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.

Summit Meetings

In June 2010, professionals from all over Iowa, from many different roles, met for a one-day summit, the Child Welfare Partnership Summit. The focus was improving outcomes for Iowa children and families and reinforce partnership at all levels.

Each of the five (5) DHS service areas was represented by a team of 20 participants to the summit. The teams comprised of DHS Front Line Supervisors, Provider (Safety Plan/FSRP Services and Iowa KidsNet) Front Line Supervisors, DHS Front Line Staff, and Provider (Safety Plan/FSRP Services and Iowa KidsNet) Front Line Staff.

The summit was neither training nor downloading of information. The majority of the summit was spent in facilitated dialogue about how well DHS and Providers are working together as partners, both on specific practice issues as well as on the respectful relationships needed to support good practice. The breakout sessions included the following topics:


1. Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) Outcomes

2. Conflict Resolution

3. Partnership Trickledown

4. Safe Case Closure

Based on the statewide summit for private and public agency employees, each service area was asked to take the information learned and use it to further the partnering initiative locally. We'll follow the story of two individuals who did just that in the west side of the state. These mini-summits in the west side of the state continue to date.

Connie tells her story from a perspective of an Iowa Department of Human Services (public) representative. Jamie tells her story as someone from a provider (private) agency.

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