This article is about Whole Foods, and its decision to stop offering health insurance to 1,900 part-time workers as of January 1.

But first, a public service message: If you ever know parents whoadopta child, but who run into trouble adding their child to their health insurance, tell them there's a federal lawthey need to learn quickly: 29 U.S. Code1169(c)(1), which was part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.

I learned about this law a few years ago, when my wife and I adopted our daughter, and our health benefits administrator simply refusedto add her to our policy. It was a rough ordeal -- hours and hours on the phone, running up medical bills in the meantime, and being distracted during time I wanted to spend with my family.

Ultimately, we won, after Iwrote some stern letters and threatened a lawsuit. The company evenapologized and promised to change how they train their employees. I'm telling about it now for other parents' benefit, of course, but also because it's probably my biggest Health Insurance Nightmare Story.

Many of us have one.And that shared experience is why the Whole Foods decision could come back to haunt it.

Today vs. last month

Whole Foods' decision was first reported by Business Insider last week. Comparethe company'srecruitment website today to an archived version from August:

Why do it? One report says this will likely save Whole Foods $19 million a year. That happens to be roughly what Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos reportedly makes in a little under five hours.

Actually the savings might be less, because Whole Foods told me in an emailed statement, it expects some affected workers to shift to full-time:

"Impacted Team Members in good standing have the opportunity to move into one of the thousands of full-time roles, where they will be eligible for the same Whole Foods Market healthcare plan at a more affordable rate.

The majority of Team Members only need to work an additional 5 hours per week to qualify for healthcare-eligible positions."

But picking up more hours means paying for childcare for some employees. One Whole Foods worker quoted byBusiness Insidersaid she was "in shock" after learning the news, adding:"I've worked here 15 years. This is why I keep the job -- because of my benefits."

Culture and perception

This might make some kind of sense as a financial decision. But as a culture and perception issue, it seems crazy.

Whole Foods has a great reputation for customer service. That's part of why it was worth $13.7 billion when Amazon acquired it in 2017. The way they've treated their employees historically was part of what made it all work.

I've shopped there forever, and the employees are a big reason why.But as we've seen so often -- heck, I even talked about it yesterday -- the hardest thing to build in any organization is culture. A close second might be the perception of culture.

Start chipping away at the pieces for short-term gain, and it can fall apart quickly.

Target du jour

Health care and how we pay for it is one of the most relevant, relatable and volatile political issues in this country today.

Besides, can you think of a company a clientele more urban andliberal than Whole Foods?

Heck, Whole Foods just managed to becomethe target du jour of politicians like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It just seems like this decision could totally alienate some of its most loyalcustomers.

So, from the outside: If you truly need to cut costs, Whole Foods, I'd look somewhere else.

We all have our stories. I've been waiting for the chance to tell that one.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

Read more:
Whole Foods Just Announced a Surprising Change That Left an Employee 'In Shock' and Could Totally Alienate Their Most Loyal Customers - Inc.

As anyone with a parent in senior living knows, the intake process is substantial. So much is shared and so much is learned.

Adams stroke affects his right side. Mary uses a walker and a wheelchair, depending on the day. Luke is allergic to garlic.

Those are the basics. But what about who they were out in the world and who they want to be now? Often, enthusiastic caregivers learn every detail, but where does this information go? Without a comprehensive digital system, these intimate details often are lost during staff turnover, and the difference that could be made to the consumer is lost along with them.

Just like hotels collect data on their guests to better serve them, its time for senior living to use the latest in data-sharing, not only for operational efficiency but also to better serve residents.

Collecting pertinent data about incoming senior residents is a key part of many recruitment and enrollment systems within the senior living industry. Although some businesses are struggling with integrating new technology into existing legacy systems, others have invested in updated systems over time. The issue is that most of these systems were designed to focus on recruitment and enrollment, not ongoing management of the needs and preferences of residents.

There now exists a sizable opportunity to extend, append, replace or introduce new data collection systems to tailor the experience for each resident and doing so is, for many reasons, becoming increasingly critical to the highly competitive process of attracting new residents. Overall advancements in technology have heightened the demand for personalization: From the purchases we make and the news we consume to how we do our banking, weve become accustomed to tailored service. Adult children, used to apps and messaging as efficient communication methods, have raised the expectation that technology is the preferred way to communicate. Seniors themselves are tech savvier; according to AARP, more than 90% Americans aged 50+ own a computer or laptop, 70% own a smartphone and over 40% own a tablet.

