Bless Our Workforce: Inspiring Our Staff Teams in a COVID and Post-COVID Workplace

As synagogues and their staff navigate the challenge of (hopefully) a full year of returning to in-person experiences nearly 2 ½ years after COVID-19 descended on our workplaces, this inflection point presents to us an opportunity. How can we use this transition to re-imagine the synagogue workplace experiences of our synagogue professionals to one that best suits the passions and need of our talent? How might we focus our collective efforts as synagogue executive leadership to invest in our talent and optimize the employer-employee relationship so our holy places of work can truly thrive?  

Mark S. Young, Vice President of Talent Strategy / Director of JResponse at JCC Association of North America and author of the recently released book, Bless Our Workforce: Changing the Way We Manage Our People, will help us explore and identify how we each an ensure that our synagogue  professionals, both  individually and within staff teams feel valued, motivated, and blessed at work so our synagogues staff, and ultimately the congregants we serve, can be best supported and to thrive amidst and beyond these challenging times. Throughout the 90 minute interactive keynote participants will be able to:  

• More deeply understand what motivates each of us and apply this learning in our own work routines and relationships.  

• Engage more deeply with our staff teams (the executive director, clergy, administrators, and educators working together) to identify what motivates each of our team members, and apply this learning to strengthen productivity, meeting of mission, and staff satisfaction (and retention!).  

• Apply the broader lessons of Bless Our Workforce to create or sustain organizational and community cultures that allow Jewish community and specifically synagogue professionals at all levels to thrive. 

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Mark S. Young is passionate about strengthening the experience and opportunities for the professionals who help make thriving Jewish community a reality. Mark writes frequently on how to best invest in Jewish professional talent, including his $54,000 Strategy series on ejewishphilanthropy.com, his 2016 ELI Talk: Mah Tovu, and now his 1st published book: Bless Our Workforce. Mark is currently the Vice President of Talent Strategy at JCC Association of North America and has also been JCC Association’s inaugural director of JResponse at JCC Association since July 2019. JResponse is the JCC Association's signature program that trains and deploys its greatest asset, JCC professionals, to respond to crises and disaster.  

Mark previously served the Jewish Theological Seminary for 8 1/2 years, most recently as its Managing Director of its Leadership Commons at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education, and previously as the school's Director of Alumni Engagement and Program Coordinator for its Experiential Learning Initiative. Prior to joining JTS, Mark served in Human Resources, Staff Training, and Programming Roles for Episcopal Social Services of New York, the 92nd Street Y, and Camp Wise of the Mandel JCC of Cleveland, Ohio.