brought us together for conversations that took us away from the day to day” said Allison Moores, a Team Lead with more than 15 years or service to LiveWorkPlay.

“We worked in small groups, on our own, and we had individual and group coaching from David. The added pressures of wanting to keep the people we support and their families safe, often having a lot of extra worries to deal with in our own lives and family members at risk, and not being able to gather as a team in person, has helped us focus on our communications.”

“When I say ‘communications. that is partly technical, like figuring out how to best use online platforms and manage information, but probably most importantly it is about how to build on the understanding and trust we share with each other, always working on improvement and accountability, but recognizing that our work is very dynamic. The lives of the people we support and the realities of the community around them are always changing, and that means our days are filled with the unexpected. As a staff team, how we flex and support each other through these challenges has a direct impact on the experience of our members, volunteers, families, and community partners.”

“This learning is not something we will be filing away with a certificate in a drawer, it is all tied to the commitments we make to each other and to the LiveWorkPlay community.”

“As a team working in human services we are appropriately focused on helping the people we support express their needs, but sometimes our own needs can fall through the cracks” said Wendy MacEwan, part of the Supported Independent Living team, who recently celebrated five years of service at LiveWorkPlay.

“Being vulnerable and communicating with each other enlightens each of us in how to best support each other as co-workers, and can only increase our ability to be compassionate and empathize with the people we support in the community.”