We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Thomas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Michael, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

In the beginning of my career, I didn’t realize that almost every disability organization in the country started out exactly the same way. One or more parents of children with disabilities got together to discuss the lack of support and services for their kids. Then, they work tirelessly, for free, to try and create something of quality for their kids and others in the community. The sad reality is that not all of those groups were successful, and there are countless communities across the United States that are lacking in the supports necessary for a child or adult with disabilities to live a fully supported and inclusive life.

ConnectIDD (pronounced “connected”) supports those children and adults with disabilities and their families by empowering the organizations and communities in which they live, work and play. Our goal is to provide strategy, answers, support, and business solutions that will rapidly create or improve disability support and programming.

This means that whether a community needs better programs or completely new programs, we’re here to help. Our team is made up of the most talented individuals in their respective fields, and they all share something in common; they have an immediate connection to a person with a disability or they have a disability themselves. This means that our team is best equipped to step in quickly and support any organization or group of parents that are striving to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Michael, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in Dallas, Texas and grew up in the disability world. When I started out at Southern Methodist University, I was a Music Therapy major; however, the program was removed and I took a different path. Upon graduation, I immediately began working with children/adults with disabilities at the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I then found my “happy place” working in the adult intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) world with an organization called Opportunity Village in Las Vegas, Nevada. After several years, I moved back to North Texas and assumed the role of Executive Director for My Possibilities. (www.mypossibilities.org). In 14 years, My Possibilities has become one of the most renowned educators of adults with IDD.

After helping the organization grow from 20 to 600 adults served each month, I felt it was time to step out and support other organizations seeking a similar path to that of My Possibilities. Our goal is to become a business and strategic partner to all of these cause-driven organizations, providing support that may otherwise be too expensive or out of reach for the typical non-profit organization.

Moreover, we’ve found that one place where we can make an immediate impact is to step in and support those parents who want to plan something big for their children, but at the earliest stage. There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel or try and figure out and fight through the typical problems experienced by most best-in-class organizations out there. We can step in, assess the needs of a community, and build a plan around what services and organizations should be added to support the needs of that community.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I am in no way an expert in this space, and many would say that I’ve made mistakes in this very area along the way. But what I have noticed is that the way we lead people in the business world is changing. The traditional hierarchical model is no longer accepted. Traditional benefits provided unilaterally across all staff members doesn’t work anymore. Working a straight 9am-t0-5pm schedule doesn’t make sense to the younger generations.

If you want high morale, you need to find ways to let your team be themselves. I mean TRULY themselves. Depending on the function of your business, certain roles may require specific work location and function. But wherever you have flexibility, you should give it.

And for those out there who say “you cannot run your business like a family,” I don’t think that is fair. For organizations that exist around a cause or mission, it is incredibly common to recruit and hire people who are passionately connected to the work. Creating a corporate environment where that person has to come in, do the work, punch the clock, and leave every day without any real connection just doesn’t work.

We need to normalize social connection in the world and in the workplace. It’s okay if you’re “feeling great” at work, but when somebody asks you how you’re doing, it isn’t acceptable to be honest and vulnerable, communicating that things are tough and you’re having a hard time. We believe you should “check your problems at the door.” The more you take care of people, provide space for authenticity, allow for the sharing of human emotion and connection, the better our teams will perform.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

For nearly 15 years, I was a part of a leadership team that built something truly special at My Possibilities. We fought the fights and weathered the storms, but never lost track of providing quality services and programs to our Hugely Important People (HIPsters, adults with IDD at My Possibilities). If a decision wasn’t rooted in what was best for the HIPsters, then we didn’t do it.

Since 2010, I have not been afraid to try new things. Innovation is one of my favorite places to live, and as a result we tried all sorts of new and exciting things. Did they all succeed? Nope! But they were all intended to provide new opportunities to our clients. That risk tolerance, and the willingness to try something because it’s the right thing to do, is part of what has yielded the reputation I have today.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.connectidd.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connectidd/

Image Credits
Photo Credits: My Possibilities