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IDD Leader
For IDD Providers: Tired of the revolving door of staff? Join host Nate Beers as he and other industry leaders share loads of actionable advice on how you can retain and grow your DSP workforce. Just because there's a nationwide DSP workforce crisis doesn't mean that your organization has to churn through staff. Listen to innovative solutions to increase your staff retention and give your organization a competitive advantage so that at the end of the day you provide the best quality care for those you serve.
More effective supervisors. Stronger workforce. Lower turnover.
Episodes
97 episodes
Ep. 99 - The One-Line Definition of Culture That Sticks - (w/ Dr. Manny Rodriguez)
If some version of this story sounds familiar, you're not alone: There's a rebranding effort — new logo, new shirts, new colors, the whole thing — that lasted about a month before nobody could find the shirts anymore and half the company forgot...
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Ep. 98 - How One Org Cut Turnover From 60% to 20% w/ Dr. Manny Rodriguez
Turnover was sitting at 60% year after year, and Dr. Manny Rodriguez says the first question nobody was asking wasn’t “how do we fix this,” it was “why do we assume we already know why people are leaving?”You’ve probably felt this tensio...
Ep. 97 - The Leadership Bench Every IDD Org Needs w/ Wes & Kristy Mast
Take a full two weeks off — no email, no check-ins, phone off — and watch what happens to your organization.If that thought makes you a little uneasy, you're not alone, and Wes and Kristy Mast built their entire leadership system around...
Ep. 96 - Why Great Leaders Stop Solving Everyone’s Problems w/ Wes & Kristy Mast
Wes Mast used to call himself the "chief everything officer." Answering phones, doing inspections, handling marketing, driving to job sites, and eating lunch in the car — all at the same time. Somewhere in there, he was also picking up dead chi...
Ep. 95 - What No Executive Director Is Allowed To Say (w/ FCS & AADD)
There’s a sentence Amanda Elder says almost every executive director is thinking, but nobody actually says out loud.Amanda leads Frontier Community Services in rural Alaska. Kim Champney leads the state’s disability provider association...
Ep. 94 - When Innovation Isn't Optional in Rural IDD Care (w/ AADD & FCS)
If you're leading in this field, chances are you already know: there's no real playbook. No one handed you a map for the exact situation you're in right now.Amanda Elder and Kim Champney lead in rural Alaska, where that's not a metaphor ...
Ep. 93 - How One Provider Cut Reports From 2 Weeks to 1 Hour w/ Daniel Caridi
One organization used to spend three staff members and two full weeks writing their quarterly reports. Now it takes one person about an hour.That's the kind of number Daniel Caridi, co-founder of Kibu, mentions almost casually — and it'...
Ep. 92 - How Dodgeball Launched an IDD Tech Startup w/ Daniel Caridi
A volunteer dodgeball class for five people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That's where Daniel Caridi's company started — and somehow it turned into an EHR platform now used by over 400 disability service providers across the...
Ep. 91 - Why the Best IDD Organizations Ask Questions Nobody Else Thinks To (w/ CQL)
There was a woman in her 80s. Her one goal was to get her driver's license. When someone finally asked where she'd go first, she said the grocery store. Then: "I'd go see my sister." They didn't know she had a sister. They'd bee...
Ep. 90 - How a Compliance Process Became a Culture Shift w/ CQL
What if the thing you've been dreading is actually the thing that could transform your organization?For the past year, Nate kept noticing a pattern: a disproportionate number of the highest-performing organizations he interviewed were C...
Ep. 89 - Beyond DSP Appreciation Week - From Recognition to Retention w/ UMN's Kris Foss
Most IDD organizations genuinely care about their staff. You celebrate DSP Appreciation Week, recognize milestones, and try to say “thank you” in meaningful ways—and yet, people still leave. Not because recognition doesn’t matter, but because m...
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 ...
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, menta...
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 s...
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 w...
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 Gib...
Ep. 83 - Why You Can't Hire Your Way Out of This w/ JW Gibbs
The hiring bonus didn't fix it. The career fair didn't fix it. The referral program didn't fix it. And deep down, most leaders in human services already know why — they just haven't had language for it yet.JW Gibbs spent 25 years in cor...
Ep. 82 - The Leadership Skill That Reduces Stress
Leadership can feel heavy—especially when the demands keep growing, decisions keep stacking up, and everyone else’s challenges seem to roll uphill toward you.For executives, program leaders, and operational leaders in human services, str...
Ep. 81 - Why Supervisors Avoid Hard Talks (And How to Fix It)
If you lead a human services organization, you’ve probably watched this play out:A staff member’s performance starts slipping. Their supervisor sees it. But days turn into weeks, nothing gets said — and by the time anything happens, ...
Ep. 80 - Dealing With Difficult Employees: 4 Situations Every Leader Faces
If you’ve ever thought, “Why do I feel like I’m babysitting adults?”… this episode is for you.In human services, most leaders don’t struggle because they don’t care—they struggle because they were never shown what to actually say and do...
Ep. 79 - Never promote an "ask twice" employee... Do THIS instead
Most organizations are promoting the wrong people. Not because they don’t care. Not because they’re careless. But because they’re using the wrong criteria. In this episode, Nate breaks down a simple but powerful rule:➡️ Never p...
Ep. 78 - Great Leaders Create Moments Like This (w/ DSP Magnet)
What if the thing your best DSPs want most… isn’t more pay?In Part 2 of this conversation with Scott and Craig De Fasselle from DSP Magnet, we shift from big-picture staffing challenges to something surprisingly simple—and incredi...
Ep. 77 - You Hired 100 DSPs… Where Did They Go? (w/ DSP Magnet)
You hired 100 DSPs… so why are you still short-staffed?In this episode, Nate sits down with Scott De Fasselle and Craig De Fasselle from DSP Magnet to unpack one of the most frustrating realities in IDD services:👉 You’re hiring…...
Ep. 76 - Why Staff Retention Feels Impossible (and What Great Leaders Do Differently)
Staff retention can feel incredibly frustrating.You try retention bonuses. Recognition programs. Hiring harder. Posting more jobs. Improving onboarding. And yet… the vacancies keep coming.For many leaders in human services, impr...
Ep. 75 - Why Team Parties Won’t Fix Your Retention Problem w/ Holli Beth Clauser
If your team is struggling with retention, the answer probably isn’t another pizza party.In Part 2 of this conversation, Nate sits down again with workforce strategist Holli Beth Clauser, founder of ABA C.A.R.E.S. Staffing and host of <...