Communication Strategy

Jamie:

We had the same kind of participation. The “Purple Team” was made up of staff from public and private agencies, and they went to individual staff meetings to prepare participants for the mini-summit.  Everyone knew what we’d be talking about, what they were to bring to the table, and so they were able to come ready with some ideas. We actually used the family team meeting model and applied it to the mini-summit, and it really paid off in participation!

We were able to delve right into the strategy development phase, which is what everyone really wanted most. Many ideas were centered around clarifying expectations.  Because of the collaborative nature of the mini-summit, the conversations we had were so informative. No one needed to be cautious with questions or realities – everyone stayed professional and honest, and we figured out ways to establish that clarity.

The other piece was communication, and again – the environment made it possible for everyone to have realistic conversations and produce some great ideas.

It was the same story when we looked at our challenges, strengths and strategies for improvement. We’re all working toward the same goal, but an increase in communication and collaboration on the front end is going to get us closer to the goal. In our strategies, we literally wrote in shared responsibility for communication.

Focus on Safe Case Closure

Jamie:

For the “Purple Team,” we focused on Family Safety, Risk, and Permanency (FSRP) Services for our work at the mini-summit, really zeroing in on safe case closure, which is the outcome we want for all FSRP cases.

While talking about how we could improve our services, a key issue that kept popping up was “proactive relationships,” so we decided to devote considerable mini-summit time to creating strategies for more proactive relationships.

We identified many strengths, especially around the contribution of different ranges of expertise and working together around specific issues.  We also identified areas of improvement, and a great deal of that revolved around communication.  As partners, we could see the potential for improvements.

A difference in the way our staff interact

Since the implementation of FSRP, the involvement in cases has really changed at the supervisory level. We established joint meetings between public and private agency staff, and we even look forward to them! We now have the ability to assess how we’re working together. What’s working and if there’s something that’s not working – what ideas can we come up with jointly to make it work?

There’s certainly a difference in the way our staff interact. Establishing regular meetings together and modeling working together has really opened up the possibilities for working on cases. The interactions between supervisors just weren’t there before, and the collaborative approach has only brought about positive change.

We even do more trainings together. When we’re literally sitting in the same room, hearing the same thing, we’ve got an advantage. When we hear each other’s questions we gain more perspective on what each other faces, and where we’re coming from. We also hear the exact same answers, which helps us all get on the same page.

Taking it one step further, private and public agency supervisors now discuss what their staff needs are to determine what trainings will take place. Again, we are learning more about each other and process the same information together.

Jody

Partnership in Permanency: consistency and communication

This next series of posts gives some insight to partnership within Iowa's Family, Risk & Permanency services...

To public and private agency employees, partnership can be seen if you look into the core of a relationship. It’s how well you know the person on the other end.

The next series of blog posts will take you down the path of two supervisors involved with FSRP (Family Safety, Risk, and Permanency) services which are designed to provide support to families and connect them to resources when they’re involved in the child welfare system. The services help them manage self sufficiency and child safety. Jody is a supervisor on the public side and Heidi is a supervisor for a private agency. They have worked together on cases and seen the real benefits of partnership and collaboration.

Jody: The most obvious way we collaborate is consistent communication. Supervisors from both the public and private agencies meet on a regular basis to discuss how things are going. While that always seems like common sense in theory, the tricky part is to make it happen.

There are many sides to keeping each other up-to-date on a case that you are mutually responsible for. First of all, the start of a case is immediate and everyone has to mobilize in a quick timeframe. In the beginning, there is so much discovery involved, and it’s important to keep communication open so that we can decide the best strategies to meet the defined goals.

We literally come together to staff cases – it’s not just a matter of being assigned to the same case. Everyone has an equal voice when we talk about hurdles and what we can do about them. It’s all about being solution-focused. In the past there wasn’t a forum for clinical consultation, but working in the model of partnership, we come up with better solutions because of the inclusive working environment. We’ve gone from a crisis-driven mode to a collaborative mode, and our staff is doing their best work ever.