When my partner and I took over CIS 19 years ago, I was happy to lead the strategic planning process. Each year, working on the plan allows me to step back from the day-to-day challenges of our agency and think about how CIS can grow, change, and get better at what we do.
With some preparation and research, you can create a strategic plan to reach your social service agency’s goals efficiently. Here is the framework I use. I hope it enables you to develop strategies for success in your field.
Unless this is the very first strategic plan ever created for your organization, the first step is review. Look at your agency’s most recent plan and inventory past goals and objectives. Take note of when your organization last created a strategic plan. Research how goals and objectives were tracked or measured and note any evaluations or relevant scores.
In addition to evaluating the relevance of existing plans, review measurement procedures. Is the evaluation process adequate? Does it need tweaking or even overhauling? As the management consultanta , Peter Drucker says, “what gets measured gets managed”
Establishing confidence in a current plan and associated evaluations is the first step. If it is solid, you can build on it. On the other hand, if the plan is outdated, insufficient, or non-existent, don’t get discouraged. That may give you the opportunity to build a new plan from scratch.
When it comes to setting and achieving strategic goals, don’t forget to revisit the mission statement. It’s a reminder of high-level goals and can serve as a helpful guide for staying focused on the big picture. Reviewing the mission statement should provide clarity on what is working well and what needs to be improved.
Use your mission statement as a filter. Everything in the strategic plan should be aligned with the statement and directly support long-term goals.
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths are things that already exist in some form within your organization, such as exceptional facilities, experts on staff, awards and recognition, or high success rates.
Weaknesses are internal challenges. They might include things like aging equipment, poor location, staff shortages, or conflicts within your organization.
Opportunities are outside factors that favor your organization. Examples include an increasing need for your services, government leaders who champion your cause, or a decline in providers offering the same services in your area.
Finally, threats are external conditions that create headwinds. Perhaps recent legislation presents a new obstacle. Maybe shifts in the industry, social events, or even economic dips make it harder to execute your strategies.
SWOTs are not meant to solve anything. But they make the strategic planning team aware of how difficult or easy it will be to take on new challenges in the coming year.
A strategy is a top-level summation of a plan of action. In the strategic planning process, strategies provide directional explanations for reaching long-term goals.
For example, if a long-term goal or objective is to “reduce recidivism,” your strategies might include
If a long-term goal or objective is to “provide best-in-class service,” your strategies might include expanded services, enhanced facilities, or measures designed to attract and keep top-tier staff.
Tactics come next. These are the details that explain how you’ll execute strategies. For example, let’s revisit the strategy of “Develop relationships with local police to explore potential triggers for recidivism.” How will that work, exactly? Sample tactics might include:
Once you have strategies and tactics in place, you’re ready to assign duties and start making progress.
It’s also smart to format tactics in ways that make measurement simple. Remember that part of the next plan is tracking the success of each tactic. In some cases, it’s easy. (You either completed research or you didn’t.) In others, including specificity and numbers may be necessary.
For example, for the tactic “Share results with police and stakeholders” the measurement is not clear. In this case, you might want to revise the tactic into two parts, as shown here.
Now you need to get down to the math. You’ll need to document financial considerations and include estimates for each part of your strategic plan. While many aspects of your strategic plan will be mission-driven, some features are practical considerations. For example, will your budget allow you to buy new equipment? How will you fund research? How many people can you employ?
At this stage, it’s wise to lean on the folks in accounting, HR, and operations to create reliable budgets. A well-rounded team can produce accurate estimates and help identify potential trade-offs. For example, if you must invest $100,000 in a new piece of equipment, how can you fund it? Can you get more funding, amortize the expense, or do you need to eliminate other costs? Your financial team can help you develop options.
In our world, public funding is a reality. So your strategic plan must dovetail with the needs of your public audiences. These stakeholders usually include some combination of public administrators, community leaders, industry leaders, mental health experts, local healthcare organizations, and government policymakers.
Keep your stakeholders’ agendas in mind throughout the strategic planning process. If you’re not sure what their agendas are, talk to them. Make sure you know exactly what other people need and expect from your social services organization, and structure your plan in ways that ensure you can deliver on expectations.
Strategic planning isn’t quick or easy, so give yourself several months to complete it. Remember that you’ll need to do some measurements, access other opinions, create a financial team, and more. And day-to-day priorities will get in the way and occasionally hijack your schedule. That’s why I strongly recommend giving yourself about twice as much time as you think you’ll need.
