Originally shared on May 24, 2024 during Staff Day at Emma Kaufmann Camp

Before we board our buses back to Pittsburgh, I wanted to take some time to reflect on our journey so far this year and where we are headed as we look toward the future.

On August 31, 2023 just hours before assuming the reigns as CEO of the JCC, I addressed our community and my remarks included a reference to the song Hall of Fame by the Irish band The Script. For those of you who know me and my competitive spirit, it should come as no surprise that I was drawn to the vision, as the song calls out, of the JCC burning a bright flame so that the world would know our name. In retrospect, though, this 2012 hit featuring will.i.am from the Black-Eyed Peas says so much more about the organizational culture and commitment to excellence that is required to most effectively meet the emerging needs of our diverse community. Just listen to this short sample of the song’s lyrics.

You can be the greatest. You can be the best.

You can move a mountain. You can break rocks.

You can be a master. don’t wait for luck.

Breaking all the records they thought could never be broke.

Be believers. Be astronauts. Be truth seekers.

On August 31, our Board Chair Scott Seewald and I also referenced a visioning process that our Leadership Team and Board of Directors had begun just one month earlier to co-create a “north star” with which the organization would align its thinking, its planning and its work. We sought to create a foundation for future decision making and prioritization of our work that was rooted firmly in our legacy of building and supporting community and a commitment to excellence in everything we do. At your places, you have a key output from that visioning process – our shared framework. As you can see, our mission remains the same since it was adopted back in 2017, I’d like to take a moment to explore our new vision, shared lenses and core commitments.

Our vision, or the change we are making happen, is activating community to build a stronger and more inclusive Jewish future. Let me say that again. Our vision, or the change we are making happen, is activating community to build a stronger and more inclusive Jewish future. If we do it right, even the folks on our treadmills or in our DEKA classes will be able to connect their respective fitness journeys to their ability to more regularly and more substantively engage in community.

Our shared lenses, or how we view our work, is a copy and paste from early childhood. The Sheva lenses were created by our umbrella organization, JCC Association, and were a means of elevating the work that happens with our youngest community members and their families. The reality, though, is that the themes represented by the Sheva lenses – reflection, dignity, commitment, gratitude, curiosity, intentionality and collective responsibility – are appropriate for all of the work we do, whether in marketing, aquatics, security or membership.

And finally, our core commitments. Simply put, these are declarative statements meant to represent what our staff, our members and our community can count on the JCC for. Not isolation, but collaboration. Not mediocrity, but excellence. Not transactions, but relationships. Not exclusion, but inclusion. Not the status quo, but continuous learning.

As we move forward, everything we will do together will be rooted in our shared framework. It should be considered our organizational compass as we work together on planning and implementing our priorities in the years ahead.

Speaking of our priorities, what are they and how will they come to life? For the foreseeable future, we will be relentlessly focused on three goals: our staff, our members, and our finances. First, we will work like crazy to retain and grow our amazing team of professional talent – both full-time and part-time staff. Second, we will put our members at the center of all that we do – from designing our online registration system to ensuring that our electronic fitness equipment always has fresh batteries. We will enhance our members’ journey with the JCC from the moment they come across our brand. And third, we will ensure that the JCC operates for generations into the future by once-and-for all achieving financial stability in a post-COVID world. We will pursue these three priorities with a more human-centered, inclusive, and collaborative approach where we listen to and learn from all staff and JCC members, work more closely across our teams and departments to solve problems and address opportunities, invest in our people, facilities and programs and adopt quality improvement processes across the entire organization.

Throughout the fiscal year, we have been laying the groundwork for this next leg of our journey together knowing that the work grows more challenging each day and that the opportunity to create powerful moments and to exceed customer expectations has never been greater. We have run two rounds of Fireside chats – one in the fall and one this spring – with nearly 200 attendees coming together from across departments and locations to help nurture our organization’s discipline around open, honest 2-way communication. We have shared moments of gratitude and insight and learned about the various perspectives we bring to work each day and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. We discussed a wide variety of issues such as how best to support one another at work, the importance of time away from the office, creating a sense of belonging, how to let someone know that they may be making a mistake and of course, the impact of coming to work each day curious about how to make today better than the day before. But just as important as the conversation, was the opportunity for staff to build authentic connections with one another in a safe space where each of us was encouraged to be fully present, vulnerable and kind. I’d like to invite those who served as facilitators for our Fireside Chats to rise. Thank you for your part in bringing this important initiative to life.

