May 2001 - There Is No Such Word As Can't!

By Rosemarie Kelly (Cargill)

Dale Berry, a motivational speaker and certified Prosthetist, in a rousing 60-minute cheerleading session, offered his formula for overcoming challenges and getting RESULTS. Speaking to a capacity crowd of about 40 community relations representatives from the corporate and non-profit world, Berry stressed that RESULTS is what is important, whether you are helping a young man to look the world in the eye again, working with a grandmother who wants to get on the floor to play with her granddaughter or trying to recruit volunteers to work on a community project.

Mr. Berry, an internationally recognized Certified Prosthetist with over 20 years experience of providing high level rehabilitative care for amputees around the world, spoke to an attentive audience on Thursday, April 19 at a CVC-sponsored professional development seminar, hosted by HealthPartners.

Berry used anecdotes and examples from his profession, re-building limbs for people who through illness or accident have lost them, to demonstrate the effectiveness of his RESULTS message. Berry stressed that his RESULTS message can be used in almost any situation to help anyone avoid the SWAG - Scientific, Wild-Ass Guess - principle of project management. To avoid SWAG, managers - volunteer coordinators, all professionals - must plan. Berry"s message goes like this:

R: Establish who is Responsible to get the job done.
E: Set and communicate clear and concise Expectations for the project. It does not stand for Excuses.
S: Determine what the Solutions are for achieving a goal or overcoming a problem. This does not mean focusing on the problem. Rather, Berry suggests that we all become efficient at the things we hate - create Solutions for these hated tasks - so we can do them faster and have time for the fun part of our jobs.
U: Understand the job at hand. Focus on what needs to be done.
L: Learn what you need to know to get the job done. Avoid SWAG at all costs. When you learn what you need to know, you control your bucket of knowledge.
T: Be Tenacious. Believe in your goals and hold firm.
S: Keep things Simple.

For all the volunteer coordinators and managers in the room, Berry"s message struck a chord. Our jobs, Berry said, "are about corralling the gifts of volunteers and transforming them into RESULTS." It can be done!

Dale Berry is available for presentations or workshops. To contact him, please call him at (952) 943-9472 or send him an e-mail to Dale@ResultsCoach.org. For more information, refer to his website at www.resultscoach.org.

You will be energized to get RESULTS!

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