Employees and other stakeholders have the opportunity AND the responsibility to serve as our best ambassadors, community representatives and spokespersons. Our Employees are our most precious and largest investment – they are truly our Mission AND our Human Resources. Missy Blankenship

1. FRIENDSHIP AMBASSADORS
TRAINING PROGRAM
Friendship Industries’ Employees have the opportunity AND the
responsibility to serve as our best ambassadors, community
representatives and spokespersons. Our Employees are our most
precious and largest investment – they are truly our Mission AND our
Human Resources.
Friendship Ambassadors Training can serve as the first step in
genuinely cultivating the necessary environment that is conducive for
team-building, company growth, development, communication and
stability.
All Staff and Employees should be well-versed in our Mission, our
History, our Fund-raising efforts and needs, our Commercial
capabilities and our Sales & Marketing strategies in order to convey
the messages both inside and outside of Friendship. Friendship
Employees are our best, most valuable asset and our best prospecting
and networking resource.
Who is in a better position to help convey a positive message than our
Employees? It is up to us to dispel the myths and reinforce the
realities of Friendship’s quality, skills and abilities, not disabilities.
Friendship Industries must provide training to help our Employees
answer important questions like:
• What is our mission statement AND what does it mean?
• Are we a sheltered workshop or an Employee Services
Organization whose mission is to train and employ people with
disabilities?
• Are we hiring temporary people because our workload requires
the need for extra hands or do our Employees lack the skills and
abilities to perform the work?
• What are the proper terminologies for the population we serve,
for instance “handicapped” or “disabled”? And why?
• Are we a manufacturing facility supplying quality services or are
we a facility providing busy work?
• What do we make here? What do we do here?
• What are Friendship’s strengths?
• Why support Friendship either through donations, planned giving
or work?
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2. FRIENDSHIP AMBASSADORS in MODULES:
Three Departments that make up Friendship are planning now:
• DEVELOPMENT’s presentation would be mission-based and focus
on the growth, expansion and fund-raising aspects of Friendship;
in addition a “History of Friendship” presentation would focus on
how and why there is a Friendship Industries
• SALES & MARKETING’s presentation would be commercially-
based and focus on the marketable aspects of Friendship’s work;
in addition the “Commercial Future of Friendship” would focus on
what we see on Friendship’s horizons
• HUMAN RESOURCES’s presentation would be Rehab-based and
focus on the competitive employment, extended employment
and assessment aspects of Friendship, including supported
employment outcomes; additionally the “Employment Future of
Friendship” would focus on where we see the company
progressing
PROPOSED TOPICS:
The History of and Supporting Friendship:
Where Have We Come From? And Where Are We Going?
Employment & Training Services at Friendship:
Why Are We Here? And What is Expected?
Commercial Products & Services at Friendship:
What Do We Do? How Will We Get Where We Want to Go?
This training would do many things for Friendship Industries:
• Would benefit our CARF efforts by striving to make
Friendship Industries a better place for clients, raising the
level of expectations set for them.
• Utilize fully our Employee’s strengths and expertise.
• Urge us to work even harder toward our goals as a TEAM
EFFORT.
• Make us aware of what other staff members have to offer.
• Aid in interviewing and training of new Employees.
• Share knowledge or information(Knowledge is not worth
anything if it is not shared)
• Help clients be prepared for the competitive employment
market, increasing their chance for success.
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3. MODULE II: FRIENDSHIP IDEA ACTIVATION PROGRAM
How do we make Our Ideas program work?
How do we share solutions and garner fresh perspectives to problems?
How do we turn complaints into ideas for improvement?
Develop Training Modules that give profound knowledge in areas
where Employees’ ideas can most help:
Rehabilitation/Human Resources
Development/Public Relations
Commercial/Sales & Marketing
Build Modules around:
♦ Who?
♦ What?
♦ When?
♦ Where?
♦ Why?
♦ How?
Provide Networking (it’s not something that only happens outside a
company). Use 5 minutes of staff meetings to have each staff
member make a prepared presentation of their professional selves
in a biographical format, adding something new each time it is their
turn again:
To interact and make connections
To exchange information; learn other’s capabilities
To work together, cooperate and collaborate
To pool resources and ask for suggestions
Sample Plan:
Once each week (or per month), every Staff Employee presents one
(1) Idea at Staff Meeting; Ideas are written on a green index card for
submission and “credit”
Everyone presents his/her Idea; the group discusses it and, if possible,
improves on it
If the group decides the Idea can be used, they decide who will be
responsible for implementation (usually the person who came up
with it OR an assignee)
If the Idea needs further review at a higher level, someone is assigned
to follow-through; follow-through should be timely, constructive and
informative
Post an “Our Ideas” Chart with Employee Name and Numbers of Ideas
generated
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4. When someone suggests a “bad” Idea, treat it as a learning
opportunity; what training or information could be provided to that
person?
The same simple plan can be implemented for Clients and used at
Shop Meetings as well.
How to get Employees involved?
Just ask
Offer lunch (or snack, etc.) as an option
When a change occurs in the organization, ask for more specific Ideas
Look for the bigger opportunity(-ies) in a small Idea
Work on reluctant participants
“The greatest source of competitive advantage is not
really COST or QUALITY, but CREATIVITY.”
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