Left on the cutting room floor (so to speak) of most senior living businesses are the data that can be just as pertinent to an older adults overall wellbeing as food preferences or physical therapy needs: What are the interactions between the staff members and residents? Are there shared points of view between residents that need to be addressed? What entertainment or socialization services are being used most frequently, and to what outcome?

The opportunity exists to collect these data over days, weeks or even months and create a more accurate view both of the residents themselves, and the operations of the facility. The continuity and shared knowledge that this data collection will garner overtime could be invaluable and would not be affected (or lost forever) by staff turnover.

In addition, data can be used to consistently increase happiness and satisfaction among residents. From personalized calendars that manage social engagements to concierge services such as Amazon package shipments, cars for hire or food delivery, using collected data can expand the world of the senior resident. Real-time assessment and feedback, integration of clinical and wellness data and family outreach all could contribute to a residents wellbeing.

I know firsthand that my own mothers weekly trips from her senior residence to get her hair done brighten her mood substantially. Getting feedback about her outings not only would be invaluable to me; it also could aid in her facilitys management of her health and happiness.

Keep in mind, the data collection is only a tool; it is all about what is collected and how those data are used.Just as hotels collect data on their guests to better serve them and provide stellar customer service, the senior living industry can do the same.

Take a look at the Ritz Carltons leadership training principles, for instance, which are focused on building a culture that is fanatical about customer care. Principle number 3 is: I am empowered to create unique, memorable and personal experiences for our guests. The empowered portion of this principle is key. Staff members need to feel empowered to provide excellent care, and it should be the result of great staff training to give them confidence while also providing an appropriate span of control.

In addition, staff members need access to timely data with good historical facts that give an instant sense of how that resident is and what matters to him or her.This can be done in simple, intuitive interfaces that celebrate the resident. That empowerment, coupled with accessible data, can help provide care teams with the knowledge and inspiration they need to go above and beyond expectations.

Residents arent the only beneficiaries of data collection, however. Businesses can ensure staff efficiencies, offer timely responses through automation and use the data in the back office to manage operating budgets. Data also can help determine what new services are needed and track satisfaction among staff, residents and even family members.

Adjacent market opportunities abound with this type of commitment to end-to-end data collection systems. In using them, you have the ideal tool kit to move into servicing older adults who live in and around communities you already staff and operate.

Why not consider developing the age-in-place market and serving seniors in their homes? The fact that AARP says that 90% of aging adults wont move in to senior living communities at least until they have aged further is proof that the lifetime value of building services and relationships with seniors in their homes in an emerging large new greenfield ripe for growth. Data collection can help manage, elevate and enhance the experience for seniors and those who care for them.

Read more:
Listen to the consumer to enhance senior living - Marketplace Columns - McKnight's Senior Living

Julie Goldberg is leading Deep Down Dancing classes at the Healing Arts Studio, 15 W. Highland Ave.

by Brenda Lange

New to the area but an experienced practitioner in the art of dance and healthy self-expression, Julie Goldberg dance facilitator, coach and myofascial release therapist will launch a new, ongoing course at Chestnut Hills Healing Arts Studio, 15 W. Highland Ave., on Thursday, Sept. 19.

Goldberg, 29, who began dancing at age 13 mostly modern dance and jazz, with some ballet and improvisational performance work has always loved to dance, move and express herself creatively through the art form. She grew up in San Juan Capistrano, California, and earned her bachelors degree in dance from the University of Oregon. Most recently a resident of Brooklyn, Goldberg decided to move to the Philadelphia area after visiting family and friends here, and she currently lives in West Chester.

Over the years, occasional professional dancing work with small troupes offered mixed experiences when some companies didnt treat their dancers well or pushed them to do moves they werent ready for.

Through dance, I used my body to express the positive way I felt, but some of the negative experiences with some companies led me to identify certain things about that professional environment that felt toxic, Goldberg explained. I wanted to create something welcoming for women who have never danced before non-competitive and about how they feel, not how they look.

Often women who havent had training feel they dont belong or are not welcome in dance studios. It can be intimidating, but Goldberg has taught dance and Pilates and done personal training in workshops in Brooklyn and around the country and says her focus always has been on functional movement. I help people move better and more safely so they learn to move in the safest, healthiest ways.

