For the past few months, Keshet has been on a mission. Under the leadership of the directors of Keshet’s core programs, Jen Phillips, Melinda Remaly and Debbie Harris, Keshet staff took on the challenge to define our core staff values. Nearly every staff member participated in the process along with volunteers and lay leaders. We worked in small groups to define what’s important to us in how we interact with each other. From these discussions and activities, six values rose to the top – Integrity, Positivity, Patience, Respect, Teamwork and Communication.

Introducing our core values kicked off the all-staff development day that took place on Friday, March 15. Keshet paras, teachers, administrators, camp counselors, job coaches and others came together to not only think about these values, but to begin putting them into action.

We participated in an exceptional training on the skills needed to implement our values into our daily work at Keshet. The day was led by Michael Brandwein, an internationally recognized expert on management, communication, leadership, team-building, and customer service. (He’s also the parent of one of our Sunday School volunteers.) He introduced us to new ways to effectively and respectfully listen and communicate with one another.

Now it’s up to each one of us to make these values come to life in our work as another way to show that WE CARE.