Inspiration StationCause & Effect

Issue 5 • July, 2014Inspiration Station

Training & Development

Risk Management

Call Center

Marketing

IT

Sneak Peek

LMH Milestones

Community Services

RECP

Employee Spotlight

SatisFacts

Lincoln Charities

THE LINCOLN

MESSENGER

“Every effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite.” -Abraham Lincoln

Summer is HERE!! And with it comes PCS season and LOTS of activity in our districts. Families are moving in, moving out and moving on, it is a busy and exciting time. It is also a time to remember the role we play in the lives of our residents. As busy as we are, as much as there is to do, we must not lose sight of the very special residents we do it all for each day. It is the little things we do today that can make a lasting impact on the families we serve.

Traci Neerhoff, the District Manager at Wadsworth in Hampton Roads, took the above quote to heart and went above and beyond for one of our residents when their child became sick with cancer.

While working in Hampton Roads, Traci met Chris, a young resident at Bradford Cove who was battling cancer. After hearing on the local radio station about the Disney Kids contest she decided to nominate him for a vacation of a lifetime at Disney World. She wrote a letter to the radio station and shortly after Chris’ mother called the office to let Traci know that Chris had been selected to spend a week at Disney World with his family all thanks to her!

Traci’s husband is an active duty service member serving in the Hampton Roads area and was called to the CO’s office around the same time. Not knowing what the meeting was for, ETCM Neerhof entered the room to find a Lieutenant, an officer also serving on the Theodore Roosevelt, there to shake his hand. The Lieutenant’s little boy was Chris and he wanted to express his gratitude towards ETCM Neerhof and Traci for the amazing gift she had given his family.

Forever touched by the little boy and his resilience Traci is proud that she was able to give him one week to be a cancer free little boy. To this day she still has the gift he brought her back from Disney and is reminded of how grateful his mother was when she brought the entire office Starbucks after they returned from the trip. Traci stayed in touch with the family after they moved to their new duty station and is happy to report that Chris is cancer free and in remission!

As we go through our day, remember to focus on the little things that we can do today that will have a positive and lasting impact into the future. Have an OUTSTANDING Summer!

Risk Management News

We hope you picked up a few tips during June’s National Safety Month to keep our homes and workplaces accident free! AWARENESS and BUY IN will have the greatest impact on accident reduction. Look for updates to policies, more variety in safety training courses, and recognition for those neighborhoods and managers that encourage and achieve zero-accident workplaces. Everyone can step up to stay Safe@Lincoln. For instance, in a strong safety culture, we all should feel comfortable to remind our supervisors and teammates to wear personal protective equipment (PPE), rearrange office chords and equipment to eliminate a trip hazard, or ask for help with a task that would be safer with a “buddy system”. Want to know which districts have the fewest incidents? Ask your VP to share this information and start thinking about how your Region and District can improve! If you have an idea for training, a need for resources, or want to recognize an individual, community or region for its Safe@Lincoln achievements, please email SafeAtLincoln@lpsi.com! When accidents do happen, everyone needs to work together to help our team members get well and back on the team as soon as possible.One important step is to ensure our preferred medical providers are close, capable, and understand Lincoln’s policies and goals. We will be reviewing the occupational medical network to ensure we have the right partners that can provide the best care, help us control costs and support our goal to Return to Work. We will also be reviewing job descriptions and leave of absence policies to fully support Return to Work and compliance with state workers compensation laws. Finally, we will develop checklists so all employees, supervisors, care providers and our WC adjuster partners fully understand their roles and responsibilities. We are working hard to help you stay Safe@Lincoln and take the guesswork and frustration out of Workers Compensation!

