Page 5 - FallNews2021

Corporate Office Report outside of regular hours; and red zone=emails and
communication at any time depending on workflow, e.g.,
leading up to the annual meeting). The team has also
implemented a system where emails composed outside
Tiffany Pizioli of regular work hours are saved in drafts and not sent to
Chief Executive Officer coworkers until the next day. We all recognize the stress
Montreal, QC of email overload and to avoid email-related anxiety for
those in green zones, the team is expected to convey
their color zones when there is a shift in their workload.
Our wellness matters! Weekend emails are discouraged, a policy even the
volunteers on the BOD have embraced. Monthly “shoot
he corporate office team remains committed to the sh*t” meetings are supported over lunch, during which
Tsupporting its members and this fall, after mostly staff can introduce innovative ideas they have seen
working from home for the past year and a half, many elsewhere to the CUA board. Creativity is encouraged
have returned to our office in Dorval. and supported, and monthly staff meetings have become
a mix of seriousness and fun.
Like many organizations post-pandemic, the CUA has had
a shift in its working practices. For almost 18 months, the Before the close of the year, the CUA team will be
corporate office team worked around the clock, seven participating in a wellness art therapy session. Wellness is
days a week, and, often to accommodate the late-night ongoing at the CUA corporate office and encouraged by
webinars, many evenings. It seemed that while other our BOD.
associations were working at a much slower pace, with I’d like to end on a personal note to my team: Adriana,
the permeant pause of live events, the workflow at the Denise, Marfisa, Nadia, and Tal. Throughout the past 18
CUA had almost tripled, and the team dutifully worked to months, it has been extremely stressful to manage the
ensure all programs and services stayed afloat and met association through unpredictable and changing times. I
members’ expectations. feel blessed every day to work with an amazing group of
After our virtual summer board meeting reported a healthy smart, hardworking, and dedicated women, who make
fiscal year-end bottom line and attainment of our annual me laugh every single day. Laughter is the BEST medicine.
strategic objectives, the BOD voted in favor of a CUA #cuaproud.
Wellness Week! A first for the BOD and staff, the mandate Our wellness matters, and so does yours!
was clear — turn everything off and avoid contact with
anything work-related. To encourage the team to take this
seriously, our President, Hassan Razvi, requested that he be Nadia Pace
the gatekeeper of all CUA communication and insisted Communications, Events and Exhibits
his email address be the contact for all out-of-office nadia.pace@cua.org
messages. It seemed like an impossible task and there Denise Toner
was some resistance, but we did it! The team came back Corporate Affairs, Membership, and CUAJ Advertising
fully charged and extremely appreciative of the board’s denise.toner@cua.org
support.
Tal Erdman
As we approach an extremely busy fall and must now CPD Programs and Events
begin planning for live events, we remain focused on our tal.erdman@cua.org
wellness and are all conscious of the signs of burnout. To
avoid a rapid entry into a post-pandemic world, the CUA Adriana Modica
has instituted changes at the office, which include working CUAJ and Guidelines
adriana.modica@cua.org
from home Mondays (the rest of the week, most work in
the office); and the implementation of color-coded zones Marfisa Defrancesco
to avoid burnout (green zone=emails and communication Accounting and CUASF Grants
during regular work hours, 8 am – 5 pm, permitted; orange marfisa.defrancesco@cua.org
zone=some emails and communication permitted

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