Once she relocated to the Philadelphia area, she decided to establish a new type of class combining all she has learned and experienced. A Google search led her to the Healing Arts Studio and its founder, Jodi Schwartz- Levy, PhD, LPC. Goldberg had found a kindred spirit in her and in the mission of the studio.

Former professional dancer Julie Goldberg will launch Deep Down Dancing, a new, ongoing course at Chestnut Hills Healing Arts Studio, 15 W. Highland Ave., on Thursday, Sept. 19.

Her program was of interest to me because so much of what we do is around womens empowerment, said Schwartz-Levy. Its important for women to have a space to feel safe and do healing work through movement and dance.

Schwartz-Levy decided to bring in Goldberg to supplement the studios existing programs including yoga, modern dance and groups including mindful self-compassion and a no-diet, self-care collaboration for women struggling with food and body image.

The classes are intimate and put people at ease in a safe space for healing work in a beautiful studio in the heart of Chestnut Hill, added Schwartz-Levy.

Deep Down Dancing is for women who want to dance and express themselves in a supportive, non-competitive and fun environment, who want to be creative, have fun and meet others, Goldberg said, adding that she also loves free yet guided movement, and will include some choreography in the class.

Goldberg begins her classes with a simple, gentle, jazzy warmup, gradually building to stronger dance moves and ends with simple choreography. She also offers some circle time where participants may talk about what they are manifesting in their lives.

I like us to talk about moving emotionally as we move physically, Goldberg said. What do we want to embody in that days class? Well pick a word at the beginning of each class and embody it throughout maybe confidence or joy and then well end in a circle and reconnect around the word each woman chose to embody while doing some stretching and breathing exercises.

Goldberg explained that her approach is built around supporting women as they follow their passions and build their confidence. Her background in Pilates and as a personal trainer, in addition to her professional dance training and experience, has given her a knowledge of how the body moves best to find health and joy.

I do a lot of different things, but theyre all tied together from a desire to help others with healing and knowing and loving themselves on a deeper level, Goldberg said. Thats my mission. So others can live more fulfilling and freer lives.

Visit HealingArtsPhilly.com or email juliecandace@gmail.com for more information.

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- 'Deep Down Dancing' at Hill studio focuses on healing and passion - Chestnut Hill Local

Strippers drugging their wealthy clients, maxing out those clients' credit cards, laundering the stolen cash, and then relying on the scandal of it all to keep anyone who got hurt from going to the police: It's an impressive scam, and an even better story.

Enter Lorene Scafaria, a writer-director with guts to spare. Hustlers, her cinematic telling of this true tale, earned $33 million and sparked Oscars speculation during its opening last weekend creating a cultural moment almost as explosive as the events that inspired it.

The source material is Jessica Pressler's 2015 article "The Hustlers at Scores," an early chapter in the internet's ongoing fascination with scam culture. The story practically begged for an adaptation, and shortly after it was published, Gloria Sanchez Productions optioned the dazzling account and began accepting pitches from filmmakers ready to take it to the big screen.

"It felt like a world that we had seen in every TV show and movie ever, but so few had been told from the dancers' point of view."

"As soon as I was sent the article, I read it and thought this was a story I had to tell," Scafaria recalls for Mashable. "It felt like a world that we had seen in every TV show and movie ever, but so few had been told from the dancers' point of view."

Scafaria saw strip club culture as one of friendship and business, stuck in a destructive system designed to test loyalties of all kinds.

The film spotlights the complex relationship of partners in crime Destiny (Constance Wu) and Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), and the devastation that hit them in 2008 when Wall Streeters fell hard and took big money from the club scene down with them.

It's a perceptive and nuanced narrative, the kind rarely applied to female relationships in Hollywood let alone a relationship between two strippers.

"I think writing is always an exercise in empathy," Scafaria says of her approach. "I thought that this group of people who are commonly misunderstood, strippers. I felt like I would love to tell a story that normalizes their jobs and shows what it's like to do that for a living. There's certainly pros and cons to it, but it's a job like anything else."

Pressler's article captures the same general themes, but with a greater sense of estrangement between the story's two main characters. Casting Wu and Lopez, both currently among Hollywood's most beloved performers, Scafaria invested serious time and energy into creating a friendship that she felt audiences could invest in.

