Author: Chris

by Clare Krabill, MHS COO

I remember almost 15 years ago hearing about a leader named Steve from those who had worked with him. They all agreed they would have given their absolute best for Steve. They knew he gave his best for them, believed the best in them and invested in their best outcomes. They wanted to continue working with him and were not interested in looking elsewhere.

Their testimonies made quite an impact on me. I decided at that point I wanted to lead like Steve! I began a journey of cultivating servanthood leadership skills. I read leadership books, sought knowledge through peers and mentors, and attended leadership seminars. It didn’t take long to realize that while I could learn best practices and skills, knowing these things didn’t translate into consistently doing them.

The MHS membership network is a community of faith. It is one of the things that sets you and your ministries apart. Yet, your belief alone does not result in your being better leaders. The invitation is to take your belief, invest it with time, effort, and perseverance, and go deep into yourself to cultivate practices that arise from the Spirit.

The spiritual practice of solitude of the heart can be foundational. Through solitude of the heart, one seeks to perceive the world from a quiet inner center. It can transform loneliness and neediness to abundance and generosity.

While experienced alone or in a crowd, it is best developed in actual solitude. In speaking of this solitude of the heart, Thomas Merton wrote, “It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. It is pure affection and filled with reverence for the solitude of others… There is no way of telling people that they are walking around shining like the sun.” He goes on to explain that he perceived his practice of solitude as a responsibility that he had for himself and others. That through the practice of solitude he experienced the depth of community. This is the depth that can empower you to give your best to, believe the best in, and invest in the best outcomes for your colleagues. It is a foundation that can set you apart as a leader. I suspect this is the real key to leading like Steve.

by Twila Albrecht, MHS Program Manager

My parents still get a kick out of telling their friends about the letters I used to write to the president of the United States when I was in 2^nd grade. We were learning about rainforests and deforestation and I became deeply concerned why the president was cutting down so many trees.

Fast forward.

It’s a year later and I’m watching the Twin Towers fall on the tv screen in my third-grade classroom. [Yes, we had tv screens in our classrooms when I was in third grade]. A war then ensues.

It’s 2008, Barack Obama becomes the first black president of the United States. The year 2008 will then be bookmarked by The Great Recession, where those born near the beginning of my generation were beginning to enter the workforce, or lack thereof.  

It’s 2014 and an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, is killed by a white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri.

Climate change, terrorism, and racial (in)justice are some of the movements that informed a generation of socially and environmentally conscious, purpose-driven, tech wizards.

As a generation, millennials (born between 1981-96) are commonly tagged as lazy, entitled, tech-crazed, ‘job-hoppers’. These labels are probably true on our worst days. But, as a millennial, I could think of some other ways to describe us: adventurous, interdisciplinary changemakers that believe in working smarter, not harder.

A quick internet search including the words ‘millennial’ and ‘retention’ results in a plethora of tips and tricks for retaining us. Here’s my quick summary of common themes that millennials are often looking for, and that you are likely already aware of and probably even attempting in your organizations:

• Opportunities for professional development and mentorship;
• transparent communication, particularly related to decision-making and power structures;
• opportunities that matter – some of us still believe we can change the world, and while it may seem far-fetched at times, volunteer and community engagement activities go a long way at creating community and moments of social change;
• flexibility, flexibility, flexibility – we’re in a pandemic. You’ve likely altered how you are working, so what has worked well, what hasn’t;
• Authenticity – we want to show up as we are, and we expect the programs and services we are working with to reflect the mission and values of the organization, consistently.

One strategy for taking this a step further is to begin by including millennial voices in developing your retention strategies. [We like to feel special after all.] You might consider asking the following questions of each other; without judgement, daydream:

1. What brings you the most satisfaction at work?
2. What are some things in your daily routine that, if you had the power to change, would make coming to work easier?
3. If you had the opportunity to rewrite the employee handbook, where would you begin?
4. In what ways do you think the organization needs to adapt to stay relevant, and/or to meet the changing needs of people served and people serving?

