The following documents relating to our 2006 Annual Conference - "Creating a Culture for Change"  are available to download.  These handouts are in Adobe Reader (pdf) format.

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Dr. James F. Gardner

Keynote Session - Opening the Door Inward

Dr. Gardner's opening keynote session addressed the challenges of organizational change in developing more individualized, inclusive, and self-directed support systems for people. He examined the critical role of organizational culture in transforming organizations and then maintaining mission driven success and performance accountability. Dr. Gardner focused on management strategies that open the organization's doors inward to enable all stakeholders to understand their own culture - values, strengths, resources, and capabilities

Breakout Session -  Reframing Quality and Rethinking Quality Improvement

In his breakout session Dr. Gardner  challenged participants to reframe quality and rethink quality improvement. Current definitions and measurement of quality - quality assurance, quality of service, and quality of life are grounded in traditions and past practice. In attempting to move toward self-directed services, inclusion and personal quality of life, progressive organizations often get stuck in traditional measurement systems and legacy information requirements. This session  explored the "Six Critical Factors for Reframing Quality," and suggested how we can think about new approaches to quality measurement and improvement.

John O'Brien - Organizing to Create Social Capital

Taken seriously, the emerging focus on service providing agencies as generators of bridging social capital disrupts an organizational culture based on the efficient provision of services that shape lives lived under staff supervision within groups of people with developmental disabilities. In this session John O'Brien made the participants  think about some principles for dealing creatively with the disruption.

John Lord - Building a New Story of Disability and Community:

                  How Organizations Can Begin the Process of Change

This presentation explored the nature of the new paradigm of disability and community that is emerging across North America and Europe. Calling this a New Story, John Lord will showed how the values and visions of citizenship, inclusion, participation, and person-centred approaches demand that service systems and disability organizations change. Drawing on experience and research with several organizations across Canada, he then showed how organizations can begin the journey and the process of change toward the New Story.

Dr. Kent M. Keith

Breakout Session - Finding Meaning at Work

People who are intrinsically motivated are more productive, more committed, more innovative, and less likely to burn out. In this presentation, Dr. Keith focused on meaning as a powerful intrinsic motivator at work. Participants learned about the eight sources of meaning at work, and heard the surprising results of Dr. Keith's own surveys of business managers, educators, non-profit executives, military personnel, accountants, and community leaders regarding their most important sources of meaning at work.

Closing Keynote - The Paradoxical Commandments

Dr. Keith wrote the Paradoxical Commandments in 1968, when he was 19, a sophomore in college. They subsequently spread around the world, until today it is estimated that they have been used by millions of people. Mother Teresa thought they were important enough to put on the wall of her children's home in Calcutta. The Paradoxical Commandments are guidelines for finding personal meaning in the face of adversity. In this presentation Dr. Keith  discussed the origin and meaning of the commandments, described where they have traveled, shared four universal sources of meaning, reported on the results of his own surveys on personal meaning, and explained how each of us can find more personal meaning and deep happiness in our daily lives.

Chris Park - The Power of Culture in Organizations

Passion and focus are very important to an organization's successes. However, the organization's culture is without a doubt an essential element for sustainable continuous improvement. An organizations culture has to be grounded in values that are shared and respected by stakeholders, management and the workforce alike. If any part of this TRI-PARTNERSHIP falters the organization will deteriorate. This "show and tell" audience participatory workshop demonstrated the intense impact of culture on human performance.

Dr. Tim Rutledge - Getting Engaged: The New Workplace Loyalty

To retain key employees organizations need to adopt a culture of engagement, in which jobs are transformed into engaging employment experiences. This presentation outlines what workplace engagement is, explains the crucial role of the supervisor as the agent of engagement, and offers a template for organizations and managers to follow as they make employee engagement their competitive advantage. This culture change is necessitated by the shift in the market for employment from a buyer's (more job seekers than jobs ) to a seller's market. Organizations must identify their key employees and treat them differently to keep head-hunters at bay.

Julie Malette - Your Agency Culture Will Make You or Break You: Creating a Culture for Learning

Trapped in an organizational culture that is focused on crisis, blame or one that is simply passive? Want to learn more about turning it around and creating a learning culture that will support organizational efforts to become more responsive and person centered? This session will touched on the tools and skills needed to become a person centered organization that supports people in achieving personal outcomes