Ep. 88 - Every Disability Nonprofit Said No. He Built It Anyway. (w/ Steve Gonyea)

Ep. 88 - Every Disability Nonprofit Said No. He Built It Anyway. (w/ Steve Gonyea)

Most leaders already know they should be listening more. This episode is about what actually happens when someone does. Steve Gonyea is a parent, foster parent to 178 kids, and one of the most relentlessly solution-oriented advocates in the IDD space. In Part 2 of this conversation, he shares how he went from barely getting five minutes with politicians to one assemblyman clearing his entire afternoon — because Steve was the only person who walked in with solutions instead of complaints. He also shares how he built a fully operational complex care center in Utica, New York — six days a week, free to the community, built without a single waiver dollar — after every disability nonprofit in the region turned him down. And how he convinced New York State's OPWDD Commissioner to drive across the state at night and sit in a library, listening to eight families she'd never met, until she cried. The through-line in every story is the same: get out of your office, bring solutions, and listen to the people nobody else is asking. It sounds simple. Steve is proof that it works. 📬 Connect with Steve: steve_gonyea@yahoo.com 🔗 Finding Common Ground Podcast & Projects: fcgadvocacy.org 🔗 Special Needs Resource Directory: specialneeds.help 📥 Free resource — 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: iddleader.com/burnout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – "You came in with solutions. I want to hear them." 02:20 – How Steve changed his approach to advocacy 05:33 – One-on-one meetings vs. bus trips to Albany 07:40 – Inside the 4-hour meeting with an assemblyman 08:20 – Building the complex care center (when everyone said no) 11:26 – The veterans said yes the next day 14:32 – If you have 70% turnover, the problem isn't the DSPs 18:40 – What Steve would say to a CEO with 5 minutes 22:43 – The OPWDD listening tour — and the commissioner who showed up 29:39 – Get out of your office. Here's what you'll find. 35:09 – Introducing specialneeds.help — a free national directory Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2330502/fan_mail/new] Quick Question: Do your frontline supervisors sometimes unintentionally contribute to staff turnover? It happens so easily because... Most supervisors were never trained to lead.  Get The 7 Quiet Danger Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Teams and learn how high-retention agencies spot — and fix — these issues fast. https://iddleader.com/burnout [https://iddleader.com/burnout]

Ep. 87 - What DSPs Know That Most Leaders Don't (w/ Steve Gonyea)

What if the people most likely to solve your retention problem are already on your payroll — and nobody's asking them? Steve Gonyea has been inside more human services systems than almost anyone: IDD, foster care, juvenile justice, mental health. He's a parent, a foster parent to 178 kids, and a former DSP who went on to become one of the most tenacious advocates in New York State. He's not an executive. He doesn't run a provider organization. And that's exactly what makes this conversation so valuable. In this episode, Steve breaks down what actually happens to a family when a DSP walks out the door, why DSPs stop speaking up even when they have exactly the answers you need, and the story of how he turned a failing Xerox manufacturing line around — not with a new system or a new strategy, but by asking every single person on the floor one question: how can we do your job better? The answer that came back almost every time? Nobody had ever asked them before. 📬 Connect with Steve: steve_gonyea@yahoo.com 🔗 Special Needs Resource Directory: specialneeds.help TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – What happens when a DSP leaves a family's life 02:24 – Steve's intro: 178 foster kids and counting 05:08 – From aerospace to advocacy — how Steve got here 09:06 – Why Steve became a DSP (and what he learned) 10:54 – What IDD leaders miss when they only see one corner 13:34 – What "a seat at the table" actually has to look like 15:32 – Taking wheelchair users sledding (and what happened next) 17:00 – The Christmas dinner no one planned — and the report that followed 20:43 – "It's telling that I was unsure if I was making the right call" 22:09 – Why your 98% satisfaction survey might mean nothing 25:57 – The Xerox plant story: from 67% to 107% efficiency 36:43 – DSPs leaving not for money — but because nobody listened Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2330502/fan_mail/new] Quick Question: Do your frontline supervisors sometimes unintentionally contribute to staff turnover? It happens so easily because... Most supervisors were never trained to lead.  Get The 7 Quiet Danger Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Teams and learn how high-retention agencies spot — and fix — these issues fast. https://iddleader.com/burnout [https://iddleader.com/burnout]