"When you read between the lines [of Pressler's article], you realize that these women had this really profound friendship and built this quote 'business' together, but here they are being interviewed separately," Scafaria remarks.

"I couldn't help but think there was a deeper story there. It just touched upon so many things. I wanted to talk about control, our values, the American Dream, money. It felt like a really organic way to get into this world and see it from a different side of the story."

"I wanted to talk about control, our values, the American Dream, money."

That different side is a spectacular one, overflowing with genuine emotion that doesn't stop at the two leading characters, but goes on to encompass the story's victims and other players as well.

"I felt like I grew up with these guys and these girls," Scafaria says. "I'm from New Jersey and I worked in a boiler room when I was 16 and 17, just answering calls and doing secretarial work. I was around all these guys on Wall Street selling bad stocks to old people in the late '90s. It was scary. I felt a responsibility to the authenticity of that, to get something right about the feeling of that."

"I wasn't trying to change people's minds about what's right or wrong."

To maintain accuracy, Scafaria interviewed strip club employees of all kinds, former and current, and consulted with Pressler regularly even incorporating a character inspired by Pressler (Julia Stiles) into the script as a kind of weather vane for the story's complex events.

"Obviously, I took a lot from the article and took a lot from what Jessica had uncovered, but I think it was a surprise to her when I said, 'I've written you into this,'" Scafaria recalls.

"Of course, the character isn't based on her real life or any specific details, but she is a big part of it. Like you see in the film, when [Pressler] wrote the article, she interviewed the women and the men and the cops, and they were all part of it."

Empathizing with each character in Hustlers is essential to getting the point of Scafarias film. It's more than a female empowerment movie, more than a scam movie, and more than an excuse to give us that incredible Usher cameo though it is also those things.

Hustlers is, simply put, a lot to take in because the story that inspired it was just as overwhelming.

"I wasn't trying to change people's minds about what's right or wrong," Scafaria insists. "I just thought if I could stay truthful to what happened and possibly pull back the curtain on those things a little bit more and tell a story with empathy for everybody the women and the men who are up against this broken values system then I saw this really human, personal story."

"I was still rewriting it just to make sure that I was making the movie I wanted to make and the movie that should be made."

During production, Scafaria's job, to empathize with her characters to the point of knowing them, sent her through countless rewrites, even as she faced numerous other obstacles including a battle for the director's chair.

"There was such a long period of time in which I was working on the script and fighting to get the directing job and fighting to get the movie made and then it fell apart and then it came back together," she recalls. "Then, I was still rewriting it just to make sure that I was making the movie I wanted to make and the movie that should be made. That process was a long process for me."

It was a three-year-long experience that assuredly made Scafaria better appreciate the world she had crafted. Looking back, Scafaria says she wishes she had more time to speak with the people her film sought to understand.

"I felt a huge responsibility to them and I only wish I had the luxury of meeting them ahead of time," Scafaria comments, adding that she wasn't able to speak to Roselyn Keo and Samantha Barbash, the real women who inspired Wu and Lopez's characters, until about halfway through production.

Keo has used the film to promote her book The Sophisticated Hustler, while Barbash has said she felt "betrayed" by her depiction, per The Independent. Barbash isnt alone. Numerous others have spoken out against Hustlers since its release, saying Scafarias film propagates harmful stereotypes.

For her part, Scafaria has since pledged a portion of any royalties she receives from Hustlers to improve working conditions and erasing the stigma surrounding strippers.

"I tried to tell the story with empathy and to see all sides of it, so I can only hope that that resonates with them and that they see that," Scafaria says. "You know, I was just trying to tell this true story and not necessarily paint anyone as a hero or a villain."

Hustlers is now showing in theaters.

Read more:
Director Lorene Scafaria on the true story and empathy of 'Hustlers' - Mashable

BRUNSWICK When Carolyn Brady rules the world, you wont see her doing it in a baby blue, sequined dress. Nor is that what she will wear when she walks across the Miss America stage this December.

While the 22-year-old-Miss Maine does, in fact want to both rule the world and take home the Miss America crown, she says she wants to do it her way: Probably in a jewel tone, and something that will lend weight to her words and embody Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey polished, poised, powerful and relatable.