We also completely revamped our 3 ways to give campaign. Renamed as Your Light, Your Impact, staff were more explicitly invited to participate in the shared responsibility for creating a better, more just world and to help keep the JCC, our community partners, and those we all serve vibrant and strong. We reversed years of decline in the rate of employee participation and instead of relying on one or two of our staff to run the campaign, we recruited an entire committee of colleagues from across the agency to lend their creativity, valuable insights and commitment to maximizing impact in developing a new approach to engage and excite staff in the importance of giving back. I could not be more proud for having achieved our highest participation rate ever among our full-time staff and both the Jewish Federation and the United Way have asked me to pass along their sincere thanks for the JCC’s efforts throughout this year’s campaign. Will the members of our Tikkun Olam Committee please rise. Thank you so much for all that you did to really turn things around in 2024.

We embraced the power of inquiry and reflection through participating in the 2024 Leading Edge Employee Engagement Survey. The results are in, and we have much to be proud of:

• An all-time high number of staff who completed the survey.
• An increase in our overall employee engagement score.
• Improvement in the broad categories of care, culture and communication. We saw increased scores in response to questions such as, “My organization values input from employees with a variety of perspectives and identities,” “My organization demonstrates care and concern for its employees,” “When I offer my opinion, I feel that it is heard and respected,” “My organization respects my time when I am not working ,” “I am enabled to use my available paid time off,” “Employee well-being is a priority at my organization,” “I am comfortable sharing potentially unpopular opinions about how to do our work,” and “At my organization there is open and honest two-way communication.”
• I am particularly excited about the significant improvement in the areas of “likelihood to recommend my organization as a great place to work,” and “I see myself still working at my organization in two years.” For me, this is where the rubber really meets the road!

It isn’t all rainbows and unicorns, though. Areas that saw material decline included, “I am appropriately involved in decisions that affect my work,” I have access to the information I need to do my job effectively,” and “Most days I feel that I am making progress at work.” We also noted significant variation across departments in the area of belonging and we need to dig in more to better understand what is working in some pockets of the organization and not working in others.

More respondents, a better overall engagement score, improvement in the areas we chose to focus on and new opportunities for improvement around which our Leadership Team and I will develop a game plan to address. I love it! What could be better?

We also significantly tweaked our hiring practices, making them more collaborative inviting the input of not only prospective direct reports but others across the agency with whom each new hire is most likely to interact on a regular basis. As is the case with many new initiatives here at the JCC, this all began inside of early childhood when we brought on our new Associate Director, Cierra Bekich, and continued with the hiring of our new Senior Director of Jewish Life, Rabbi Hindy Finman, and our new Director of Security & Operations, Vicky Butch. And coming in September will be our Your Light, Your Impact Volunteer Program, where full-time staff will be able to spend up to 4 hours each year volunteering for an organization of their choice without having to use any PTO, and a formal talent management program that we just received funding for.

Our work is far from over. As we look to the future, I am filled with a sense of excitement and anticipation for all that lies ahead. Together, we have the power to shape a brighter, more inclusive future for our community – one where every individual – that includes each of you – feels valued, supported and empowered to thrive.

At its core, The Script’s song Hall of Fame is a motivational anthem that encourages us to strive for greatness and achieve our dreams – not just our individual dreams but the dreams of those around us as well. The song emphasizes that anyone can make a difference and become successful with dedication and hard work. The lyrics convey a message of determination, perseverance, and believing in oneself.

You can go the distance. You can run the mile.

You can walk straight through hell with a smile.

You can be a hero. You can get the gold.

Be leaders. Be champions.

In the coming months, let us continue to build upon the strong foundation that we have laid together. Let us continue to innovate, to collaborate and to dream big. And above all, let us continue to serve our community with the same passion, dedication, and love that has defined us from the very beginning all the way back in 1895.

As we move forward, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for your hard work, your commitment and your unwavering dedication to our mission. A special thank you to Brian Schreiber for his help in ensuring a smooth leadership transition and providing guidance and perspective along the way. All of us together, we are making a difference in the lives of countless individuals and families, and that is something truly worth celebrating not just on Staff Day but every day throughout the year.

Thank you for all that you do. Here’s to an amazing summer and to the journey ahead.