Monday Muses~Craig's Table

It is very rare for me to plan what I am going to write for Monday Muses, it is normally just a matter of sitting down and writing. Tonight however due to several people sending me a particular Ted Talk and because I could see the correlation of this TED Talk what the last 25yrs for me has been like, I have not fully planned; but I have outlined in my mind what I feel needs to be said and pay a tribute once more to the Marksman who set me on this journey many many years back.

There are actually messages from 2 TED Talks along with my thoughts. Thank you in advance for indulging me.

Hamdi Ulukaya Founder & CEO of ‎Chobani

• 3:49 but now it was closing And the company wasn’t just giving up on yogurt, it was giving up on them As if they were not good enough....

So many times over the years I have seen endless talent and capability simply given up on because all that can be seen is the workplace injury. I have access to the most amazing workforce, people with such amazing transferable skills and abilities all that is lacking is a place to turn up for work.

• 4:09 I was so angry that the CEO far away in a tower or somewhere looking at the spreadsheets and closing the factory. Spreadsheets are lazy. They don’t tell you about people, they don’t tell you about communities. But unfortunately, this is how too many business decisions are made today.

Spreadsheets and data tell about numbers, they tell about impost, they tell about profit and loss in terms of dollars. I have looked at spreadsheets and data over many years I have tried my utmost best to understand what the numbers are saying. And each time I have looked at the predictions all I see are more numbers. I have yet to see a spreadsheet that can predict a nurse from the age care industry go back to university to do a PhD in storm water ecology; I have yet to see a spreadsheet predict that a long distance transport driver will go on to be a nail technician (and carry all his required supplies in a mechanics tool box) I have yet to see a brickie turn into a trade teacher. Spreadsheets tell numbers, spreadsheets do not speak of people or what they can do when opportunity and chance get together.

• 6:10 -Tell me you have more ideas than that….

Ask Corey about this one

• 6:20 I sometimes wonder what they would done if I had said to them…

I oft wonder this myself, I oft look back and see just what changes have been made in the lives of so many people. I watch a young girl run and I know in the deepest part of me just how close she came to not having her Dad. I know that if I had spoken of the dreams and the future and all it would hold, it would have been far too much, so it was best to take minutes at a time, it was best to hold the family together and allow the future announce itself.

• 7:20 see that town over there, every person we hire 10 more local jobs will be created….

When I do what I call coffee economics -the price of one daily cup of coffee that is not purchased because of a workplace injury, then times that by the number of (known) people in Australia who have a workplace injury, the obvious loss is the price of the one cup of coffee, the not obvious loss is the flow on impost, the drop in milk needed from the dairy farmer, the drop in take away coffee cups, the loss of add on sales. Full employment creates extra employment, loss of employment reduces employment opportunities. This is a conversation that needs to be had....just need somewhere to have the conversation😒

• 7:47 in painting those walls we got to know each other, we believed in each other; and we figured it out together

I have to say that over the years I have gotten to know the injured worker community and the injured worker community has gotten to know me. Many of you have gotten to understand the way I pull concepts into place and look to see what more can be done and where we as a team can go. It would also be safe to say that i have had some very private and personal questions asked of me, I have answered each of them, the questions may have been an overreach in the eyes of many, however to the person asking the question it was important that they have the answer to build their morrow on.

• 11:15 the reality is that business should go to the struggling communities and ask “how can I help you?”

This is where the Marksman comes into his own. Many times he would go out of his way to learn what the injured worker community needed either in person or via a trusted person. He would simply turn up, he would sit with the injured worker community and he would listen to them, he would take all their ideas and concerns and comments and then he would frame them into ways that could and were worked on. Many times there were tears of frustration and tears of joy as a pathway was mapped through the quagmire. There was never a challenge that I could not walk into his office (without an appointment) and discuss. The Marksman understood one vital concept that the rest still fail to give credence to; "not all the required knowledge is found within the system"

When we started the Injured Worker Focus Group, it was 100% because the Marksman understood that he had to have access to what the injured worker community could tell him. Now when I look at what was achieved by the Injured Worker Focus Group I am just astounded that such information has been silenced because it was not what mainstream wanted to hear....it is even more tragic because the Marksman was as mainstream as it could get, yet he understood the importance of teamwork and collaboration.

• 11:20 so I went there I met with the local people, we shook hands we broke bread …the result the community is thriving…

Never under-estimate the importance of shaking hands (or in my case a hug) and breaking bread. At Craig's Table we understand the need to sit and simply be with someone, to find the common ground and to hold out a hand in friendship and support. Each Thursday when the Bags of Love hampers are packed the amount of care and compassion and understanding that goes into each hamper will never be measured, nor will it show up on a spreadsheet. Treats are tucked in, joy of community and commitment and understanding overflowing in each hamper.

All of it is to show the injured worker community that they have a place to be and to belong and a place that will always rise to help them be all they can be.