Training & Development Communication

In the last issue of the Messenger, one of the highlighted tools for delivering our Mission was Communication. In the fast-paced, high-demanding, short attention span world in which we live and work, how do we ensure that our communication exceeds expectations and demonstrates that we care? Have you recently asked someone a question and seconds later you cannot remember the answer you just heard? Good communication starts with being present and actively listening. We are inundated with distractions, interruptions and working onsite redefines the concept of multitasking. We all know the basic skills for good communication: maintain eye contact, good posture, respectful language, affirming nods, smiling, standing when someone enters your office and acknowledging anyone you see onsite. At the same time, we cannot use the basics we know when our focus is elsewhere. Being present means committing to that moment and showing respect to those with whom we are communicating with. Actively listening by giving an individual your undivided attention and truly listening to what they are saying, without interruption, will only enhance good communication. Another key to delivering exemplary service is to be sincere in our communication. There is no substitute for being genuinely sincere; and our basic communication skills often demonstrate how we feel about the words we say even when we try to mask our true feelings. Whether we are speaking or listening, we must remain sincere and make certain that is being communicated both verbally and nonverbally. Finally, be consistent in your communication. Whether we are communicating with a resident, a vendor, a military partner, a Lincoln team member or even a stranger who stops to ask you a question, we should treat everyone with the same respect and professionalism. So how do we remain present, sincere and consistent when we are faced with difficult or frustrating challenges? Remember why we are here. Remember our purpose and what we strive to contribute to the quality of life for our service members and their families.

Marketing Team Building & Resident Engagement

The 1st Quarter Team Building Event held in the Crennan South region was a great example of how you can get all members of your team to engage with our residents on social media. Danielle Franco, the Regional Marketing and Training Director for the Crennan South region created The Lincoln Apprentice Challenge. Each district team was tasked with building a child’s bike and creating a contest on their district’s Facebook page to engage the residents and give a bike to one lucky kid in the community! Their first challenge was to properly assemble a child’s bike, after which the Regional Maintenance Director took it for a spin to perform a quality control check. Then they each picked a theme for their contest. Themes ranged from superheroes to princesses and each bike was decorated to match. After completing their prize they were asked to develop a marketing campaign promoting the giveaway and encouraging residents to participate on their district’s Facebook page. Many asked residents to share photos of their little ones dressed to match their theme. The teams had so much fun not only building the bikes but seeing the residents reactions to the giveaway! The friendly competition made everyone on the team input their creative ideas for the campaign. It also helped that there was a little prize in it for the teams. At the end of the giveaway the team that acquired the most growth in likes on their district’s Facebook page was treated to a lunch celebration. Little Creek took the top spot with 102 new likes to their page, resulting in 16% growth in their audience. In total residents received 100+ likes on their photos from family and friends while each district averaged 14% - 16 % growth in their audience resulting in a great team building event to benefit not only our employees but our residents too!

Help Wanted! The LMH Marketing Department is looking to hire a National Marketing Specialist with interest or experience in marketing, social media and/or design. If you or someone you know may be interested please contact Ashley Gorski Poole at agorski@lpsi.com.

Call center all Smiles

April showers bring May flowers but what do May flowers bring? Call Center Team SMILES!

Besides celebrating our 11th anniversary as a team, we demonstrated our appreciation for our associates and service counselors with SMILES Week. The call center team is BIG on smiles and what better way to celebrate than to create a theme for each day of the week based on the word SMILES! Themes consisted of Smoothie, Movie, Indulge, Luau, Energize and Starbucks Day. The team enjoyed smoothies, a movie and even mini spa treatments courtesy of their supervisors! The Call Center team would like to recognize our Maintenance Superstars:

APRIL - Andy Renshaw, Little Creek, Crennan Region

MAY - Gustavo Pena, MASD flags, Crennan Region

ITUpdates

Knowledge Center UpdateOn June 9th Claromentis put out a new release to improve performance on the new LMH Knowledge Center. The release is in the stress testing phase and the results will be sent out to all employees once completed.

Connectivity UpdateIT is in the process of changing out the firewalls in all of the district, GMO and accounting offices in order to give all employees more flexibility and tighter security for network resources. This change will also reduce the ongoing firewall maintenance cost by 50%! In addition, the team has been made aware of several offices that are having internet speed issues and are evaluating options to resolve these issues.

Online Leasing UpdateThe Brown and Browne regions are next to roll out online leasing! Our Legal and Compliance Department is working with each region to ensure the proper documents are uploaded and ready for use in Yardi. Yardi UpdatesOn June 15th a revamped work order notification process was released. Based on feedback, notifications for completed work orders can now be sent once a week versus each time a work order is completed. For example, if 5 work orders are completed in a week for one resident, they will receive one email summarizing the work completed.

The Operations group is testing the changes made to the Water Intrusion module. By July the functionality for generating Work Orders for each of the Water Intrusion Follow Ups and the related updates to the reports will be released.

