A goal of filling vacancies within 60 days. A new manager training built. A stay interview asking staff why they stay, not why they left. Onboarding restructured so training comes before exposure.
These are some of the outcomes agencies accomplished since we last met, which they shared at our third workforce cohort session under the Agency Capacity Builder, a program convening agencies funded by Milton Township's Mental Health Board, working together to strengthen our community's behavioral health workforce.
Two agencies brought live challenges, and they turned out to be opposite sides of the same problem. One asked how to raise accountability without losing the kindness in its culture. The other asked how to celebrate staff commitment without building a culture of overwork.
There is no one way to solve any of this, and the responses came at it from many angles, which is what a room of eight agencies is for. Ask your team what they think they are accountable for, then write it down. Share responsibility for outcomes rather than putting it on one staff member when a client is not successful. And watch the quiet trade in a committed team, where capability becomes load, and anyone who can handle more gets more.
Thank you to DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform for hosting us. Their work spans community planning, public benefits access, and language access, where their Language Access Resource Center (LARC) has been training and placing interpreters across DuPage, so a family's appointment, IEP meeting, or benefits application happens in the language they actually speak.
Good Works Results LLC exists to help agencies like these turn shared challenges into shared solutions: DuPagePads, DuPage County Health Department, DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform, Association for Individual Development, Teen Parent Connection, SamaraCare Counseling, ICNA Relief USA, and Outreach. Thank you to the Milton Township Community Mental Health Board for supporting this initiative.
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