Strategic planning is one of the most effective ways to positively impact a social services agency. If you follow these steps, give yourself plenty of time, and bring in experts when needed, you’re on your way to making a big difference in the success of your organization.
]]>That’s because anyone who works with people knows that one size does not fit all. Humans accumulate a wide range of positive and negative life experiences. Their mental and physical abilities, combined with their experiences with support systems such as families, schools, and caregivers, influence how each person processes information. The result is millions of different people acting and reacting in millions of different ways.
When Janell and I started Community Integrated Services (almost two decades ago), we knew our success depended on developing custom plans for each new client. CIS was created to help people with developmental disabilities and a history of behavioral issues. When helping these people, we can’t make assumptions or develop assembly line approaches: we have to meet each new client where they are.
But custom approaches can take a lot of time and money to execute, and we wanted to make every dollar count so that we could expand. There is a long line of people needing services like ours. We knew that if CIS could scale up, we could help more people. So how could we grow efficiently while still employing a totally customized approach?
Community care at CIS is based on individual instruction and support plans (IISP) and positive behavior support plans (PBSP). Program managers create these plans for each client based on the client’s history, abilities, goals, and progress.
While each plan is individualized, program managers start by working with an established framework to analyze needs. They then reference a set of established criteria and work with other specialists to create customized care plans that meet all state and federal guidelines and take advantage of the latest research and information.
Once a plan is created, it allows an entire team to work together. It serves as the shared point of reference for a group of people. Much like a medical chart in a hospital, a CIS care plan allows different people to interact with clients without changing direction. Direct Support Professionals, or DSPs, follow these plans closely to meet clients’ emotional, practical, and medical needs.
We adjust and change plans based on our clients’ evolving needs or progress, but the process of planning is a core part of our business model.
We’ve found that the best way to provide consistent care is by helping our staff learn more than one skill. For example, many members of our senior team joined us to do one job but also showed skills in other areas. Once we spotted these abilities, we helped them grow into new positions that leverage their range of talents.
In sports, it’s called creating a deep bench. We are intentionally creating a flexible workforce by helping current employees expand their knowledge and expertise (instead of hiring a new employee with siloed skills). Staff can cover for co-workers in other departments.
For example, if a DSP can also help out in compliance, we are growing two skill sets. That DSP might continue to work with clients, or they may shift into compliance full-time, based on skills, need, and aptitudes. Developing multiple skill sets also minimizes the impact when a key hire leaves.
Assumptions allow people to navigate through the world efficiently. For example, we may assume people with a particular job title act or react in specific ways. Maybe we treat cashiers and teachers differently based on past experiences. Some assumptions help us navigate life without examining each encounter with fresh eyes.
However, assumptions are rarely helpful when interacting with social work clients. Each employee at CIS must meet each person without prejudices. We don’t assume they will interact or react the same way as another client.
This approach requires our staff to work harder, observe more closely, and take more time to really learn how each client is unique. Observation and analysis are needed before we can begin to create effective care plans. Our intentional refusal to make assumptions helps us serve our clients more effectively. It also prevents us from rushing into treatment plans based on the needs or behaviors of other clients.
If you want to implement a fully tailored approach, it’s crucial to make customization the core of your business model. That means that made-to-order is the norm, not the exception.
Instead of trying to create standard versions and adding customizations, develop processes that allow you to adapt every time. For every client, our approach starts with formal evaluations. We then submit paperwork to the state and assign a support team that includes DSPs, supervisors, and program managers. These steps are mandatory, and we do these things every time.
But the evaluations are simply information gathering. They provide the data needed to create individualized plans for each client. And while these assessments have a framework and requirements, we can change them when needed. We have to meet baseline goals and objectives, but we can then include elements as we discover the need for them. For example, we may accept a client with paperwork that doesn’t indicate any medical issues. During the course of our evaluations, we may discover they have significant hearing loss. That changes our approach, and we’ll start creating plans incorporating hearing loss. We help the individual access a specialist or try out hearing aids to help us address all of the client’s needs. We add and adjust as the complete client profile is developed.
Conversely, we don’t discover hearing loss and then ignore it. Even though the hearing loss was not part of the initial profile, adapting and adjusting to new findings is part of what we do. It may add work to the process, but these shifts are never avoided or ignored. That’s what true customization affords us: the ability to treat clients holistically.
In the end, we can be creative problem solvers if an organizing structure is holding it together. We have a basic framework that keeps us in compliance. It helps us maintain standards, develop efficiencies, routinize approaches, and establish pathways for success.
Like the framework for a house, our structure is spare, practical, and necessary. And it also allows us to build custom programs quickly and efficiently. The structure is there to support the customization.
With a solid structure providing core strength, we can continue to customize and grow. And in our line of work, growing also means helping more people. It’s the rationale behind everything we do, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
]]>How did we do it? We grew steadily by increasing our government contracts’ size and scope, but we also made three acquisitions over the years, two of them in the last three years.
As you can imagine, that kind of rapid growth isn’t always easy. And we couldn’t have done it without our exceptional employees. As a human services organization, CIS takes the care of our clients seriously, but we also take the care of our employees seriously. Our mission is to provide better lives for our clients and our employees. That’s why we want to do more than provide jobs; we want to help our staff succeed professionally and personally. One of the most effective ways to do that is to promote from within.
For many business owners, the policy of promoting from within offers obvious benefits to employees, but it also makes HR’s mission clearer and easier to execute.
When we commit to promoting from within, our human resources team can hire people based on a fit with our core values and culture, which is essential in our work. Instead of looking for people based on a list of past jobs, our recruiting team can focus on an individual’s approach to caring for others. That means they can spend more time finding people who are good fits for social services careers. As a result, our potential employee base is much broader, and we can recruit from various fields.
Promoting from within also fosters loyalty. Employees know that they can create a professional future with our company. That has helped us reduce turnover.
This policy also means that our HR department spends less time searching for hard-to-find senior employees. They can spend more time hiring foundational positions, hiring people based on their fit with our company culture and mission. At CIS, we spend less time recruiting and more time training.
Our management team is committed to informal mentoring. We talk with our teams regularly to help us better assess their strengths and weaknesses and create a well-rounded understanding of their professional needs and goals.
This shared-knowledge approach isn’t limited to senior management. We also train our employees to think about their career paths from day one. Any employee who is new to the field must complete a 75-hour training and orientation course, which includes a peer coaching component. After the orientation training, there is ongoing formal and informal training done within departments, as well as technical training in state law and policy.
We often ask employees to shadow other positions, always under the guidance of each department’s head or leader. The shadowing program helps our people understand the responsibilities of other staff members, supervisors, and departments. Not only does this help employees create a more holistic understanding of what we do and how we do it, but it also introduces them to other positions and placements. By creating an increased understanding of how each job works, we also reduce the likelihood of moving an employee into a position that is a poor fit.
Of course, many employees will require formalized training before taking on new responsibilities, but shadowing is often an effective way to pave the way to a job shift.
Because CIS has a well-established history of promoting from within, our employees tend to have a “can-do” attitude. When your team knows their efforts are noticed and may be rewarded with advancement, it motivates your entire staff. A motivated staff is essential for a fast-growing company.
Promotion from within has created job flexibility, also needed for rapid growth. Through the years, CIS has occasionally created a variety of temporary, dual roles. When any company expands, they usually experience “stretch” periods, when the income does not yet warrant a full-time hire, yet the growing areas still require some attention. By creating hybrid positions based partially on business needs and partly on employee skills and preferences, a firm can cover tasks in a wide range of areas until the company has stretched enough to create a new, full-time position within a department.
Creating hybrid or interim positions comes with challenges. That’s why it is so important to establish clear directives. Even if the new duties are a small part of that person’s overall responsibilities, create a job description that clarifies expectations for the current role and the new tasks. It is also vital to carefully monitor performance and make frequent updates to the job description as the person and position develop.
Any newly promoted individual must have plenty of support and guidance. It’s smart to connect the employee with a senior team member who can monitor progress and assess the need for additional training.
Having a solid knowledge of other jobs or responsibilities within the organization is critical for successful transitions, but they are not a guarantee of success. Keep in mind that some positions require a certain temperament, inherent skills, and natural abilities. For example, highly active people who avoid math will have difficulty sitting at a desk working through budgets. Conversely, introverts who dislike talking to new people may not be the best choice for public outreach roles. Take time to assess skills, desire, and natural ability before testing an employee out in a new position.
It can be difficult for someone who has secured a promotion to admit that they are not suited for a particular position. Returning to a previous post can feel like a failure or an embarrassment and might be the reason an employee leaves a job.
That is why it is important to “test the waters” with current employees. Arrange for them to take on pertinent tasks or short-term projects with a defined end date. With limited-time engagements, an employee gets a glimpse of what the position entails, and the employer can evaluate skills and abilities in action. Short-term assignments reduce the risk to the employee and the employer.
However, being too flexible can be a double-edged sword. While a willingness to experiment allows a company to discover hidden talents in successful employees, too many moving parts can make it difficult to monitor job structures and make quality control more challenging. That’s why it’s important to always name a dedicated mentor or supervisor to these kinds of assignments, to evaluate the employee and their accomplishments closely.
For example, in social services, it is common for individuals to start by providing direct care or services to a client, then be promoted to a case management position, and then to a supervisory role where they are responsible for overseeing multiple clients, supervisors, or sites. While we often promote from within, we usually start by asking for short-term assistance in one area. Sometimes one employee will complete several short-term assignments before being asked to move to a new position. Because each job shift requires a deep understanding of procedures, regulations, and even state laws, we don’t rush anyone into new responsibilities without thoroughly preparing them for the new role.
When developing a short-term project, be careful to avoid positioning an employee’s performance as a pass/fail. A common misstep is to say, “We’ll try you out here and see how you do.” This statement implies the employee will either meet or fall short of expectations. Instead, use language like, “We need short-term help in this area until we hire more people. Can you step in this month?”
By developing short-term assignments with clear end dates, not only do we get a person to help us meet temporary needs, but we also get a chance to monitor them carefully and observe how their skills transfer to other roles. If we need them to return to their original function, that’s also a success. At CIS, many of our short-term projects really do have end dates. Sometimes a new position materializes, but often it does not.
No matter which job our team members are tackling, we make sure our entire staff understands how highly valued each contribution is at CIS, in every department. By keeping our promotions program flexible and ongoing, we encourage our team members to try new roles with little personal risk. After all, as long as you excel at CIS’s core competency – compassionate care – we’ll find the right place for you in our organization.
]]>“Fun?” I scratched my head. Our employees work with some of the most challenging populations in Washington State. We serve people with mental disabilities and traumatic backgrounds. Our clients’ stories are often heartbreaking. So I was surprised to hear the word “fun,” but I was also super happy.
I was delighted because these reports confirmed that our company morale is strong. Our efforts to empower our teams to meet the professional challenges they face, without losing personal joy, are working!
Since those interviews, we faced even more challenges when the Seattle area was identified as a hot spot for the pandemic. Many of our clients have health issues that made them especially susceptible. We had to ask our employees to do more, work longer, be more diligent, and protect the clients’ health even more carefully.
And yet I keep seeing smiles, happiness, and even joy when I talk with my employees. Why?
In community care, burnout is a real thing, so people in our industry are especially concerned about keeping up morale. I’ve worked hard at my business to create a place where people want to work (and want to stay) and keeping up morale is at the core of those efforts.
Happy people are not just “good to have.” Yes, happy people are nicer to be around. But good corporate morale also delivers tangible business benefits. Happy people stay longer. They work harder. Happy people encourage their friends and families to apply for jobs here, which is good for recruitment. And happy people do a better job. Our employee’s happiness, and our company morale, is essential to our business’s continuing growth.
At CIS, we use seven basic approaches to keep our staff motivated and happy with the work and each other.
At one time or another, most business owners have seen their employees get overwhelmed. Often this happens because a staff member is not sure what to do or how to respond when things go wrong. So it’s no surprise that untrained or undertrained employees get overwhelmed more easily. Rushing through training leaves your employees feeling nervous and unprepared. Rigorous training not only teaches, but it gives the employee time to absorb the information, so it becomes intuitive. A well-trained employee is eager to get into the workplace, ready to take on new challenges.
Skimping on training also sets the stage for mistakes. And mistakes by untrained employees make everyone nervous. Undertrained employees are perceived as a risk or a hazard. When people expect an employee to fail, it makes errors even more likely. A lack of training really impacts everyone’s morale because seasoned employees must work harder to fix the newcomers’ mistakes, making your experienced staff feel frustrated, overwhelmed, and even resentful.
Finally, well-trained, confident workers are empowered. You are giving them what they need to immediately contribute, quickly integrate into the workforce, and feel confident. New employees that are helpful and knowledgeable are one of the best ways to support positive workplace morale.
This is one of those areas where leaders must walk the walk. Like it or not, your employees take their cue from leadership. If your senior team is compassionate, engaged, and committed to their work, their support teams are much more likely to do the same. Undemonstrative, restrained, taciturn leadership encourages unemotional, impersonal employees.
The truth is, I have a lot of fun at my job. I laugh every day. And so does my co-founder and all of my leadership team. We want to see our clients smile. And we want to see our employees smiling and laughing. It might sound corny, but smiles are a core part of our corporate culture. Smiling people create a feeling of confidence and trust. And smiles increase morale.
When leadership screws up, admit it publicly, fix it publicly, and then just let it go. Hiding mistakes, ignoring missteps, or (the very worst) pretending someone else is to blame are all sure-fire morale killers. When leadership admits mistakes, they set an example that shows their employees how to act when errors occur. Employees are less likely to try to cover up their missteps. Your example also shows your team that accidents aren’t the end of the world. Being open about executive fumbles also helps squash the “gotcha” culture that is so prevalent in our industry. Your example helps teams understand what to do when mistakes happen, and they’ll know that one slip-up isn’t going to brand them for life.
We all know executives who are proud of their isolation. They brag about how little they talk to employees and that they don’t know the names of their staff. Those people drive me NUTS.
Any good leader knows you can’t hide in an office. Make a point to walk the halls every day. Chat with employees and ask them about their day. Let everyone in your organization know that their opinions matter. Keep your door open (literally) and encourage people to drop in. Make an effort to loop employees into conversations that affect them and their duties.
When your employees walk through your open office door to tell you about their issues, it’s time to really listen and make sure you follow up. Whether they tell you that their client is lashing out or they’re having problems finding reliable daycare, show concern. In most cases, you won’t be able to “fix” personal issues. Still, your empathy is comforting, and a card, flowers, or even just a sympathetic ear goes a long way towards making an employee feel heard and appreciated.
I know this one can feel uncomfortable for many business owners. However, whether you tell them or not, your employees know that regulations change, economies shift, and businesses evolve. They also know that you, as a business leader, must respond to some or all of these changes. If you don’t tell them what’s happening, they’ll start guessing. Sidestepping gossip by letting your employees know the whole picture will keep morale higher.
This advice comes with a warning: don’t tell your employees about changes “under consideration” unless you genuinely want their input. Like the boy who cried wolf, too many corporate announcements about “maybes” will result in skepticism.
I wish I didn’t have to tell people to praise publicly, but I do. All the time. Some people’s instincts are to “not make a big deal out of it” because it will be “expected.”
Well, it SHOULD be expected! When your people go above and beyond, get certified, or get promoted, it is time to praise them publicly. Your praise doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Send out an email. Give them a high five in the hallway. Get cupcakes for the break room. Tie a balloon to their chair.
With just a LITTLE effort, your employee will feel proud of their accomplishment, and your entire team will get a glimpse of your supportive company culture and be eager for the next time they can get or give similar praise.
This is the most important morale builder for me. I know “purpose” is a turnoff for some people. It sounds naïve and hokey.
But the truth is, I’m in social work for a reason. I’m here to make the earth better than when I got here, and I try to surround myself with people who want to do the same. That’s why I never hesitate to tell employees that our purpose is noble. We do soul work that requires much of us, but it also gives much back. We are in the business of making the world a better place, and I’m so proud of that. I want everyone in our company to embrace that!
While my company’s work is sometimes emotional, the value of having a purpose is not limited to social work. Having a real passion and purpose helps boost morale in any job. Whether your business is caring for mentally disabled people, doing financial planning, or selling soft-serve cones, passion and purpose is essential. You must not only be committed to helping your customers or clients, but you must also be overt about your purpose. Shout it from the rooftops. What’s better for morale than passionate leadership?
I’ve told you about some of our business strategies – training, walking the walk, owning your mistakes, talking and listening, being transparent, praising, being passionate about what you do, and SMILING! Now I’d love to hear from you. How are you working to keep your morale high in your work? Send me an email and let me know!
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