IDD Leader

Nate Beers
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Management
  • Weekly

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 support.More effective supervisors. Stronger workforce. Lower turnover.

  1. 6d ago

    Ep. 108 - Grow Leaders Before You Promote Them (w/ MV Advancements)

    Your best direct support professional gets promoted to supervisor. Now what? At too many organizations, the answer is sink or swim. Marie Gwilliam calls it learning to swim by being thrown into the deep end of the pool. At MV Advancements, a smaller Oregon IDD provider with about 100 employees and turnover under 18%, leadership development starts long before the promotion. Marie, Katie McMahon, and Heidi Leggett share what they noticed when frontline supervisors were being left out of the mix, and what they did about it, from an EOS tool called Delegate & Elevate to making sure everyone in the company, DSPs included, learns the same ideas in whatever format works for them. If you lead an IDD organization and want supervisors who are ready before they’re promoted, you’ll also hear why Katie says growing leaders isn’t the same as moving people up the ladder. You’ll hear what Marie has learned since stepping into the top role, the paid month off every employee earns after seven years, and the part of culture change that’s easy to skip over: not everyone comes along. Learn more about MV Advancements: https://mvadvancements.org/ Free resource: 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: https://iddleader.com/burnout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Thrown into the deep end 01:25 How they take care of their staff 03:07 A paid month off for every employee 04:30 Why a month, and not a week or two 06:05 Can DSPs get it too? 08:15 What told them to invest in leaders (and Delegate & Elevate) 09:40 Why they won’t promote without support 10:31 Growing leaders isn’t “up the ladder” 12:44 The people they were leaving out of the mix 15:00 Getting everyone to actually read the books 18:19 What Marie learned stepping into the top role 19:45 If you had one sentence on a billboard 21:49 The part nobody says out loud: not everyone comes along Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: 2D91C9IFJVMHZUYG Send us Fan Mail 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

  2. Oct 19

    Ep. 107 - Under 18% Turnover: Core Values That Actually Stick (w/ MVA)

    Your core values are probably on a poster. At MV Advancements, an IDD provider in Oregon, theirs used to be too: framed on the wall, wordy, and easy to ignore. Now, as Katie McMahon puts it, they’d be shocked if anyone got through a day without saying one out loud. And their turnover is just under 18%, down from the 30s. In this conversation, Marie Gwilliam, Katie McMahon, and Heidi Leggett from MV Advancements share how five core values went from the wall to the way their whole team talks: in the interview, on a new hire’s first day, in hard conversations, and in performance reviews. If you lead an IDD organization and want values that show up in daily work and help people stay, you’ll hear exactly what that looks like. That includes the “in the box / out of the box” idea that changes how their staff handle conflict, the end of “shift wars” in residential, and the leadership meeting where their scorecard showed five years of work paying off. 🔗 Learn more about MV Advancements: https://mvadvancements.org/ 📥 Free resource: 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: iddleader.com/burnout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 "I still get chills" 01:39 How did they do it? Five years in the making 03:26 When the whole agency resisted change 04:55 Turnover: just under 18% 06:31 What EOS is and why it mattered 08:02 Core values from day one (even in the interview) 10:15 The five core values 11:35 Core values in a hard conversation 17:27 How they hold each other accountable 18:13 “In the box” vs. “out of the box” 21:28 Ending “shift wars” 23:25 The scorecard moment: “This is five years of work” 25:52 Where their turnover used to be 28:54 Does every employee have a number? Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: VWGDUO1RBUYZEQ6K Send us Fan Mail 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

  3. Oct 12

    Ep. 106 - How This IDD Agency Keeps Staff Year After Year w/ Core Services

    You can’t pay people to stay. You also can’t write them up into caring. So how does one IDD agency keep its direct support staff year after year, with wages above its competitors and health insurance costs held steady for over a decade? Nick, Susan, and Jessie of Core Services didn’t start with a raise. They started by flipping the org chart: the people on the front line matter more than the office. Then they backed it up with a shadowing program, new promotional roles, a night-shift support role, and a habit of looking at data they didn’t always want to see. If you lead an IDD organization and you’re tired of watching good people walk out the door, this conversation shows what it looks like when retention is a leadership decision instead of a hiring problem. You’ll hear where they invested, what they learned the hard way, and the one move they’d tell any executive to make first. Learn more about Core Services: https://www.coreservicestn.com/ Free resource: 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: https://iddleader.com/burnout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 "You can't pay" 01:39 The annual report and the key decisions behind it 02:25 Why DSPs matter more than the office 03:37 You can’t pay people to stay 04:36 Wages, and insurance costs absorbed for over a decade 05:35 The internship and shadowing program 06:33 The remote support specialist role 08:33 The data they didn’t want to see: “All the time” 10:06 Where they want to be in five years 14:41 Change before you have to 15:50 Push decisions to the front line 18:01 Humor and the office puppy 21:10 “I never said we were functional” 25:11 The one move to make Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: VWGDUO1RBUYZEQ6K Send us Fan Mail 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