Because for Brady, the first African American Miss Maine in the competitions history, it is about more than her dress and her looks. And now more than ever, Miss America is about more than that, too.

Following a 2017 scandal after the Huffington Post revealed a slew of emails in which executives shamed contestants bodies and personal lives, Miss America rebranded as Miss America 2.0. In its new iteration, with all-female leadership, Miss America is a competition, not a pageant, and the contestants are considered candidates. They did away with the swimsuit competition and will no longer judge contestants on physical appearance. The talent portion is weighed more heavily.

Miss America will represent a new generation of female leaders focused on scholarship, social impact, talent and empowerment said Gretchen Carlson, chairwoman of the Board of Trustees in a press release. Were experiencing a cultural revolution in our country with women finding the courage to stand up and have their voices heard on many issues. Miss America is proud to evolve as an organization and join this empowerment movement.

In addition to earning scholarships to further her education, Miss America will advocate for social issues important to her.

We want more young women to see this program as a platform upon which they can advance their desire to make a real difference and to provide them with the necessary skills and resources for them to succeed in any career path they choose, said Regina Hopper, president and CEO.

When Brady first started in the pageant circle a few years ago, the perception of Miss America was very much that Miss America wears a pretty dress and walks in a swimsuit, she said, but now they are trying to change that. Thats not the primary thing people should say. The goal is to have people say that she advocated for her social impact initiative, has ambitions parallel to our world leaders and makes a difference in her community, she said, adding that she hopes Miss America 2.0 can influence the standard women are held to in society.

You may not have girls (on stage) that have the perfect swimsuit bodies going forward, she said, but youll have girls who have some of the highest GPAs and highest career aspirations.

Brady is no exception to this new rule. A Philadelphia native and graduate of Bowdoin College, she now serves as an AmeriCorps member through the LearningWorks Aim High Program in Portland and supports students who need additional help to reach grade-level expectations in math and literacy. In addition to her title as Miss Maine, she works at Nordstrom Rack and the J. Crew Factory while also teaching spin classes.

Im constantly on the go, she said. I dont like days off.

Brady has always wanted to have influence. By middle school, she wanted to rule the world, she said, whether it was as president or by marrying into the royal family. Now, she hopes to one day work in the state department to figure out how we can make decisions between countries based on whats best for the people of those countries and minimize focus on bureaucracy, maximize focus on humanity. And then, of course, take over the world, she joked. She hopes Miss Americas focus on scholarship and service can help her do that.

Bradys focus on humanitarian work extends to her social impact platform, Immigration builds our nation, which she began even before the recent influx of hundreds of asylum seekers into Portland this summer.

Her platform seeks to highlight the contributions of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants to the country and make sure our new friends are accepted into the community, she said.

She was crowned Miss Maine June 22, just in time for her to start helping the migrants sheltering at the Portland Expo. She has not yet worked with the recent asylum seekers in Brunswick but plans to reach out once they have had more time to settle in.

She intentionally chose a platform that probably has not been targeted by Miss Maine before, she said, and one that she could serve with more diligence as the first African American woman to hold the role, she said.

Though diversity in the state is growing as the immigrant population increases, Maine is not the most diverse state in the union, Brady said.

The US Census Bureau estimates that in 2018 (and in 2010) only 1.6% of Maines 1.3 million residents were African American, and only 1.8% identified as two or more races. Cumberland County, which includes both Brunswick and Portland, is slightly more diverse, with African Americans making up 3.1% of the population, according to the Census Bureau. The national average is 13.4%.

In the pageant world, Vanessa Williams was the first woman of African American descent to be crowned Miss America, taking home the title in 1984.

Last year, Miss America, Miss Teen USA and Miss USA were all African American for the first time in history.

Brady said she thinks there will be more African American Miss Maines in the future, but that it may take some time, as Maines African American population is not yet American. She believe that as time goes on, many immigrants will likely eventually fall into that camp.

When Brady first started competing in pageants as a way to make new friends, she advocated for more arts education, since she started playing violin at 5 years old.

She has been playing for 17 years and will take her talent to the Miss America stage in December. Instead of playing classical tunes, like Miss California, Brady will play Broadway music, and said the performance aspect matters just as much, if not more to her than her playing.

