Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I N O. V I I A P R I L 6 , 2 0 2 0 12 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E The organization also said it intends to fast track 2020 grant awards three months ahead of the usual distribution schedule and to remove restrictions on 2019 grants, allow- ing nonprofit grantees working on the front lines to utilize the awards for whatever will allow recipients to con- tinue providing services. The Maine Community Foundation in Ellsworth awarded $500,000 in grants to 41 nonprofit organizations across the state through its COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. Recipients included area agencies on aging, com- munity action programs, homeless shelters and other community-based organizations that are providing food to those in need. Northern Light has new CEO to succeed Hood Northern Light Health, the state's second-largest health care system and the parent organization of Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, named a new president and CEO, effective April 1. Tim Dentry, cur- rently chief operating officer and senior vice president at Brewer-based Northern Light, succeeded Michelle Hood, who announced in November that she was resigning to become executive vice president and chief operating officer of the American Hospital Association. Dentry has over 30 years of health care management experience Since 2016, he has served as COO, responsible for adminis- tration, evaluation and coordina- tion of the system and its member organizations. N O T E W O R T H Y N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N Deborah Hedeen has been named president and provost at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy announced. Hedeen has served as the provost and vice chancellor for academic and student affairs at the University of Montana Western since July 2016. Hedeen succeeds John Short, who retired, and the interim president and provost, Tex Boggs. Q: My staff are all working at home, far from their manager. How can I manage this distributed team? ACE advises: The older "management by proximity" won't work any more. You need to have clear agreements with each staff person on your team about proj- ects, results and deliverables. Meet regularly with staff remotely, in virtual space, to review progress towards these goals, and determine any need to revise the work plan, timetables, or performance metrics. For your staff to work as a team, they need to be able to contact each other. Staff members need to declare time slots when they are reachable. Ideally they will have a dedicated workspace, and pay appropriate attention to privacy, confi- dentiality and backup. This should be summarized in a work-at-home contract. Have a candid discussion about distractions and particular challenges that each staff member may have while working at home. Childcare is the most com- mon, and probably the most difficult challenge — especially in today's environ- ment with most schools closed. For prolonged work-at-home situations, somebody should send regular updates that would substitute for water cooler-style conversations — personal news about other staff or company plans to renovate spaces. With all these arrangements in place, you can have effective collaborative work, with staff accountable, supervisors confident, and family / home life still intact. A S K AC E A n s w e r e d b y A r t h u r F i n k o f A r t h u r F i n k C o n s u l t i n g The Association for Consulting Expertise (ACE) is a non-profit association of independent consultants who value "Success through Collaboration." The public is welcome to attend its regular meetings to share best practices and engage with industry experts. For more information go to www.consultexpertise.com. Arthur Fink is a creative consultant concerned with the social context of technology, with effec- tive communication in the workplace, and with finding the important questions that businesses and non-profit organizations need to address. He can be contacted at arthur@arthurfink.com. N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N

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