  4. Oct 5

    Ep. 105 - How This IDD Agency Bet on Its People w/ Core Services of NE TN

    Imagine telling your board you're about $150,000 in the red this year, and that you chose it. That's the call Susan Arwood made as the new executive director of a Tennessee agency in turmoil, when she put her staff through intensive person-centered training. She bets it paid for itself ten times over. Susan, now with NADSP, joins Core Services' current leaders, Nick Filarelli and Jessie Dunn, to tell the story of how a small agency went from a place where staff weren't allowed in parts of the office to a model for the field. You'll hear what she found when she walked in, why she invited her loudest critics to the table, and the other bets they made along the way: pay raises that could have blown the budget and a technology pilot that lost about $40,000 a year. You'll also hear the change Susan says she would make faster if she could do it over. If you're weighing an investment in your people that looks expensive today, this one is for you. Learn more about Core Services: https://www.coreservicestn.com/ Free resource: 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: iddleader.com/burnout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – The board's reaction to a very big deficit year 03:24 – The handoff Susan counts among her biggest successes 04:44 – What Susan found when she took over 06:45 – The workshop most people attended, and the pushback to closing it 08:47 – Why they chose better over bigger 12:08 – Why Core turns some families away 16:46 – The training bet that put them $150k in the red 18:07 – The pay raises that could have blown the budget 18:44 – The independent-living pilot that lost $40,000 a year 21:58 – Inviting the loudest critics to the table 24:13 – The rule that kept staff out of parts of the office 26:35 – Susan planned to watch quietly. She didn't. 32:06 – What Susan would do differently 33:21 – This week's action move Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: VWGDUO1RBUYZEQ6K Send us Fan Mail 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

  5. Sep 28

    Ep. 104 - Why Employee Appreciation Isn't Enough w/ Melanie Bazile

    You thank your team constantly. You write the cards, send the texts, say the words out loud. Then someone above you calls and says morale on that team seems low. That's the exact moment Melanie Bazile describes in this conversation. She leads innovation and expansion at Compass, a provider with more than 1,000 employees. Her own appreciation was sincere, frequent, and not landing, because it was the kind she likes to receive rather than the kind her team did. You'll hear how Compass figured out what her team actually wanted, and why they now expect every supervisor to know each direct report's primary language of appreciation. You'll also hear the difference between having a person-centered plan and thinking in a person-centered way (including a budget decision where the executive team's pay was cut before any service was touched), and the growth mistake Melanie sees most often in smaller providers: waiting to hire until you're already in pain. If your recognition efforts are sincere and morale still isn't moving, this one is for you. LEARN MORE Melanie Bazile on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-bazile-bb3073163/ Compass: https://www.compasscares.com/ Compass on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/compass-llc/posts/?feedView=all Melanie's podcast, A Side of Hope: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-side-of-hope/id1763108245 FREE RESOURCE 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: https://iddleader.com/burnout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – "I'm telling them thank you all the time. It's not possible." 01:23 – Why Compass tracks turnover but leans into retention 04:00 – The interim manager job where the thank-yous weren't landing 05:02 – What her team actually wanted instead 07:08 – Could your supervisors name each person's language? 08:30 – The four languages of workplace appreciation 12:31 – Person-centered paperwork vs. person-centered thinking 14:20 – The first cuts came from the executive team 17:50 – The growth mistake that starts in pain 19:09 – When "the way we've always done it" quietly stops working 23:37 – The spreadsheet that took twenty minutes instead of weeks 24:59 – Two organizations that shared one recruiter 26:29 – Why leaders avoid discomfort 28:45 – What's giving her hope right now Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: VWGDUO1RBUYZEQ6K Send us Fan Mail 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