Yardi released a new Inspection Module that is being evaluated with our maintenance teams. Inspections can now be done on mobile devices similar to Work Orders. If the evaluation is successful, it will be another big step in our paperless office endeavor. Keep an eye out for updates in the next newsletter!

The Georgia House is located on the Naval Station Norfolk base in Norfolk, Virginia. Built in 1907 for the Jamestown Exposition it was designed as a replica of Bulloch Hall in Roswell, Georgia. Bulloch Hall, built in 1839 for Major James Stephens Bulloch and his family was made famous in 1853 when Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and Martha Bulloch were married there. After making its mark in history it was only fitting for Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th U.S. President, to give the opening speech for the Georgia House when its doors first opened at the Jamestown Exposition. Spanning across 6,240 square feet, the home features six bedrooms, three full and two half baths, and ten fireplaces! The dramatic front entrance provides a bit of Southern charm, with four, large, Grecian columns. To top it off the Georgia house is one of only two homes at the Jamestown Exposition that was built with an elevator. Holding strong to its southern roots many of the twelve rooms in the home are decorated and furnished by cities in Georgia, including Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, Valdosta, Maco, Rome and Statesboro. At the end of the Jamestown Exposition in December 1907 the house was purchased and converted into a private residence. The Navy purchased the Georgia House in 1917 along with the remaining 15 homes located on Dillingham Blvd.

Sneak PeekGeorgia House

Top photo: Georgia House, modelled after the Bulloch House. Bottom photo: Bulloch Hall.

Lincoln

milestones

We are proud to have such dedicated, highly skilled, and caring team members, always seeking to improve the quality of life for our military families. Please join us in congratulating the below members of the LMH team celebrating milestone anniversaries.

BROWN REGIONJaime C JR Lopez - 5 YearsJose A Barajas - 5 YearsKenneth D II Sollars - 5 YearsTiffany A Flores - 5 YearsWilliam R Collison - 5 Years

BROWNE REGIONIgnacio C Garcia - 5 YearsNorma L Castillo - 5 YearsViridiana Castro - 5 YearsWendy M Gibson - 10 Years

CRENNAN REGIONDustin J Klep - 5 YearsJessica R Bleasdale - 5 YearsJoshua N Mackall - 5 YearsKimberly L Foster - 5 Years

CRENNAN REGION - CONT’Richard Reiter - 5 YearsKimberly D Sickel - 10 YearsJessica L Younce - 15 Years

MCKAY REGIONSalvador Navarro - 5 Years

SCOTT REGIONDavid JR Lopez - 5 YearsJackilou L Davis - 5 YearsMiguel A Santiago - 5 YearsGloria Garcia - 10 YearsJorge A Parada - 10 YearsJose A Martinez - 10 YearsMichael A Coney - 10 YearsOlivia Tamayo - 10 YearsOfelia Munoz Chavarin - 10 Yrs

Community Services 3 PCS Tips to Support Our Residents Move

Our military families are at peak PCS (Permanent Change of Station) season…. Move in’s….. Move out’s…. that’s what it’s all about!

Tip 1: Understand the lingo- Do you have a Marine Corps, Navy or Coast Guard Family moving in? Be sure you know and address them correctly. Learning rank structures (or having cheat sheets for each branch) and understanding military terms will help you get to know the military culture and earn respect with your residents. Visit http://www.defense.gov/about/insignias/ for a quick reference chart or download the Military Ranks app for free from the app store on your smartphone.

Tip 2: Treat each family as if they were your own. Military families move on average of once every three years. Next to divorce and death of a relative, experts say that moving is rated as the third highest cause of stress. Add in the fact that many know nothing about where they are moving to. Try to also remember the families have most likely been in the car for several days or weeks! Think of a couple ways to help relieve stress for the family. For example, have an activity ready for the kids, and provide water, coffee and/or snacks to make the move in process more personal.

Tip 3: Build their community network from day 1. Make a first impression by welcoming them to their new community and introducing them to your District Team. Invite the family to the next community event and have a flyer ready to hand them with all of the information. Encourage them to attend because it is a great way to meet new people. Make sure the family knows you are their community representative and a resource for them for whatever they may need.

Top photo: Oceana District celebrating Military Appreciation Day. Bottom photo: Scott Region hosting the 6th Annual Barona Race Day.