It used to be that if you didnt sing and dance you were an anomaly, she said, but this year Bradys Broadway violin performance will fit right in among the other talents like clogging, speed painting and even a science experiment.Miss Maine has never walked away with the Miss America crown, so the bar is set exponentially low, Brady said, but it is also the first year the contestants will be competing under the new rules.

She hopes to conquer the Miss America stage in December then, the world.

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Brunswick's Carolyn Brady, first African American Miss Maine, will walk across a reinvented Miss America stage - Press Herald

Most of us think of self-care as something that’s expensive and takes a lot of time, but it really shouldn’t be that way. Instead of looking at self-care as indulgence, we should think of self-care as meeting our basic needs. When you simplify it this way, it’s easier to create a routine so it becomes part of your daily life, not a deviation from it. Even if you invest a little in comforts and tools for everyday self-care, it’s easy to stay within your budget with cost-conscious shopping.

Put Your Physical Needs First

The reason we have a concept of self-care in the first place is that we’re so accustomed to doing things for others that we often put our own needs last. Psychology Today explains how failing to make our own needs a priority is damaging to ourselves and those around us. At a very basic level, practicing self-care starts with meeting our physical needs, including eating well, drinking plenty of water, and getting enough rest.

If you have a hard time getting quality sleep at night, take a good look at your bedroom and see how you can switch things up to make it a more relaxing space. You can usually find good deals on cozy bedding, comfortable pillows, a supportive mattress, and sleep gadgets at popular stores like Target. Plus, you can save even more money by using Target coupons and promo codes when you shop.

Schedule It

Along with our physical needs, we need self-care in all aspects of our lives, including social, mental, spiritual, and emotional self-care. If this sounds like a lot to make time for, the best strategy is to work self-care activities into your regular schedule. To do this, Life Goal Mag recommends keeping a simple routine and staying flexible.

One example is to keep a flexible schedule for physical activity. Exercise meets your physical needs, but it’s also good for your mental health, and it can even be social. Whatever activity you enjoy, set a regular time for it. At the same time, give yourself tools to adapt when your schedule gets thrown off. So, if you normally go to a certain exercise class but have to miss it on occasion, consider investing in affordable gear like free weights so you can work out at home on those days.

Try a New Hobby

The idea of trying something new may seem like an extra strain on your time (rather than an everyday necessity), but finding a new hobby may just be the self-care strategy you’re missing. This is because many of us get caught up in our everyday habits without even realizing how much time we waste on things that don’t make us happy. One prime example is the amount of time we spend on social media. Thankfully, taking a social media break is absolutely free!

Picking up a hobby is an excellent way to replace those unhealthy habits and meet basic self-care needs. For example, doing something with your hands, like creating art, knitting, or gardening, can be incredibly relaxing. The trick to starting a hobby affordably is to always shop smart for supplies, whether that means going to discount stores or using online coupons.

Another cost-conscious idea is to make a hobby of doing DIY projects, like this DIY herbal eye pillow from Medium. Making something useful is a perfect way to care for your mental health because the end product gives you such a sense of accomplishment. You get even more benefit from making something that aids relaxation, like the eye pillow. Plus, you can usually purchase supplies for less money than buying brand new products.

All of these strategies are geared toward being intentional about how you spend your time. Your time is valuable, and the way you choose to spend it on a regular basis is what self-care is really all about. Making these strategies part of your everyday life is affordable, simple, and essential for your well being.

Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay

Are you interested in your own personal empowerment or the empowerment of your employees? Employers and employees both have unrealistic perceptions about what empowerment is and how it's supposed to work in real time.

Empowerment is the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decision-making about their job in autonomous, independent, self-directed ways. It is the state of feeling self-empowered to take control of your destiny.

Empowerment is feeling in control of your work environment and that you have permission to make decisions in the areas you control and are responsible for in your job.

When thinking about empowerment in human relations terms, try to avoid thinking of it as something that one individual does for another. It is one of the problems organizations have experienced with the concept of empowerment. People think that someone, usually the manager, has to bestow empowerment on the people who report to him or her.

Consequently, the reporting staff members wait for the bestowing of empowerment, and the manager asks why people won't act in empowered ways. This bestowing and waiting has led to a general unhappiness, mostly undeserved, with the concept of empowerment in many organizations. Don't let that happen in your organization. Your best success will result from empowered employees taking actionnot waiting for permission.

