Audio Tidbits

What do you get when you mix two adults, a young boy, city traffic, a storm and constant rain? Well, it may not be as uncomfortable as you might expect. Have a listen and see if joining the trip might not just be the way you have been looking for to spend five minutes or so.

If you are carefree or want to be, just click play and enjoy. You definitely deserve three minutes for a little break and this will perfectly fill that bill.

This is a landmark transmission from the Aliens Amongst Us. It is their first venture out to fully pass as human. They are meeting with their Congressman to share their views about the Homeless, Violence, Infrastructure, Taxes & Mean-spirited Politicians. Will Congressman Brown personally meet with them and take their concerns seriously? I urge you to listen and learn for yourself what the outcome of their venture is.

Thanks for the chance to tell you about Ecological Human Services Management: An Organic Model for Practice. If you are a student, a human services professional or are just interested in management and organizational development, this book presents ideas and approaches that will serve your interests quite well. Let me tell you more about the book.

Ecological Human Services Management: An Organic Model for Practice has a limited and focused purpose: to initiate, implement, and manage human services. The practice model is explicated through the establishment of a new human services agency; but the approach, strategies, and techniques also apply to initiating new programs and services within an existing agency structure. The model shows how to transition from an identified, unmet human services need to clients benefiting from an array of helpful services provided by a successfully functioning human services agency.

Chapter One (The Helping Triangle) discusses the path from someone having difficulty coping with his (or her) life issues to his becoming an agency client who is receiving services enabling him to cope better.

Chapter Two (Leadership VS. Management) highlights the Leadership Team and shows how to complete the steps and activities discussed in the chapter and how to develop the Leadership Perspective from which the Team can successfully participate within the agency's incorporating environment.

Chapter Three (Successful Leadership Connections) shows developing successful leadership connections is a relatively complex process but can be Managed effectively by agency staff members who meet the criteria included in the Leadership Connection Assessment presented in the chapter.

Chapter Four (The Management Team) discusses how the Management Team implements the policies, rules, and guidelines promulgated for the agency by the authorizing entities with which the agency is associated.

Chapter Five (Establishing the Agency) explains how we know who agency clients should be and understand the issues and difficulties they are having coping with the problems in their lives. Readers examine the resources and opportunities Potential Clients have as they struggle to cope and appreciate that their struggles relate mostly to their limited access to opportunities and resources other people access on a private, self-directed basis.

Chapter Six (Structuring the Internal Agency Eco System) brings forward the working model for services delivery developed in the previous chapter and established as the core function of the agency eco system. Using this working model, the secondary functions circle is conceptually developed, with accountability, responsibility, and authority delegated from the agency Board to its CEO and the Executive Function and then to various secondary functions such as Administrative Services, Fiscal Services, Human Resources Services, etc.

Chapter Seven (Staffing the Agency) points out how readers can understand the agency’s internal eco system in terms of the elements and entities within the system. The internal eco system is also understood in terms of the people who accept the duties and responsibilities involved in assuring the agency's internal eco system functions successfully.

Chapter Eight (Meta Management) discusses strategies for better assuring the agency eco system functions efficiently and effectively. The eco system in principle is self-regulating and sustains its functioning indefinitely in the absence of drift. Unfortunately, drift is an ever-present, unavoidable ingredient of human services agency life.

The first Appendix includes suggested Management Guidelines for a human services agency.

The second Appendix presents The Ten Commandments of Management. Here, readers have a capsule view of the key elements needed for Management excellence.

Hey folks, the Aliens Amongst Us seem to find things here on Earth confusing for them. They are having trouble understanding all the news about sexual harassment, taxes and the activities of their leader in the capital city. It’s a new approach for them to request advice and guidance from their home planet. They want to tap into the Brain Bank back on their home planet. It’s sort of like Googling for truth. Please listen and come to your own conclusions.

When I was in high school, I thought it would be very cool to be a physicist. I don't think I actually knew what physicists did but thought it probably had something to do with rockets. Although I don't recall considering becoming a rocket scientist, I did think going to MIT would be a fine goal.

I pursued that idea until I discovered that I would actually have to move to Massachusetts if I chose to pursue that goal. Sure, I already knew that but the reality hadn’t sunk in yet. When it did, staying closer to home seemed like a much better plan.

To make a short story even shorter, I decided that Ohio University and I would be a much better fit.

Did I still want to be a physicist? Yes but only for about five minutes. I took a class in philosophy and was hooked. Not hooked like that would be my life work but hooked like this is a lot more fun than physics.

As is true for many if not most twenty-year-olds, life and living led me in other directions but the philosophy bug still had me.

Let me share a few points that I would have spent years pondering had I stuck with philosophy. The points are far from profound but do capture a bit of my personal philosophy. If you want, you can consider how they fit with your take on life and living.

OK, that’s enough of the preliminaries. Here are thirty or so things I think worth considering. They work for me and may well work for you. Just press play and away you go.

I can’t tell who is an Alien Amongst Us and who is a normal human like us. I will leave that to you. A few of the Aliens Amongst Us have joined some regular people at Starbucks for a cup and a chat. I think the Aliens Amongst Us are close to being fully integrated into the Earth society. As you will hear, they are really getting into what is happening and what it all means. Please listen and draw whatever conclusions you think are appropriate.

The Central Council on the home planet of the Aliens Amongst Us has scheduled a transmission to get feedback on their Leader in the Capital City from the Aliens Amongst Us here on Earth. I’m not sure how the participants were selected; but each has been asked to share his or her opinions and impressions of the activities and strategies of their leader in the capital city. Although I was not able to capture this transmission in real time, the Aliens Amongst Us have chosen to put it on the Aliens Amongst Us feed so it is here for you. Please listen and see if you concur with their assessment of their leader in the capital city.

Do I have a deal for you. If you're like me, you are usually on your best behavior, trying to get along, trying to work things out in an environment that is frequently not nearly as considerate as you. It's enough to make you pull out your hair, if you still have any left from the last time your supervisor came close to driving you to drink.

Would you like some techniques and strategies for rocking that boat, for just giving up on all that counting to ten and holding your breath? The Audio Tidbits podcast team has been there too and is here for you with just the advice you have been looking for. We aren't quite ready to encourage you to take the tips seriously but they are here for you the next time you have had it, as they say who are at the end of their rope when it comes to patience and making nice.

Please press play, listen and then use your best judgement, if you have any judgement left after having to put up with those people.

In the world of people who drive us up the wall, Committee Players are among the most frustrating. You do know about Committee Players, don’t you? On the off chance you don’t, in this episode of the Leadership Shop Podcast, you are about to find out all there is to know about these exasperating types.