E-016 More Grant Challenges with Rochelle McLaurin, MBA, Kimberly Morones and Lucy Morgan CPA
Episode Summary:
### Quick Episode Summary Grant Talks Podcast [#016]
*Intro ***.41***
* Fire Away Questions Rochelle McLaurin, Kimberly Morones, and Lucy Morgan CPA ***00:53***
* The Grant Obstacle Course: Case Studies***5:25***
* Tips for Improving Communication-Grant Case Studies***6:21***
* Building Cross-Functional Communication-Grant Management ***7:51***
* Challenges of Communication with Diverse Stakeholders***8:48***
* The Last Word with Rochelle McLaurin and Kimberly Morones and Lucy Morgan CPA***12:55***
*Outro Audio GrantTalks Podcast with Lucy Morgan M. Morgan CPA ***15:04***
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Intro: 00:04
Welcome to the Grant Talks podcast with Lucy Morgan. Lucy is the CEO and director of MyFedTrainer.com a leading provider of grant management training and templates for federal grant recipients. This show is for grant professionals looking to gain confidence managing their grants. In an age of increasing complexity, you'll hear from leading professionals on the best practices surrounding grants, what's involved in successfully managing the grants lifecycle and how to make sure your grants are managed correctly. Now here's your host Lucy Morgan.
Introducing Rochelle McLaurin and Kimberly Morones from Heluna Health in City of Industry, CA
Lucy Morgan: 00:41
Welcome, everyone, to this continuing conversation with Rochelle McLaurin and Kimberly Morones from Heluna Health in the City of Industry, California. I'm Lucy Morgan, your host for this session.
Fire Away Questions Rochelle McLaurin, Kimberly Morones, and Lucy Morgan CPA
Lucy Morgan: 00:53
First of all, let's get to know you a little better, Kimberly, with a couple of our fire-away questions. You mentioned that you're a California native who hates avocados. What is your go-to order at your favorite hometown restaurant? And I'm guessing it's not avocado toast.
Kimberly Morones: 01:09
You are correct with that one. I know, I get a lot of flak not only because I live in Southern California with an abundance of avocados but also because I am Mexican American, so, you know, I get it from both sides about not liking avocados, but I don't know what it is. For my favorite go-to order, I would have to say I'm always really appreciative of a really good shrimp ceviche.
Lucy Morgan: 01:32
What is a shrimp ceviche?
Kimberly Morones: 01:34
Ceviche is like, it's fish or shrimp and it's kind of like chopped up with tomatoes and chilis and onions, and it's marinated and cooked actually in lemon and lime juice, and you eat it, usually, like on a tostada or with chips and it's really good.
Lucy Morgan: 01:51
That sounds delicious, especially since we're recording this right around the dinner hour, that sounds especially delicious. I also saw that you are a big Disney fan which is good when you're in California and you can't wait for the next "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" to open up at Disney. What is your favorite part of the Disney experience?
Kimberly Morones: 02:10
Oh, goodness. But, you know, a momentary escape from, you know, the responsibilities of being an adult. But the benefit of going as an adult now is that you have the funds to do the things that you want to do at the park and you're on your own budget. And actually, for people who aren't familiar, in California we have California Adventure, which is the other smaller park next to Disneyland and they actually have adult beverages there. So, they have wine tasting. They do a food and wine festival. They've made it very catered to their adult fans now.
Lucy Morgan: 2:48
That's like the best of all worlds right there.
Kimberly Morones: 2:50
It is. And so, once "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" opens, actually the end of next month, May 31st, it will be crazy, but, you know, I'm willing to go and check it out just to live out my nerdy adventures.
Lucy Morgan: 03:04
So, I have to ask you, since you're a "Star Wars" fan, what "Star Wars" character do you think would make the best grant manager?
Kimberly Morones: 03:10
That is a great question. You know, I'm just going to have to go with my bias of Princess Leia because she's just a tough lady. Like, she doesn't take anybody's flack and, I mean, she's kind of telling the boys what to do, let's be honest. So, I feel like she'd be pretty good at managing a grant. She was managing the rebellion, so...
Lucy Morgan: 03:36
Really, right. She knows how to get people to work together to accomplish a goal.
Kimberly Morones: 03:42
Correct.
