Creating Momentum for Service Coordination

1. Creating Momentum for Service Coordination Strategies for starting or jump-starting your Linkages program Leslie Ann Hay, MSW Hay Consulting September 16, 2009

2. Learning objectives • Learn strategies for how to: • Maintain interest and commitment • Take action to reach full integration • Sustain momentum while facing competing priorities & demands • Build leadership support

3. Creating momentum for Linkages What are the challenges in advancing & sustaining Linkages?

4. Factors to consider in sustaining Linkages… • Stage of development of your Linkages program • Leadership support & attention • Visibility of Linkages beyond staff who are directly connected to the program • Other factors that compete or conflict with the philosophy & goals of Linkages

5. Organizational Lifecycle

6. Organizational Lifecycle: Stage 1 • Stage 1 thinking: • Entrepreneurial • Personal responsibility • Stakeholder-driven • Take risks • Do what it takes • Find the pattern

7. Organizational Lifecycle: Stage 2 • Stage 2 thinking: • Repeat the pattern • Put in rules, regulations • Internal focus • Movement is hindered

8. Organizational Lifecycle: Stage 3 • Stage 3 thinking: • Find new pattern • Take risks, be fluid • Responsive to service demands & client focused • Personal responsibility • Opportunity focused • Accept change as continual

9. Where is your agency?

10. Addressing 3 key barriers • Institutionalizing Linkages as a way of doing business • Making sure decision-makers know it works and is here to stay • Going beyond the tip of the iceberg. • Sustaining momentum while facing competing priorities & demands • Maintaining interest & commitment • Taking action to reach full integration

11. Sustaining momentum • Reinforce the integrative power of Linkages • Connect milestones and successes of Linkages to goals of other priorities • Stay focused on what matters most • Let go of what doesn’t matter • Form alliances across organizational boundaries

12. Maintaining interest and commitment • Communicate successes • Increase the “emotional quotient” • Advocate, inquire and repeat as needed • Build trust across functions • Set the bar high in public view

13. Taking action to reach full integration • Appreciate the “implementation dip” • Utilize informal networks • Pace the process for faster results • Coping with the challenge of diffusion • Build coaching capacity • Promote permeable boundaries • Information infrastructure • Establish a learning culture

14. Building leadership support • Gaining the attention of leadership to become Linkages champions • Make a connection between Linkages and goals of other county initiatives • How does Linkages solve an existing problem in your county? • Make the collaboration visible • Focus on outcomes to “make the case” • Show cost savings

15. Closing Thought • “We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” Marian Wright Edelman