Think of empowerment, instead, as the process of an individual enabling himself to take action and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. Empowerment comes from the individual.

The organization has the responsibility to create a work environment which helps foster the ability and desire of employees to act in empowered ways. The work organization has the responsibility to remove barriers that limit the ability of staff to act in empowered ways.

Think, too, of empowerment as an employee philosophy and strategy that organizations benefit from adopting. Empowered employees, who are operating within an organization's strategic framework that includes mission and goals increase the productivity and effectiveness of the workplace.

They are enabled to perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively without feeling as if they are waiting for a decision, waiting for direction, and waiting for permission to act. They become more responsible and accountable when self-direction is the norm.

Employee involvement and participative management are often used to mean empowerment. They are not interchangeable. Each describes a different characteristic of an effective workplace.

These are examples of empowerment in action.

The manager of the Human Resources department added weeks to the process of hiring new employees by requiring his supposedly empowered staff members to obtain his signature on every document related to the hiring of a new employee. Consequently, documents sat on his desk in a pile until he had time to review them.

When the time problem was brought to his attention and the fact that is actions impeded empowered behavior, he fostered empowerment by telling employees they no longer needed his signature unless the hire involved extraordinary circumstances or an executive position.

John empowered himself to discuss the career objectives he wished to pursue with his supervisor. He told his supervisor, frankly, that if the opportunities were not available in his current company, he would move on to another company.

Mary took charge of her career by fueling her sense of empowerment when she developed a career path plan, met with her manager to ask for her assistance to achieve it, and set goals for its accomplishment in her performance development plan.

The company's management style involved sharing the goals, sharing each employee's expectations and framework with the employee, and then, getting out of the way while employees were empowered to set goals, accomplish their objectives, and determine how to do their jobs.

The organization operated in a team-based structure in which each development team had the authority and autonomy to determine the features and capabilities of their product. They did this in conjunction with the overall technology leadership and with serious input from the marketing team.

Empowerment is a desirable management and organizational style that enables employees to practice autonomy, control their own jobs, and use their skills and abilities to benefit both their organization and themselves.

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Empowerment in Action: How to Empower Your Employees

Community empowerment

Supporting individuals and organisations to work in ways which are empowering and achieve empowerment

There are many assumptions connected with the term and practice of community empowerment which make both concept and application problematic, confusing and potentially meaningless. These include assumptions that:

Research indicates that a lack of empowering approaches in the past may have left a legacy of people, and communities, feeling: disillusioned, cynical, apathetic, disinterested, angry, confrontational and over-consulted.

Staff working in both public and voluntary sectors often face this reality and, whilst focusing on priorities around community empowerment, it can be helpful to remember how easy it is for people to feel disempowered and how engagement can take place in ways which are more empowering than others

Four key points:

Community empowerment is about working in ways which empower people ways which mean that people feel confident, that they and the groups they are involved in are inclusive and organised, that networks are formed, are cooperative and support each other and ultimately they are influential. These are the 5 Community Empowerment Dimensions which inform all our work at changes, and which are drawn from the DiCE planning and evaluation framework.

By confident, we mean, working in a way which increases peoples skills, knowledge and confidence and instils a belief that they can make a differenceBy inclusive, we mean working in a way which recognises that discrimination exists, promotes equality of opportunity and good relations between groups and challenges inequality and exclusionBy organised, we mean working in a way which brings people together around common issues and concerns in organisations and groups that are open, democratic and accountableBy cooperative, we mean working a way which builds positive relationships across groups, identifies common messages, develops and maintains links to national bodies and promotes partnership workingBy influential, we mean working in a way which encourages and equips communities to take part and influence decisions, services and activities

Community empowerment is the product of putting the values of community development into action.

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Community empowerment | Changes

Quotes can be much then a source of inspiration and motivation. When used as a contemplation or affirmation they can be transforming!

With the Labor Day weekend here and most of us have a long weekend this would be a great time for some focused contemplation and affirmations.or as Tony Robbins says describes them incantations.

To give a brief overview of each so youll be able to experience the power of the below mental strength quotes here are the basics.