  6. Sep 21

    Ep. 103 - This Company Asks: “What’s Your Dream?” w/ Melanie Bazile

    Somewhere on your team right now, there's someone with real potential and no real path — and no one's ever asked them what they actually want out of their career, let alone their life. Melanie Bazile is Director of Innovation and Expansion at Compass, a 1,000+ employee organization that's built an entire culture around a simple, almost uncomfortable question: what are you dreaming about? Not your five-year plan. Your actual dreams — the ones that have nothing to do with your job title. In this conversation, you'll hear why Compass hires slowly but fires fast, and the very real cost of tolerating the wrong fit for too long. You'll hear a genuinely unplanned succession story — one where investing in someone else's growth mattered in a way Melanie never could have predicted until she needed it most. And you'll get a look inside "Dream Culture," from its origins in a book about a struggling janitorial company to a CFO who went skydiving to keep a promise, to an employee writers' group that's now produced six published books. If you've ever wondered what it would look like to build a team that's actually thriving instead of just surviving, this one's for you. Learn more about Melanie — www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-bazile-bb3073163 Learn more about Compass — https://www.compasscares.com/ Free resource — 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: https://iddleader.com/burnout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – A "dream culture"? 01:49 – Why Compass hires slowly but fires fast 04:15 – Still curious after 34 years in the field 06:49 – A provider, a software company, and a consulting arm 08:36 – The real challenge of growing an organization 09:33 – The "behemoth" comment, and 30 years mapped in sticky notes 13:53 – What got you here won't get you there 14:52 – Inside Leadership U, their year-long leadership investment 19:23 – The succession story that changed everything 22:01 – "That's gutsy" — the conversation nobody wants to have 23:31 – Taking the lids off people 25:18 – Where "Dream Culture" actually came from 29:42 – The CFO who went skydiving to keep his word 30:49 – The writers' group that's produced six published books Music licensed through Soundstripe. Codes: UCXDYEKK7YHL1SHC, YEERLHIOB8JS8PVA Send us Fan Mail 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

  7. Sep 14

    Ep. 102 - 5 Mistakes Leaders Make When Solving Turnover

    You're short-staffed. Which means your team gets burned out. Which means people leave. Which means you're even more short-staffed than before. If that loop sounds familiar, here's the uncomfortable part: the way most leaders respond to it usually keeps it running rather than breaking it. In this episode, you'll walk through five of the most common responses to that cycle — hiring harder, adding perks, just trying to survive the week, chasing efficiency, sending out another survey — and why each one, well-intentioned as it is, can quietly make things worse instead of better. For each one, you'll get the reframe: what to look at instead, and what it actually takes to interrupt the cycle rather than just outworking it. If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right and the turnover numbers still won't move, this one's for you. Free resource — 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: https://iddleader.com/burnout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – The turnover trap that keeps repeating itself 00:36 – Five mistakes, and the opposite direction to move in 00:59 – Mistake #1: "We just need to hire more people" 04:16 – Mistake #2: "Let's add more benefits and bonuses" 06:36 – Mistake #3: "Let's just make it through this weekend" 10:07 – Mistake #4: "Let's get really efficient" 13:06 – Mistake #5: "Fill out our survey" 15:11 – The bear metaphor (and what it says about listening under pressure) 16:51 – This week's action move Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: LFMLKJE1CAKMAIL3 Send us Fan Mail 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

  8. Sep 7

    Ep. 101 - What Does “Good Leadership” Even Look Like?

    You've probably had a version of this moment yourself: someone on your team says all the right things about wanting to grow as a leader, and when you ask what "getting better" would actually look like, day to day, the answer gets vague fast. That gap — between the lofty language and the actual, nameable behaviors — is the entire subject of this episode. Every organization has a scorecard for compliance, for finance, for scheduling. But ask yourself how you'd actually know whether one of your supervisors is genuinely good at managing people, and odds are the answer gets fuzzy just as fast. In this episode, you'll get a look at why that gap exists, what Chick-fil-A's "my pleasure" can teach you about turning a vague value into something coachable, and four concrete, observable behaviors worth considering for your own team — not as the definitive list, but as proof of what's possible once you stop treating leadership development as something fuzzy your supervisors are just supposed to figure out on their own. If you've ever tried to coach someone on "being a better leader" and watched the conversation go nowhere, this one's for you. Free resource — 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: iddleader.com/burnout TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – The confession that changed how Nate sees leadership development 01:50 – Welcome to IDD Leader 02:29 – Why there's a scorecard for everything except this 04:32 – The core problem: you can't develop what you haven't defined 06:51 – Why this gap hides in plain sight 09:46 – The Happy Days Agency example 12:25 – "Are you familiar with Chick-fil-A?" 18:34 – What "my pleasure" actually teaches about leadership 19:43 – Skill one: lead with good questions 23:17 – Skill two: listen intentionally 25:06 – Skill three: celebrate specifically 26:43 – Skill four: coach immediately 29:51 – Why common sense doesn't equal common practice 30:41 – This week's action move Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: LFMLKJE1CAKMAIL3 Send us Fan Mail 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

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

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 support.More effective supervisors. Stronger workforce. Lower turnover.

Information

  • Creator
    Nate Beers
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    106
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 IDD Leader
  • Show Website
    IDD Leader

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