I designed and facilitate the Agency Capacity Builder for the Milton Township Community Mental Health Board. It began with roundtables and discovery conversations asking funded agencies what they needed to build their capacity. Their answers kept circling back to two things.
Finding and keeping good people. When a trusted caseworker or counselor leaves, the families they served feel it, and so does the community. This cohort works on how agencies hire, onboard and hold on to good staff. Asked what kept an experienced staff member who had a better-paying offer elsewhere, these leaders named team connection, real recognition, a voice in shaping the culture, strong supervision, and the mission itself.
Measuring impact. Many agencies can tell you how many people they served. The harder question is what changed for those people. This cohort works on collecting the right data and sharing it, along with the stories behind it, in ways funders, boards and partners can trust.
What movement looks like
Right now, executive and midlevel leaders from 18 agencies are meeting in six-month peer cohorts that include group sessions, visits to each other's agencies, and coaching. Each agency brings a real challenge, the group looks at it from different angles, and peers leave with new ideas to try that move it forward. It works because it is built on trust and a desire to do good work for our communities together.
Here are the shifts underway so far.
This is the work that keeps good services in our communities, and it deserves the same support we give the programs themselves.
These leaders asked themselves two questions worth borrowing. Take them to your own team, organization or network:
- Why do our best people stay?
- How do we know our work is making a difference?