Lucy Morgan: 03:43
So, Rochelle, I saw that you said that there's no sci-fi movie that you haven't enjoyed. That was an interesting comment. What is your favorite movie or genre and why?
Rochelle McLaurin: 03:55
Favorite movie, that's really difficult. That's extremely difficult for me to pinpoint because I have so many that are truly my favorite. Far as a genre and why, anything with sharks, dinosaurs, snakes, and the reason being is because I'm preparing myself if I'm ever in any of those situations, then I'll know what to do.
Lucy Morgan: 04:20
Okay, so it's kind of like a training exercise.
Rochelle McLaurin: 04:25
There you go. Anyone who would be in a situation, I'm that lifeline to call to say, "What do I do now that there's a shark flying through the air?"
Lucy Morgan: 04:34
And you said the lower the movie budget the better. So, was there a movie that you'd recommend that's so bad that it's really good?
Rochelle McLaurin: 04:42
I would say the "Sharknado" series. I'm constantly teased about being an avid watcher of the "Sharknado" series, so I would say that.
Lucy Morgan: 04:53
That's a good one.
Rochelle McLaurin: 04:56
Yes.
Lucy Morgan: 04:57
I think those are probably so bad they're good. When I started writing the questions and I started thinking about, what would I, you know, recommend if you asked a similar question and I actually saw a movie with John Wayne, which, being from California you know who John Wayne is, where John Wayne plays Genghis Khan, the Chinese warlord or the Mongolian warlord with John Wayne in the role, and that was so bad it was good.
The Grant Obstacle Course: Case Studies
Lucy Morgan: 05:25
Well, Rochelle, in our last discussion, we were talking about some of the challenges that grant recipients face and you called it the obstacle course. Part of your challenge at the NVision Conference was working with groups to go through a couple of case studies and come up with some real-world solutions. Can you briefly describe the main challenges in the case studies?
Rochelle McLaurin: 05:44
Yes, the main challenges in the case studies that the group kind of all came together, based on the two, it was communication and being in compliance and making sure that the various departments were understanding, and asking clarifying questions, and making sure that they weren't impacting the actual end result of the project by assisting the community by adding so many different layers with their processes and procedures.
So, that was pretty much the main component that came out of those challenges.
Tips for Improving Communication-Grant Case Studies
Lucy Morgan: 06:21
And what were some of the action steps that came out as part of working through those case studies from the group?
Rochelle McLaurin: 06:27
Yes, the group came up with some great things, many that we were already doing or they were already doing as well, such as having pre-award kickoff meetings and having post-award meetings where they did lessons learned and determining what they should do for future grants or projects.
Lucy Morgan: 06:27
Those sound like some great communication tools as well to work through the process. Were there any of the proposed solutions that surprised you? Were there those outliers that came through as the class worked through some of those challenges?
Rochelle McLaurin: 07:01
No, I will say that there weren't. I will say that it was good to see how the groups came together and they were pretty much on the same page.
We had one group that they said even though we're all from different areas that we all understood and knew that these were steps that either we were all doing but we had to take it up a level whereas we had to make sure that everyone who was supposed to be at that meeting was there. Because, you know, it's always difficult to get everyone at the table for a meeting, and so some were going to take on more of a stance and then others were going to be that true central point of communication as the grant's management specialists for the various departments.
Lucy Morgan: 07:46
That sounds like people really stepped up.
Rochelle McLaurin: 07:49
Yes. Yes. I believe so.
Building Cross-Functional Communication-Grant Management
Lucy Morgan: 07:51
Well, Kimberly, let's get your perspective on this part. One of the group exercises was looking at ways to prevent or mitigate some of the negative effects going forward. What were some of your favorite solutions or things to watch out for that came out of those case studies?
Kimberly Morones: 08:05
Sure. So, actually, to kind of piggyback on what Rochelle was saying, a lot of the answers were very similar, but I also heard resonating that, you know, she mentioned the pre-award kickoff meetings, but as they were kind of like working through it and talking it out, they kind of realized, you know, we do this but we should also maybe have one midway, maybe have a couple along the way, like that might help because I think someone did mention, you have a pre-award meeting where you think everybody is on the same page and then closer to post-award you realize, "Oh, we're not actually all on the same page anymore. Things have shifted. Things have changed." And so, you could see them kind of realizing, "Oh, maybe we should do that a little bit more frequently than we originally planned."
