Cutting Edge Concepts

Sister Judy Jewison in New York, along with Sister Janet Fleischhacker, Executive Director of CSJ Ministries, and Bill Gress, Assistant Director of Sisters of St. Joseph Congregation ministries.

Albert Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” Indeed, this is a mantra that we at REALM truly believe. We often speak about the importance of innovation in our work, so we are constantly searching for it—for better ways of doing, better ways of thinking. I took this mindset with me as I attended a recent training in New York, which was conducted by Alexander Osterwalder, co-author of a book about one of my favorite innovations, The Business Model Generation.

The Business Model Generation presents a cutting edge, holistic concept for devising a business model, which is something that Osterwalder and co-author, Yves Pigneur, describe as “…the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value.” I love this definition of a business model and the nine basic building blocks the authors developed that comprise it. Their model is simple, yet elegant; it is intuitive, yet it allows for the inherent complexities that go along with the processes of strategizing, structuring, and innovating. It also emphasizes the importance of including all members of an organization in the modeling process, which REALM has been doing all along. We, like the creators of this new business model, believe that in order to create innovation and sustainability, one most rely upon the ideas of stakeholders as well as CEO’s. After all, once the model is established, they all must implement together. This is much more effective if all team members have a hand in co-creation.

I initially discovered The Business Model Generation a year and a half ago and have been implementing its concepts ever since. It was a pleasure to attend the New York training where I was able to do hands-on work with practitioners from around the globe who are also eager to find new pathways to innovation.

What was especially gratifying was to attend the training with clients from The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, for whom REALM is currently co-creating a strategic plan. To bring such cutting edge thinking to others from the non-profit world is so important, because they are eager to discover such exciting new ways of thinking and conducting their ministries. Now, CSJ Ministries leadership has a better understanding of this engaging, interactive tool and are ready to use it to continue the process of evaluating their ministries. REALM looks forward to continuing to bring The Business Model Generation’s concepts to other clients and colleagues.

Building a Crescendo: REALM’s focus on collaboration mirrors “Lessons Learned from the Director of the MIT Media Lab”

As another new year begins, REALM is ready to take on new challenges and to continue its goal of helping others realize what is beyond the REALM of possibilities. It occurred to me recently while reading a post on Big Think (a wonderful online forum) that our work is really about getting a diverse group of thinkers to act as an ensemble to create sustainability, innovation, and energy.

Building energy is also what Joi Ito, Executive Director of the MIT Media Lab and former DJ, is trying to inspire in his lab participants. Ito points out that today’s problems require different types of disciplines and people to work together to solve them; to know where to find information, and to dig deep enough to get it. Just as he did when he was a DJ, Ito must constantly interpret and anticipate his team members’ actions, and inspire consensus by supporting their energies and helping them work together as a unit.

Like Ito, we at REALM have experience inspiring diverse groups of people to work together, establish a vision for their group, and seek out the information necessary to make informed decisions about how to reach their goals. We ask our clients and their stakeholders to do what they already do: focus on community; but we go beyond that to ultimately inspire in them new ways of “thinking, being, and doing.”

The REALM team itself is comprised of a diverse group of thinkers, from planning consultants to architects to its founders, Judy and me, who between the two of us have a combined 60 years of experience working with non-profits and women religious congregations. Such a team is able to listen to the various concerns of the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose and help them work together to create a plan for their preferred future and reach a consensus for masterplanning for their Motherhouse campus. Team REALM’s experts are also able to bring together diverse thought leaders from around communities like Richardton, North Dakota, to talk with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart Monastery about how their monastic community can remain in the community and continue its ministries. REALM can also assist groups like the Sisters of the Good Shepherd with collecting and analyzing information and ultimately making the decision to move to a new home so they can leave behind a convent that has grown too large and costly, and instead carry on their ministries among new friends in a modern continuing care retirement community.

We may not be former DJ’s, but REALM knows how to support the energies in a room! Our experience shows that just as Ito inspires individuals to work together and focus on community, REALM inspires people to do the same: to work as an ensemble, to reach a consensus, to build a crescendo together.

Are you Ready for Transformational Change?

