A New Year…really!!
Submitted by The Mills Commu... on January 7, 2011 - 11:44am
When Doug Cartan visited this area in November/December last year, he spoke about “examining the purpose of our work”.
Recently, I read Dave Hingsburger’s excellent blog entry for New Years’ Day By God, Finally a New Year.
My disorganized mind somehow connected these random “dots”. It occurred to me that in order to have a really new year, I needed to reflect on, and update, my understanding of the principles which guide the work of the Mills.
In the past several months, as the Mills has been updating its strategic plan, I’ve begun to appreciate the static nature of how planning generally occurs. What has been, and continues to be, inspiring is that the process creates opportunities for reflection, dialogue and, as Doug Cartan puts it, “examining the purpose of our work”.
So, keeping the end in mind (a community which includes and supports the well-being of people of all ages and abilities) here are some of the principles which I hope will enable the Mills and the communities we serve to experience (“By God”) a New Year!
· Person-centered work: We believe that services and supports should focus on helping individuals live a good life and a safe life.
· Removing Barriers to Inclusion: We believe that many of the factors which limit a good life and a safe life are “societal constraints”. We strive to remove the social barriers which inhibit inclusion and citizenship.
· Appreciative, Capacity Thinking: We believe in building on community assets and individual strengths (capacities).
· Building Social Capital: Our goal is to help people to create meaningful and sustainable relationships – this is a key “service” and means of building a healthy and inclusive community.
· Healthy Living: We believe strongly that health promotion (e.g., healthy eating, physical activity, personal risk management) s an important theme in our work.
· Collaboration and Team Work: We feel these are integral elements in the way we will work within the organization and with our community.
· Accountability: We want to follow through on what we say we are going to do by acting in ways which are consistent with our stated principles and values, and by taking the initiative in reporting on our activities and use of resources.
· Action Learning: We believe in a disciplined and intentional approach to learning from experience and a willingness to engage in innovative activity leads to excellence.
As we proceed into this New Year, we’ll be able to draw on these principles to help us focus on community building as well as service delivery and support. The strategic planning process has confirmed that at the core of our purpose is contributing to an inclusive and “age friendly” community. To align our efforts, we’ll need to find the common ground or themes which “cut across” (transcend?) the social policy fields we work in. we’ll also need to remember that this is a learning journey and we are building the road we walk it!
Mike Coxon
Posted in:
