Grow commitment and capacity

Culture

Competency-based staffing

Created competency-based staffing programs for child protection, adult protection, juvenile justice, health homes, substance abuse treatment, and homeless housing programs. Designed competency models to identify requirements for the jobs in these programs, prepared behavioral interviewing routines to detect the competencies, and trained staff to use the models and interviews to screen for the right candidates. The changes strengthened performance, improved morale and reduced attrition. Competency-based staffing brief

Leadership alignment

Helped integrate a juvenile justice program into a larger children’s agency. Assessed work culture and leadership alignment through surveys and interviews, reviewed business plans, and facilitated a two-day retreat to resolve strategic and leadership differences and convert business plans into implementation projects. Established a language and structure that leadership used daily and built commitment to strengthen teamwork, develop staff and improve morale.

Workforce strategies

Created workforce strategies for two human services programs. Used staff surveys, interviews and focus groups to assess working conditions and their implications for agency operations. Facilitated leadership retreats that shaped workforce strategies and defined leadership roles to strengthen and support middle managers, improve staff competencies and behaviors, and strengthen supervision. Restorative Staffing

Organizational strategy

Assessed an urban parks program’s organizational structure and systems to hasten decision making, develop operations strategies and link them to financial strategies, and strengthen human resources, technology and other supports. Prepared plans to accomplish this, including leadership changes and new operations management practices adopted by the program, which have unified and improved operations practices across the program.

Staff retention

Analyzed the causes of high attrition among the ranks of child protective specialists. Interviewed leaders, held focus groups and surveyed people who resigned. Identified what attracts people to the work, why they stay and why they leave, and created a blueprint to attract and retain the type of people required for this difficult work – which the agency adopted and implemented, strengthening the work culture and reducing attrition as a result. Stemming the tide of attrition