Challenges of Communication with Diverse Stakeholders
Lucy Morgan: 08:48
Great. And your presentation talked a lot about communicating across departments, different stakeholders, and building and rebuilding relationships. What do you think some of the biggest challenges for managing grants and relationships with such a diverse group of stakeholders? We have everyone from federal funders or state funders, private foundations, the public, and a wide range of employees.
Kimberly Morones: 09:11
I think one of the biggest challenges is just the differences and discrepancies in the level of knowledge and understanding that all of those different groups have in terms of the perspectives which each respective group comes from.
So, for example, you have a funder asking for certain pieces of information but only coming from their perspective and then you have your program coming from their perspective and needing certain pieces of information or needing you to be flexible around certain pieces.
You have community members that are talking to the program about what they need, so I think that definitely poses a challenge in the sense that you as the grant specialist have to be the translator for everybody and have to know enough to be able to say, "Okay, I talked to the funder and this is what they need," and put it in the terms of why it's important to the program to get this to the funder or to, you know, implement the program a certain way.
But, you know, communication, luckily, is always something that we can work on, something that, as you build those relationships over time gets better and more efficient. And I think that when you hit bumps in the road with relationships, you can always reignite them through consistent communication.
Lucy Morgan: 10:27
That's a good point. What would be your best takeaway for someone that's navigating the obstacle course of communication and relationships within grant management?
Kimberly Morones: 10:38
I think taking just a little bit of extra time to kind of build that base of communication in the beginning really helps, at least for me. Even, you know, when I first started as a professional with my master's degree, you know, coming in, I had to be very much the person, like, open about, you know, I am a new professional, so let's kind of navigate this together, and that approach actually really helped.
And I think even as you ascend up the ladder, so to speak, being open to working through things together and creating more of a team environment really helps, and Rochelle is actually a really excellent example of that.
As my director, you know, she creates a space for us where we feel comfortable to come to her with complex problems to kind of troubleshoot things together, and her deep levels of experience help us maintain relationships with our clients too because we learn those skills and translate them across our different projects.
Lucy Morgan: 11:36
Do you think it's surprising that we've spent so much time talking about relationships and communication instead of rules and regulations when it comes to grant management?
Kimberly Morones: 11:44
Not in the least because if you don't have those tools you cannot, you know, enforce, so to speak, any rules and regulations. You can't manage them in a way that's going to be effective.
Lucy Morgan: 11:54
Yes, I think that's a really overlooked skill, the importance of building those relationships. In one of our other episodes, we were talking about, you know, bring the finance folks some doughnuts or bring the folks some doughnuts, something to make sure you're building those relationships throughout the entire grant lifecycle.
Kimberly Morones: 12:11
Definitely. I think those little things go a really long way. And, you know, if you think about your own personal relationships when someone bestows upon you random acts of kindness, aren't you more inclined to help them out? That goes professionally as well, you know?
And obviously it has to be genuine like you can't just go around like, "I'm going to give you this, so I want X, Y, and Z." But it goes into relationship building, you know? Like, you build that trust over time and then you get a really well-oiled working relationship.
Lucy Morgan: 12:43
Yes, I think it's the difference between a dog treat to act accordingly or a relationship-building exchange of like doughnuts because you genuinely want to have a relationship with someone.
Kimberly Morones: 12:54
Definitely.
The Last Word with Rochelle McLaurin and Kimberly Morones and Lucy Morgan CPA
Lucy Morgan: 12:55
Yes, that's a great one. So, Rochelle, I want to make sure we get the last word in here with you. Is there something that I should've asked that I didn't about the presentation or some of the case studies, solutions that were worked through?
Rochelle McLaurin: 13:09
No, I think the questions have helped us to think through a lot more about our presentation and we received some great feedforward, as I say, in regards to our presentation and how the dialogue that was in the room was extremely helpful and it helped people think through, especially for those that, as we found out, some are siloed. They do the entire lifecycle themselves. They don't have departments or they don't have others because they're small, and so understanding how they were going to back to their directors, or whoever, stakeholders and try to figure out ways where they can bring on either a part-time person or something of that nature so it can help them sustain the project, come out, you know, in a positive way with future funding instead of a one-and-done.
Lucy Morgan: 14:07
We've gone all the way full cycle to the first episode where we talked about some of the differences between a small organization and a larger one.