• 11:30 the new rule of business is communities, go search for communities that you can be part of, ask for permission …be with them; open the walls and succeed together

Again I go back to the Marksman. I remember one night vividly, the Marksman had been ill for several days, a new "product" for the injured worker community was to be announced. The Marksman was so determined that he share the good news with the group that was gathering before it was officially announced that he got up to attend the meeting.

He could have sent someone else, he could have simply phoned me to say he was sorry that he was not well and could not attend.

The Marksman understood the importance of the injured worker community so he came to them and they responded with almost a standing ovation; not because of the information he had to share but for the respect he had paid to them.

Unlike a senior person who I have had a conversation with in the last 12 months who said "I didn't realise that the injured worker community felt so disposed"

• 13:21 it’s not rocket science

I had to put this is, it is the Marksman's favourite saying.

• 14:10 accountability …. 16:16 in my opinion the CEO reports to the consumer, for the first 3 years of Chobani the 1800 number in the cup was my personal number….if you are right with your people if you are right with your community if you are right with your product you will be more profitable you will be more innovative you will have more passionate people working for you and the community that supports you

So many within the injured worker community and within the providers to the community have my direct number. For me it is important that if someone needs to reach out and talk to me that I make myself available to them. Many times when the nights have closed in around members of the injured worker community they have taken comfort in knowing that I will respond to them either by answering a call or returning a text, or if need be making a call just because I was aware of a concern that they may have had at the time. Open honest communication is vital; yes I get tired, but I would much rather be tired than be concerned.

• 15:47 the treasure that I found in that factory; the dignity of work the strive of character human spirit what we need to unleash all across the world

The dignity of work, there is such humanity in these 4 words. Each time we meet someone new in a social setting, the conversation always starts out with "what do you do?" For members of the injured worker community this is the hardest of concepts to deal with. The vast majority of the injured worker community simply need the opportunity to show just what they can do.

I sometimes allow myself to dare the dream where a workplace injury is seen for all it really is, just a uninteresting detour and not a dead end destination that it is now for far too many members of the injured worker community.

I walk up the hill at Craig's Table and can see just how important the dignity of work truly is to those who are in Bay One or the Op Shop or the garden or in the chook yard or in the Bags of Love food hamper area.

• 15:58 there are people and places all around the world left out and left behind but their spirit is still strong they just want another chance they just want someone to give them a chance again not to just build it back but to build it better than before; and this is the difference between return on investment and return on kindness this is the difference between profit and true wealth

True wealth can not be seen on the bottom line of any spreadsheet. True wealth is found when the heart and the hope of the injured worker community are walking as one. Last week another group of participants from Craig's Table graduated. Each of them has grown in astounding ways over the last 3 months. They have gone from insecurity to open options not just for themselves but for their families as well. They have gone from the walk of drudgery to the walk of outcomes.

Craig's Table merely opened the door put a seat at the Table and walked with each of them. Not one of them will return to pre-injury employment, all of them will go on and find ways to weave a new future.

And to the next TED Talk.

Baratunde Thurston How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time

I admit I watched this one more out of needing to fill in a few moments, I wasn't expecting to find the closing lines for this Monday Muses.

• 15:45 …and I am tired; I am tired of carrying this whole invisible burden of other people’s fears, and many of us are and we shouldn't have to because we can change this…

I admit it, I am tired, I am tired of hearing the same conversations and same comments of needing better outcomes, of needing to control costs and tired of hearing from the injured worker community that no one really cares. I am tired of talking about what I see each and every day at Craig's Table but still needing to explain how the concept works. I am tired because I know when the simplicity of Craig's Table is grasped with both hands just how swiftly the changes spoken about happen.

The conversation can change, in many ways the conversation has changed. Those who know Craig's Table carry the message forward and so the ripples of knowing go out from Craig's Table.

Many many times the Marksman would say that all that was needed was for the corporate community partnership to be recognised for the changes that the Injured Worker Focus Group started to be seen for all their true worth.

At that time there was no way for such a collective to be recognised. That was until the Corporate Community Partnership was run out of the Prime Minister Office when John Howard was the Australian Prime Minister- I submitted the required paperwork and in response there was an acknowledgment. The second project was the 100 Hours Project -this was where business could donate 100 hours of assistance to a not for profit/charity to assist the not for profit/ charity. Again it was the Marksman who encouraged and supported the effort required.

So to today, I know how important open honest conversation is, I know what Hamdi Ulukaya has achieved for his community, I know a great number of leaders within the workers compensation concept are all looking for a way to start this conversation and to achieve the changes of procedures that churn and churn and churn the injured worker community. I also know that as Corey says "if the gate is open, that means the kettle is on, come in and have a chat with us." after all as the Marksman is often heard saying "its not rocket science" None of what has been achieved has been lost, it is all sitting in folders on my shelves, who knows one day it may just be important enough to be read again.

For now it is time for some dinner, I have an early start in the morning.

Yours in service

Rosemary

Social equity for injured workers

craigstable.net.au         Craig's Table Facebook

117 Magowar Road Girraween