The Parallel Process of Organizational Change Lessons from the Field Presenters: Suzanne Arntson Karen Kandik Scott County Social Services

What difference has it made for families? For the system? Supervisors are working to be clear on expectations but approach this by soliciting staff involvement Families are clearer on what is expected Increased attention to children’s voices Increased collaboration Significant decrease in court referrals & placements

NUMBERS!! Child Protection Placements: Court Referrals: 2006-approximately 50 referrals to juvenile court 2007-25 referrals to juvenile court 2008-9 court referrals 2009-9 court referrals Child Protection Placements: 2006- approximately 65 children in placement in a given month 2010-currently 18 children placed due to safety issues

Transparency in a change process Why is it important? Promotes a parallel process Uses the wisdom and input from all staff More clearly defines potential barriers or worries Helps create energy .

Transparency in a change process What did we do to increase the culture of transparency? Team meetings to gather staff ideas for reorganization. Unit mapping to allow staff’s worries and excitement to be heard. Mapping with Mental Health Center Development of SofS Core Team Supervisors learning alongside staff

How has mapping been helpful? Creates opportunity for all voices to be heard Supports the importance of transparency Helps to clearly identify what is going well and what the concerns are Helps to clearly define next steps

What are we worried about? UNIT MAP Best Hopes - What’s going well? Increased cohesiveness with all CP workers Spreads out the work Increased continuity for families Excitement about new roles Nice diversity of work Worst Fears – What are we worried about? Different expectations from different supervisors “How will I learn the new roles?” Having to do stuff we don’t want to Feeling incompetent What if it doesn’t work? Next Steps- Develop rotation schedule Develop training plan Follow up mapping to evaluate status

Supervisors’ role in modeling a parallel process Ask questions in a new way “How did you get there with the family”? “What made you think of that”? Opportunities to highlight the good work “When you think of your work with the family, what are you most proud of”? (Appreciative Inquiry) Acceptance of not needing to always know the answer-

Lessons Learned What went well in our implementation process? Observed Olmsted County Development of SofS Core Team Solicited Agency Administration’s support and investment in the process- - Identified different resources for CP workers SofS Training for CJI/Stakeholders Consultation with Connected Families, which allowed for and encouraged exposing practice Utilized different methods of supervision (individual, small group and combined unit)

Lessons Learned What would we do differently? Engage with our Mental Health Center from the start Better integrate FGDM into the SofS process Open up the Core Team meeting to broader staff representation sooner Implement changes more slowly over longer period of time. Focus more on how SofS will enhance practice rather than a complete change in practice Place more emphasis on highlighting and validating the good work already happening