Ep. 86 - The AI System One IDD CEO Is Already Using w/ G.N. Janes

Most conversations about AI in human services stop at "it's coming." This one is about what's already here. G.N. Janes, CEO of Valley Community Services, has spent a decade building a data-driven retention system for frontline supervisors and DSPs. We go deep on what happens when artificial intelligence enters that system — how agentic AI works, what it actually looks like when a model flags a struggling supervisor, and critically, what a human does next. G.N. also gets honest about what he'd do differently: starting with data governance, eliminating data silos, and making sure the right people have access to the right information before you build anything else. And he closes with something worth writing down — the difference between managing by vibes and managing by data, and why the IDD sector can't afford to keep doing the former. Whether you're AI-curious or AI-skeptical, this episode will change how you think about what's possible at the frontline supervisor level. 🔗 Learn more about Valley Community Services: valleycommunityservices.org TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – When the machine says you're going to struggle 01:17 – What Part 2 is about (and why you can start here) 02:45 – How AI is plugging into the existing dashboard 04:33 – Agentic AI vs. ChatGPT: what's the difference? 08:35 – What actually happens when the AI flags a supervisor 11:22 – Could other IDD orgs access this system someday? 12:47 – Why the IDD sector is still collaborative (and what could end that) 15:02 – The honest first conversation: start with data governance 17:13 – The data siloing problem nobody talks about 19:37 – Billboard question: "But did it help a DSP?" 22:18 – What G.N. would tell his younger self Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2330502/fan_mail/new] Quick Question: Do your frontline supervisors sometimes unintentionally contribute to staff turnover? It happens so easily because... Most supervisors were never trained to lead.  Get The 7 Quiet Danger Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Teams and learn how high-retention agencies spot — and fix — these issues fast. https://iddleader.com/burnout [https://iddleader.com/burnout]

Ep. 85 - The Retention Strategy Most CEOs Haven't Tried w/ G.N. Janes

Most organizations find out a frontline supervisor is struggling the same way they find out an employee is leaving — too late. G.N. Janes, CEO of Valley Community Services, spent the last decade trying to change that. What started as a wild guess about where the real problem lived — the frontline supervisor level — became a full data infrastructure with weighted dashboards, engagement surveys, and predictive analytics built to catch problems before they become crises. In Part 1 of this conversation, G.N. breaks down exactly how the system works: what they track, why scheduling and onboarding turned out to be the two biggest hidden drivers of turnover, and what any organization can do tomorrow with just a spreadsheet and tenure data. If your organization is still managing turnover reactively, this episode is your playbook for what comes next. 🔗 Learn more about Valley Community Services: valleycommunityservices.org ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 – When promoting your best DSP backfires 01:06 – What if you could predict your staffing future? 02:22 – The early warning system for frontline supervisors 04:20 – From Navy translator to IDD CEO 07:29 – Why frontline supervisors became the focus 08:56 – Inside the FLS dashboard: what they actually measure 11:38 – The two biggest hidden drivers of DSP turnover 16:33 – Did it actually work? Real results before COVID 18:47 – The Gallup engagement survey (and why follow-through is everything) 24:53 – The 2.5-year disengagement dip nobody talks about 29:16 – The one metric every org should baseline tomorrow Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2330502/fan_mail/new] Quick Question: Do your frontline supervisors sometimes unintentionally contribute to staff turnover? It happens so easily because... Most supervisors were never trained to lead.  Get The 7 Quiet Danger Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Teams and learn how high-retention agencies spot — and fix — these issues fast. https://iddleader.com/burnout [https://iddleader.com/burnout]

Ep. 84 - Thirty-six DSPs Waiting in Line for More Training w/ JW Gibbs

Most workforce programs fail because they stop at 90 days. The problem compounds from there. The organizations seeing retention rates up to 90% aren't doing more of the same — they're doing something structurally different. JW Gibbs runs a Department of Labor registered DSP apprenticeship program in Missouri through UMass Boston's Institute for Community Inclusion. In Part 2, the conversation gets specific: the inner workings of how the program runs, how to get it into your state, and what happens inside an organization when staff start lining up for their slot. One DSP with ten years of experience in behavioral homes said it reduced his escalations by 50–60%. His COO's instruction to skeptics: come to a graduation and decide for yourself. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 — What a CPO needs to know before calling JW 3:30 — Why standard onboarding stops short — and where the system breaks down 8:05 — The BCBA parallel: why credentialed expertise requires hours, not just coursework 11:22 — What a parent of a person with IDD notices that training doesn't teach 13:01 — A COO who didn't believe it — and what changed his mind 17:05 — It's not just for new staff: investing in your 10-year employee 20:13 — 36 people on a waiting list for a training slot — what that signals about culture 22:16 — The biggest misconception providers have walking in 25:02 — No direct cost to providers — and what that means for ROI 27:24 — How to bring this to your state (and what JW's team actually does) 33:00 — The one thing that derails implementation before it starts 37:10 — Training that has to show up in real situations to count Connect with JW: 📧 jwgibbs47@gmail.com 💼 linkedin.com/in/jwgibbs-collaborative Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2330502/fan_mail/new] Quick Question: Do your frontline supervisors sometimes unintentionally contribute to staff turnover? It happens so easily because... Most supervisors were never trained to lead.  Get The 7 Quiet Danger Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Teams and learn how high-retention agencies spot — and fix — these issues fast. https://iddleader.com/burnout [https://iddleader.com/burnout]