Rochelle McLaurin: 14:14
Yes. We witness that on a daily basis with our clients.
Lucy Morgan: 14:20
So, thank you for bringing that up again. If someone wants to find out more about you, Rochelle, how should they get in touch with you?
Rochelle McLaurin: 14:27
Yes. You can contact us on our website, HelunaHealth.org at any time. And then, also my direct contact is [email protected].
Lucy Morgan: 14:39
And Kimberly, if someone would like to find out more about you, how do they get in touch?
Kimberly Morones: 14:42
My email address is [email protected].
Lucy Morgan: 14:46
So, thank you both Kimberly and Rochelle for helping with this "Grant Talks" podcast. Listeners, you can get all the episodes out of GrantTalks.com, and I want to thank you for tuning in. And thank you very much, ladies, for a really insightful conversation.
Kimberly Morones: 14:57
Thank you, Lucy, for the opportunity.
Outro Audio GrantTalks Podcast with Lucy M. Morgan CPA
Outro: 15:04
To learn more about how MyFedTrainer.com makes grant management more manageable, visit MyFedTrainer.com. That's MyFedTrainere.com. You'll find all the Grant Talks episodes at GrantTalks.com. That's GrantTalks.com.
More About Rochelle McLaurin, MBA:
Rochelle McLaurin, MBA is the Deputy Director of Contracts and Grants Management at Heluna Health. Rochelle has nearly 20 years of experience in the field of contract and grant management.
Throughout her career Rochelle has worked with various organizations as a leader in developing and training in the area of contract and grant policies and procedures. Rochelle holds her Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Redlands, School of Business.
More About Kimberly Morones, MPH, CHES:
Kimberly Morones, MPH, CHES, has been a Contracts and Grants Manager for Heluna Health since February 2018 and manages a portfolio ranging from small agency fund clients to multi-million dollar county contracts. Prior to this, she served as Program Manager for a small nonprofit, the Community Translational Research Institute (CTRI), since 2014.
She has also been a presenter and moderator throughout her career to numerous audiences at professional and scientific meetings. Kimberly holds her Master’s degree in Public Health from Claremont Graduate University is a Certified Health Education Specialist and holds her bachelor’s degree is in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
More About Lucy Morgan CPA:
Lucy M. Morgan is a CPA, MBA, GPA approved trainer, speaker, and author of 3 books including “Decoding Grant Management-The Ultimate Success Guide to the Federal Grant Regulations in 2 CFR Part 200.” As a leading authority on federal grant management for nonprofits, institutions of higher education and state, local and tribal governments she has written over 250 articles on grant management topics featured in LinkedIn, various publications and on the MyFedTrainer.com blog.
She is a sought-after presenter at national conferences sponsored by organizations such as the Grant Professional Association (GPA), National Grant Management Association (NGMA) and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
Lucy is also a highly regarded trainer whose techniques and teaching style come from real-world experience. Having faced many of the same challenges her audiences have endured, Lucy understands that what looks good on paper may not always work in the real world. Because she has been there, she provides people of all professional backgrounds with practical tools to advance their careers and make a bigger difference in the world. She can be reached at [email protected].
>>Hear more about Lucy's story in Episode #004
More Resources for Grant Professionals
Thanks for checking out the Grant Talks podcast!
In this episode of Grant Talks, we talked about a subject that you may want to know more about:
So...as promised I want to share some resources that may help you on YOUR grant journey.
Recently I’ve talked with a number of folks who discovered TOO LATE that their grants had spending restrictions that were a complete surprise!
(And some of them were federal grants they had year after year, but this year something changed…)
So, I thought this might be a good time to help you avoid those types of BIG “oopsie” that lead to disallowed costs with a Pre-Award checklist!
(Getting everyone on the same page starts before you even receive federal funding!)
I hope this little one-page checklist will keep you on the journey to more federal grants and better grant management.
Download and share with your team.
Here's what’s included in this handy checklist:
- Common areas of spending restrictions
- Additional requirements that can get “tucked in” to your Notice of Funding
These resources are designed for grant writers and managers, just like you, and I hope that you will find them valuable on your grant journey.
P.S. If you’d like to learn more about ways to improve grant management, check out my article at https://blog.myfedtrainer.com/seven-ways-to-improve-grant-management-part-i/
