Get staff and public buy-in for return-to-field - Ep68
Release Date: 02/28/2022
Shelter Success Simplified
GUEST: Scott Giacoppo. Scott is the Director of National Shelter Outreach for Best Friends Animal Society and oversees the development of lifesaving efficacy and sustainability for animal welfare partners across the U.S. Prior to Best Friends, Scott was president of NACA – the National Animal Care & Control Association – as well as chief of Animal Field Services for the District of Columbia for 10 years, overseeing all animal control and cruelty investigations team members for Humane Rescue Alliance. He began his animal protection career with the Massachusetts Society for the...
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GUEST: Kimberly Wade. Kimberly is an expert consultant for Humane Network focusing on communications and social media. She was campaign manager for Maddie's Pet Project in Nevada, communications director at Nevada Humane Society, news producer at KOLO 8 News Now, and has a degree in broadcast journalism and communications from the University of Central Florida. MAIN QUESTION: What are some tips for animal organizations to create better social media pages and posts? TAKEAWAYS: If you don’t have a photo, you don’t have a story. To take good photos, avoid a busy background. Get a...
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GUEST: Brent Toellner. Brent is the Senior Director of National Programs for Best Friends Animal Society. Prior to joining Best Friends, Brent, his wife, Michelle, and a few others co-founded the Kansas City Pet Project to run the municipal shelter in Kansas City, Missouri. MAIN QUESTION: There's a lot of pressure in animal welfare and people can feel alone in their work — what tips and ideas might help? TAKEAWAYS: In animal welfare, we’re pushed to do more with limited resources. People often feel they just need to work harder and do more programs, but that doesn’t work in the...
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Main question: What are the common issues you find when doing organizational assessments of animal organizations around the country?
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MAIN QUESTION: How does Doobert's new Companion Case Management module improve communications with the public?
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Question: How can animal organizations better meet people where they're at?
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GUEST: Kat Albrecht-Thiessen is a pioneer in lost pet investigations. She was a police officer, bloodhound handler, crime scene investigator, and search-and-rescue manager before beginning to apply her skills in 1997 to finding lost pets. She is founder of Missing Animal Response Network and author of the book “Pet Tracker.”
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QUESTION: How can animal organizations build a healthy workplace culture, which is so important in a competitive job market?
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What works to engage more members of the community with our animal welfare work so that we can raise more funds — and what doesn't work?
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GUEST: Diane Blankenburg is CEO & Co-Founder of Humane Network.
info_outlineGUEST: Scott Giacoppo. Scott is the Director of National Shelter Outreach for Best Friends Animal Society and oversees the development of lifesaving efficacy and sustainability for animal welfare partners across the U.S. Prior to Best Friends, Scott was president of NACA – the National Animal Care & Control Association – as well as chief of Animal Field Services for the District of Columbia for 10 years, overseeing all animal control and cruelty investigations team members for Humane Rescue Alliance. He began his animal protection career with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as the Special State Police Officer for Cruelty Investigations.
MAIN QUESTION: How can leaders and managers get staff and public buy-in for return-to-field programs?
TAKEAWAYS:
- Removing cats doesn’t work, never has and never will. Removing a cat is not serving the community; it’s clearing a call log. It only solves the problem for a few weeks at most, as new cats will invariably move in to fill the void.
- Give your team all the information they need to fully understand why RTF is a better approach, how it works in other communities and why the old way is not effective.
- Some staff may be resistant to change because they don’t want to face the fact that they’ve been doing something that doesn’t work or because doing something new that goes against the way they have always done it can be scary.
- When someone calls to have cat picked up, that’s when the discussion about RTF should start. Explain that:
- Removing cats isn’t effective, as another cat will show up to fill the niche.
- Getting the cat fixed, vaccinated and returned decreases nuisance behavior, including spraying, yowling and fighting as well as preventing the birth of kittens.
- Share humane ways to deter cats from their garden or yard.
- When an officer has an encounter that doesn’t work out well, talk it through with them, asking them how it may have been handled differently and offering suggestions.
LINKS:
- Best Friends Network
- Leadership recommendation: Leadership Freak blog