No Sibling Rivalry in Bringing Team Spirit To The World

Sisters, Julie Rushin and Jolene Jackson ere in the same Team Spirit certification and were so impressed, they encouraged their sister, Jeanne Wittman to come to a certification in Dayton. Julie, Jolene and Jeanne have been spreading the word of Team Spirit from Portland to Seattle to Atlanta. The sisters have formed a consulting firm, Take Charge Services and offer many organizational support services to this large geographic area.

Most recently, Jolene, the youngest of the sisters, and Field Office Manager for the Seattle South Office of the Social Security Administration (SSA) offered a series of Team Spirit workshops at SSA. Jolene reflects that government agencies experience the same workplace woes as their private sector counterparts: down-sizing, low morale and employee burnout, dwindling resources and tight budgets. Government agencies have additional problems as well. For one thing, regulation and administration of government programs are subject to change at the drop of a congressional hat. To exacerbate matters for SSA employees, Social Security and Medicare are political hot potatoes, with practically everyone having a different opinion about their future. If ever a group of employees needed Team Spirit-this group was it, explains Jolene.

Accordingly, Jolene and Jeanne presented seven two-day Team Spirit workshops to the Seattle District offices of the Social Security Administration. Team Spirit facilitators Pat Baccili, Julie Coburn, Stephen Barrett, who were all certified by Jolene in Seattle, assisted in the workshops.

SSA employees were grouped by position type for the training, which meant seven workshops over a two-month time frame. Feedback from the workshops included the following comments:

"This was the best training I've had in 17 years with this Agency!" "The benefits exceeded by expectations." "I felt…a safe environment where I could explore my feelings and observe how they affected those around me." "…Though we're all different, we can still be a great team!"

Jolene asked the district management staff if they had seen any changes as a result of the training. Responses were positive. One supervisor said he had been dealing with an employee who was continually calling in sick. In the month prior to the training, the employee had only been at work 30% of the time. The supervisor was amazed to report the employee had been at work 99% of the time in the month following the Team Spirit training. "This was a benefit that I really hadn't expected," said Jolene. Based on the positive results of these workshops, Jolene expects that the district will agree to go forward with another round of workshops this summer.

Jolene is a Team Spirit Associate, which gives her the opportunity to offer Team Spirit Certifications in Seattle. Contact her at 206-726-1012 or via Email at JoleneJack@aol.com for more information.