Letter from the CEO Star Grieser, CDI, ICE-CCP RID CEO
At RID headquarters, we’re constantly discussing what, at the 40,000-foot level, organizational transformation means exactly for our staff, our Board, and our members and how all these moving parts - much like gears in a clock - all impact each other. As we delineate what transformation means and while we’re fleshing out how the organizational transformation will happen and articulating the all-important finer points, our members ask, “what does this mean for me?” Within headquarters, over the past several years, our staff has been spread pretty thin in several departments, and this global pandemic did nothing to slow anything down. We have been trying to attempt so much with so little and during a very emotionally, physically, mentally trying time. No doubt that our members have noticed and have expressed their concerns, and we have been receptive. While it’s a work in progress, we are moving forward with intention and thoughtfulness about our internal organizational reorganization and have been posting and filling several critical positions and still have more to fill. The goal of ensuring each Program is adequately and appropriately staffed is to strengthen our existing program and enhance our services to our members and consumers. We have recently hired a full-time Member Services specialist, a dynamite young Deaf woman,Vicky, to field the many phone calls and emails to answer and direct the many questions and requests coming in from our members about RID and certification or member benefits, and to provide additional customer service and support to our members and the public; we are also looking into contracting with a Deafowned company to provide additional support. We also recently promoted a staff member, Ashley, to full-time Certification Maintenance Program manager and will be posting to recruit a specialist to support our CMP program and will also be doing the same for both the Ethical Practice Systems and Certification programs. To support all of these programs and services, we have brought in a new Communications Director, JJ, to improve our communications and transparency to our members - we want you to know what is going on within RID and with our Board. We’ve brought in an operations project coordinator, Kirsten, to assist us with the management of operational issues. We will soon have two more staff accountants to help ensure the financial health of our organization. We’re looking forward to adding many new and talented people to our team and strengthening the organization. RID has endured extensive organizational trauma. In the wake of this trauma, we are now in this period where we need to figure out how to heal from it and move towards becoming a healthier and more stable organization for our members and consumers. As RID’s CEO, I see myself as being charged with guiding our organization back to health. I see the impact of the organizational trauma in how some members may talk about RID on social media - often with criticism, frustration, and despair. Our committees and staff members, which are tasked with the work of the Board and RID’s Strategic plan, have expressed being overwhelmed, burned out, or unsure of how to proceed or worse, feeling demotivated that their work is or will be a waste of time or energy. While this isn’t a unanimous sentiment of all volunteers or staff, it’s often enough to be alarming that something within the organization needs to change, and we need to heal from our deep-seated organizational trauma. It is this healing that must occur throughout every corner. At the foundation level of our organization, that must happen before we can truly transform into the distinguished and leading professional organization that Deaf people need us to be and that our members can rely on to guide them towards professional excellence. 7