As the MHS Program Manager, I’ve really enjoyed working on employee engagement assessments with some of your organizations. MHS, together with MHS Consulting, offers a variety of tools, like the employee engagement assessment, to help leaders and organizations invest in their greatest asset – their employees! We are eager to hear what strategies you are implementing and how we can support you.

Managing cooking oil and grease disposal is one of the most dreaded tasks in any kitchen. It’s dangerous. It’s messy. It’s labor-intensive. It can even be costly if someone gets hurt in the process. That’s why you need Total Oil Management—the all-in-one solution for fresh cooking oil delivery, grease removal and recycling at the push of a button. Restaurant Technologies understands the unique challenges of non-commercial food service operators. Their solutions can help you with reduced full-time employee capacity and deliver measurable safety benefits day-to-day as well as help you continue the quality of care and living standards your residents expect.

Program Benefits:

• Eliminate labor-intensive oil handling or long transfers across property
• Reduce employee exposure to hot oil to reduce serious injury frequency
• Reduce slips, falls, burns, and associated worker’s compensation claims to reduce employee injury frequency
• Eliminate loading, storing, and retrieving 35lb. jugs
• Encourage more diligent filtering to improve food quality
• Reduce non-organic waste and carbon footprint by eliminating thousands of pounds of waste corrugate and plastic JIB packaging
• Support organic waste reduction programs by eliminating the 1lb per JIB of fresh unused oil thrown out by normal practices
• Support employee retention and engagement by providing a safer, cleaner, more efficient kitchen
• Support diversity and inclusion by providing a reasonable accommodation for a difficult back of house task for employees with disabilities

With Total Oil Management, they handle the entire oil process for you—from ordering and receipt processing to delivering fresh cooking oil all the way to storing, handling and recycling of used cooking oil. The advanced kitchen equipment and technology even automates everything so your employees never have to worry about transporting hot oil ever again.

How does it work? Restaurant Technologies install two tanks, one for bulk fresh cooking oil and one for waste oil in your back-of-house. The tanks are connected to your fryers, as well as an exterior wall. They then install automatic controls on the inside of your fryers so employees can easily add, filter and dispose at the push of a button. They do system configurations for all fryer types—even those without built-in filtration. Once the equipment is installed, the service trucks deliver fresh cooking oil and remove restaurant grease via a lockable outdoor fill box. All grease picked up by the trucks is recycled into biodiesel, making used cooking oil removal and grease recycling easy for you and your business. The entire process is done according to your schedule and cooking oil usage, creating a seamless experience thanks to the system’s closed-loop functionality. And with Restaurant Technologies, there is no upfront capital costs to install or unexpected service charges on equipment because they stand behind their services.

The oil technology and monitoring solutions provide managers with access to an easy-to-use dashboard for visibility into each location’s performance and compliance with standard operating procedures (SOPs). This data, pulled from the advanced smart equipment they install in your kitchen, is continuously updated for daily analysis.

Not only that but the Oil Activity subscription technology tracks daily oil usage and sends email notifications when a location exceeds its threshold or isn’t filtering for the required duration. Managers can also view current oil levels, evaluate trends in oil usage, and see the delivery and disposal history. When paired with your own food data, daily tracking of food-to-oil ratios and other key metrics becomes possible—and easy—across locations and dayparts. Now you have the power to determine if your staff is using too much oil, costing you money, or using too little oil, sacrificing food quality.

A variety of data views and downloadable reports allow managers to review historical data, compare oil usage and analyze activity over time. But what does all of this mean to you? It means you can improve staff training, correct employee behavior, forecast future oil usage and identify areas to improve efficiency. Don’t waste another minute on manual restaurant grease management. Get started today and stop worrying about fryer oil so you and your staff can get back to what really matters: delivering the food and dining experience your residents crave. Contact Dianne Piet, your dedicated CPS Client Account Manager, at 603-935-7923, email: pietdianne@carepurchasing.com.