Contemplation focusing on a single thought and asking questions about how this quote applies or can apply to your life. The contemplation should last 5 minutes and ONLY focus on a single quote and deeply think about its meaning, what it means to you, how you can use it, how it can help you. Keep creating deeper questions. If you can answer the question quickly go deeper. At some point you should stump yourself and have to wait for the answer. This is contemplation.

Affirmation/Incantations Again, select one quote and repeat is out loud (to yourself) with emotion. This is not a simple memorization process; this is to create energy, passion and new belief. Also, select a different word to emphasize. Say that you select Mens best successes come after their disappointments. For the first 5 times you say it out loud with energy on the entire phrase. Then emphasize the word mens, for 5 times, then best, and so forth until you have repeated the entire phrase. I find this process very inspirational when I talk a walk.

If you really want to experience a shift this weekend, combine the contemplation and affirmations. Perform the contemplation first thing in the morning for 5 minutes. Then go out for a walk and use the same quote and perform your incantations.

I guarantee you feel a difference.

Sohere are 40 very powerful mental strength quotes for personal empowerment and personal success.

1. Try not to become a man of success but a man of value. Albert Einstein

2. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them. Henry David Thoreau

3. Inspiration and geniusone and the same. Victor Hugo

4. To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says: Leave no stone unturned. Edward Bulwer Lytton

5. If you would create something, you must be something. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

6. Every artist was first an amateur. Ralph Waldo Emerson

7. The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be. Horace Bushnell

8. Life has no smooth road for any of us; and in the bracing atmosphere of a high aim the very roughness stimulates the climber to steadier steps, till the legend, over steep ways to the stars, fulfills itself. W. C. Doane

9. Do we not all agree to call rapid thought and noble impulse by the name of inspiration? George Eliot

10. No great man ever complains of want of opportunities. Ralph Waldo Emerson

11. Men do less than they ought, unless they do all they can. Thomas Carlyle

12. Mens best successes come after their disappointments. Henry Ward Beecher.

13. Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true. Leon J. Suenes

14. The power of imagination makes us infinite. John Muir

15. First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. Epictetus

16. It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, Always do what you are afraid to do. Ralph Waldo Emerson

17. Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash. George S. Patton

18. If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes. St. Clement of Alexandra

19. We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities. Ralph Waldo Emerson

20. Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day. Thornton Wilder

21. The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. Arthur C. Clarke

22. Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks. Johann Gottfried Von Herder

23. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. Aristotle

24. Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need. Voltaire

25. If the wind will not serve, take to the oars. Destitutus ventis, remos adhibe Latin Proverb

26. Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action. Benjamin Disraeli

27. You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind. Author Unknown

28. The best way out is always through. Robert Frost

29. o not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking. William B. Sprague

30. Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome. Samuel Johnson

31. Fortune favors the brave. Publius Terence

32. hen the best things are not possible, the best may be made of those that are. Richard Hooker

33. He who hesitates is lost. Proverb

34. Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Albert Einstein

35. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

36. We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls. Winston Churchill

37. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson

38. For hope is but the dream of those that wake. Matthew Prior

39. Constant dripping hollows out a stone. Lucretius

40. Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purposea point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. Mary Shelley

Please let me know how you plan to use these quotes, or if you have a favorite of your own in the comments below.and enjoy the long weekend.you deserve it!

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40 Powerful Mental Strength Quotes for Personal Empowerment

A Methodology for Creating Your Life As You Want It

Three decades ago, the idea of empowerment was fresh and daring. As young as the word itself, we, (David and Gail) both felt that empowerment would be at the heart of our lifes work. In our earliest days together, sitting with yellow legal pads at our kitchen table overlooking the Ashokan Reservoir and the Catskill Mountains, we planned our wedding ceremony and then seamlessly turned to designing our fledgling Empowerment Workshop. So intertwined was our love with our passion for this work, that ten days after we were married, we launched our first workshop. As we celebrate our third decade of marriage, our bond of love is stronger than ever and our passion for empowerment more compelling than ever.

All those years ago, neither we, nor the world, knew what empowerment really meant. We knew it was about helping people to grow and realize their full potential. We also knew that it was about more than just healing and fixing problems. But what exactly was its purpose? Why was this idea entering the lexicon of change strategies with such force? Over these three decades, an extraordinarily diverse, visionary, and committed community of people was attracted to our training programs to help us discover the answers to these questions.

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Personal Empowerment Programs - Empowerment Institute