We make many decisions on a regular basis, some simple, some more challenging.  Our clients face some very difficult decisions:  How do we stay relevant?  Should our mission, vision or strategic plan change with the changing world around us?  How do we position our organization for the future?  If we don’t act now, will we get left behind?  Often, there is a tendency to use anecdotal information to make these difficult decisions.  This leaves decision makers ill-informed and in-equipped to make key, long-term organizational decisions.  The most challenging projects we work on are those where leadership made decisions without data, implemented them and are then faced with significant organizational challenges for which there is no reversal or immediate solution.

REALM clients have discovered that utilizing data and research for decision-making has multiple benefits for their organizations, beyond the findings of the research itself. To name a few: It provides proof of results to satisfy funding sources. It grounds the decision in fact, moving it beyond the concept to become an enduring endeavor. And it stirs interest within the organization.

In short, research-based decision-making changes the very fiber of your organization.

The Sisters of the Saint Scholastica Monastery (OSBs) in Fort Smith, Arkansas have accepted REALM’s challenge of what Brad Brown, Michael Chui, and James Manyika have dubbed “big data,” and are using it to their advantage.[1]  This community of Benedictine Sisters realized that their existing facilities were too large, too difficult and costly to maintain, took an inordinate amount of the Sisters’ energy, did not support the current use, and were not sustainable. The OSB’s asked REALM to assist them with the planning of their preferred future. 

With REALM’s guidance and leadership, the OSB’s have reviewed and analyzed REALM-collected data including: a facility assessment that detailed the ongoing building maintenance and repair needs and financial costs of “doing nothing” with the buildings; OSB demographics, financials, and operational assessment; Fort Smith demographics, economics, and services; and market research to analyze the potential for senior housing and services in Fort Smith.  By constantly testing, synthesizing and sharing the information with all of the Sisters, the OSBs experienced firsthand the importance of “big data” decision-making. 

They used “big data” to guide their decision-making for their preferred future or what they have termed their “Pioneering Pathway of Promise.”  The Sisters agree that this has been a transformative process that has facilitated a pioneering pathway well beyond what they imagined.  Using the realm of big data, the Sisters were able to move beyond anecdotal information that was often connected with emotions to expedite their decision-making.

Eighteen months later, the OSB’s are implementing their “pioneering pathway” -  a new continuing care campus co-sponsored with a not-for-profit Catholic senior housing and service provider that will not only serve their Sisters, it will also provide a much needed service to elders and their families in the Fort Smith Community.

If you could test all of your decisions with “big data” how would that change the way your make decisions?  The bottom line is improved decision-making, better risk management, and the ability to unearth insights that would otherwise remain hidden.  Are you ready for the REALM of “big data”?

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[1] Brown, Brad, Michael Chui, and James Manyika.  “Are You Ready for the Era of ‘Big Data’?”  McKinsey Quarterly October 2011: 1-12.  

Two-Day Motherhouse "Masterplan" Charette... A Huge Success!

After engaging and working with REALM on the contemplation and planning of their preferred future – referred to as Bold Awakening, the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose (MSJ) recently participated in a masterplanning charette for their Motherhouse campus that was facilitated by REALM and included Allen Black of EDI who brought 40 years development expertise, Ward Isaacson of Pope Architects who captured the Sisters ideas into a masterplan, and Marc Streleski and Paul Clow from Rushforth Construction to confirm construction costs and realities. Marc Streleski, Project Manager for Rushforth Construction Company, Inc., called “a great weekend for free flow of information, ideas and ultimately a new direction for the Sisters of MSJ.”

The Sisters of MSJ agreed. The charette was “a very positive experience,” claimed Sister Karen Elizabeth. “The team [of experts] related wonderfully with the Sisters.” The outcomes of the charette held the last weekend of October illustrate how well the team and MSJ worked together. Over the weekend, 80 Sisters and advisors from MSJ were able to reach a consensus for the plans for their Motherhouse campus.

Reaching a consensus so quickly with such a large group was quite remarkable, noted Development Consultant Allen Black of EDI, considering that typically charettes, or design meetings, consist of ten or 12 participants. However, his colleague Ward Isaacson of Pope Architects pointed out, such a feat “doesn’t happen without a year of groundwork by Judy and Robin [of REALM].” It also doesn’t happen without a great deal of hard work by MSJ.