It is hard to believe it has been almost two years since we first began metering, monitoring and reporting electricity usage in our Navy and Marine Corps homes under RECP! We’ve come a long way in that time, and now have all but 1,100 homes in live billing - hats off to our District teams that have made this possible through their hard work and dedication to our military families.

While RECP implementation has not been without challenges (as with any new program), it has been especially gratifying to see our military families take ownership of energy use within their homes and make responsible adjustments - small changes that in the aggregate have a big impact on making more funds available to operate and improve their homes and communities. We must also remain mindful of the important role that we play; not only in managing RECP and assisting our residents with the program, but in setting the example and doing our part to reduce energy consumption as well.

With over 1,000 LMH team members, the small things that we do individually also have a big impact collectively; turning off lights when we leave a room or home, “powering down” work spaces at the end of the day, raising thermostats in the summer and lowering them in the winter, in addition to all of the things that we can do in our own homes to minimize our utility usage. Every dollar that we save in utility costs is a dollar that goes back to our residents, providing them a better Lincoln Military Housing experience!

RECPUpdate

Joel Martinez of the Lofgren District represented LMH, the San Diego Apartment Association, and Region X on Friday June 20th at the 2014 Maintenance Mania National Championships. The event was held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO at the National Apartment Association Education Conference and Expo.

Joel was ranked 15th out of the top 20 contestants competing for this year’s title. Heading into the competition he held a competitive overall time of 1:38:161 which he gained in the regional competition held in San Diego in April. At this year’s National Championship, Joel took home second place in two of the six competitions - Duo Flush Toilet Conversion and the Ceiling Fan Assembly.

This is Joel’s second year competing in the National Championship and his third year with LMH. We are honored to have such a driven individual as a part of our LMH family and would like to congratulate Joel on his huge accomplishments!WAY TO GO JOEL!

Employee SpotlightJoel Martinez

Our new email survey follow up program for move ins, move outs and non-water intrusion related work orders is in full swing! Residents now have the ability to provide their feedback anonymously. For this quarter, we are averaging an overall response rate of 11%, for all three survey types.

Let’s continue to get the word out about this exciting new program for our residents and use their feedback to work together and shape our services to be even better! We appreciate your support! GO Lincoln GO!

SatisFacts Update

Lincoln Charities Getting to Know Your Senior Ambassadors

Lincoln Charities is made possible by the support of our very own Senior Ambassadors. Coordinated by Carley Turner, these employees meet via conference call bi- monthly to discuss future fundraisers, ideas to increase participation, and ways to encourage Lincoln employees to request assistance when they need it. After the calls they distribute a newsletter to share the topics and ideas discussed with their properties. The Senior Ambassadors also act as a point of contact for their region. Below is a complete list of the Senior Ambassadors for Lincoln Military Housing by region.

Danielle Franco, dfranco@lpsi.comJamie Taylor, jamtaylor@lpsi.comTraci Neerhof, tneerhof@lpsi.com

SCOTT REGION Cindy Sheridan, csheridan@lpsi.comMonique Fisher, mbinda@lpsi.com

BROWN REGIONStephanie Dominguez, sdominguez@lpsi.comNancy Meissner, nmeissner@lpsi.comAmy Ward, amyward@lpsi.comKasey Arnold, karnold@lpsi.comLinda Hicks, lhicks@lpsi.com

We would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about the content covered in the newsletter! Please visit LMHFeedback.com to share your comments or suggestions on what you would like to see featured in the next issue!

Feedback

A good senior ambassador is someone who can create excitement and enthusiasm through fundraising for Lincoln Charities. They also need to be compassionate, trustworthy, and able to keep private matters confidential. We can never have too many Senior Ambassadors. If you are interested in becoming a Senior Ambassador, please get your RPM’s approval then contact Carley Turner at cturner@lpsi.com.

BROWNE REGIONEric Tili, etili@lpsi.comStasha Crawford, scrawford@lpsi.comLori Credico, lcredico@lpsi.com

CRENNAN REGIONChristine Tyszka, ctyszka@lpsi.com

Can’t quite commit the time it takes to be a Senior Ambassador but still want to help contribute to Lincoln Charities? Try out our Amazon Smile Link! Each time you make a purchase on Amazon.com through the smile link (http://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-0191366) a donation will be made to Lincoln Charities at absolutely no extra cost to you!