To prepare for the summit, Sister Ramona led Listening Circles over the past several months to engage the Sisters and get them thinking about how they wanted to revitalize their mission. Strategic Planning Consultant, Lowell Price, assisted Sister Ramona with facilitating the Circles, which focused on several key threads: practicality, reality, balance, great confidence, humble gratitude, and readiness. As a result of months of open discussion in what Sister Karen Elizabeth dubbed a safe environment where Sisters could feel free to express themselves, the Sisters came to the charette with clear goals in mind. Mr. Price noted that the preparation on behalf of the Sisters and REALM was splendid. Everyone involved in the Motherhouse project, he said, is “clearly committed to doing it, and doing it right.”

Sister Ramona noted that REALM and their team of experts “were excellent and made all of us feel at home with them; they gave evidence of reading our materials, of knowing something of our lifestyle and that the buildings needed to reflect and enhance our lifestyle, as well as our mission and ministry.” Mr. Tan Vo, Chief Financial Officer of MSJ, echoed Sister Ramona in stating that “Both Sister Judy and Robin did a wonderful job in moving things along and focusing the Sisters on the questions that had to be addressed now.” He also praised the team of architects and contractors for quickly integrating MSJ’s preferences into their plans.

“At the end of the charette, the sisters felt as if they had gained a set of friends,” said Sister Ramona. Now “we are preparing for the next step in this process with much work still to be done.”

REALM looks forward to seeing the results of everyone’s hard work as we move implement the masterplan for the Motherhouse campus, as well as the rest of the plans for “Bold Awakenings.”

Collaborating for a Better Future

Martha Kutik president/CEO and Allison Salopeck COO Jennings Center for Older Adults, Garfield Heights, Ohio. Lynn Daly, VP, Ziegler , Robin Eggert, REALM “Expanding the world of possibilities for aging” is what LeadingAge describes as its purpose. On the weekend of October 15, close to 10,000 leaders committed to doing just that gathered in Washington, D.C. for the annual LeadingAge and International Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (IAHSA) conference. This year marks the 50th anniversary of LeadingAge and its commitment to empowering seniors through research, policy, and changing the way society views aging. REALM leaders attended the conference to network and exchange knowledge with aging services providers, as well as to celebrate five decades of advancing aging services in the U.S. In addition, we were delighted to invite the close to 800 LeadingAge Catholic Leaders to a gathering at the Washington Theological Union in conjunction with the conference.

John Mauch, Executive Director, Holy Cross Village at Notre Dame, Jim Gajewski, Executive Director, Catholic Residential Services, La Crosse, WI, and Rebecca Neth Townsend, Ziegler. LeadingAge and IAHSA conference sessions addressed critical global issues such as the challenge of maintaining satisfactory standards of living for an increasing number of seniors, despite having fewer young people and an uncertain global economy to support them. Some countries have already prepared for this challenge while others have yet to address it. Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland, presented a session where she noted the importance of heightening aging service providers’ awareness of increasingly interconnected environmental, political, cultural, and economic influences. Global forces now have an effect on the services we provide every day, so it is necessary for us to be aware of them and to work together to best serve the senior population.

On Monday, October 17th, REALM was proud to join our colleague, Lynn M. Daly, Senior Vice President of Ziegler, and other Ziegler staff members in co-sponsoring the Catholic Leaders’ Gathering. REALM and Ziegler are committed to provide and encourage networking and educational opportunities for Catholic senior housing and service providers. This years’ gathering was no exception as we brought together several dozen Catholic leaders from across the United States for food and fellowship. The Washington Theological Union was the perfect setting for the event. The guests also enjoyed touring the Connelly Chapel of Holy Wisdom, winner of the 1997 American Institute of Architects award for religious architecture.

We left Washington, D.C. with new inspiration for innovation, collaboration, and looking toward the future. We look forward to sharing some of our newfound knowledge with our clients and to fostering the new relationships we made at the Conference and the Catholic Leaders Gathering.