creating effective child welfare & child behavioral health...

Creating Effective Child Welfare & Child

Behavioral Health Outcomes:

Leadership, Teamwork and

Followership

Elizabeth Croney, MSW, LCSW

President

Gina Klyachkin, MSW, LCSW

Vice President

Megan Moore, MSW, CSW

Director of Training,

Development & Compliance

Core Objectives

• Review key elements of an effective leadership team

• Discuss tools for developing effective leadership models within Behavioral Health and Child Welfare Organizations

• Provide proven strategies for developing a successful team

• Provide strategies for fostering teams for ongoing growth

AT A GLANCE: KVC Kentucky A private, nonprofit leader in providing innovative, effective and compassionate care.

WHO: 205 employees including a Psychiatrist, Masters Level Clinicians, Case

Managers, Family Preservation Specialists, Administrators and more

WHERE: 8 locations

IMPACT: 12,000 people served annually

QUALITY: Experienced leadership, highly skilled professional staff, quality training in

evidence-based practices, innovative and outcome driven

SOCIAL SERVICES

Foster Care CM

Adoption

Child Placing

Supervised Visitation

EDUCATION

Training

Consultation

Research

Advocacy

INTEGRATED HEALTHCARE

Community-Based Therapy

Community-Based Psychiatry

Family Preservation and Reunification Services

School-Based Therapy

Community Based Substance Abuse Treatment

Services

Croney & Clark Inc.• Started by Elizabeth Croney, LCSW, and James J. Clark, PhD, LCSW, in Kentucky in 1999

• Initially started as a two-person practice that provided outpatient psychotherapy and substance abuse

treatment services to clients in Bourbon and Fayette Counties.

• October 1, 2009, the agency known throughout 16 Kentucky counties as Croney & Clark Inc. became

KVC/Croney and Clark, later known as KVC Kentucky.

• Elizabeth Croney serves as the President of KVC Kentucky.

• Merger of these two child centered/family-focused agencies brought about a greater capacity for service

and commitment to Kentucky’s children who are in out-of-home care that continues to this day.

• Philosophy of service has evolved and is guided by our professional team’s collective years of mental

health services and clinical experience, as well as state-of-the-art research findings and “best practice”

standards.

Our TeamElizabeth Croney, MSW, LCSW

President

Gina Klyachkin, MSW, LCSW

Vice President of Operations

Taylor Breeding, MSW, LCSW

Clinical Director

Megan Moore, MSW, CSW

Director of Training, Development & Compliance

Jarrod Dungan, BA

Director of Business Development & Technology

Our Team

Why We Exist

Key Elements of our Leadership Team

• Mission Driven

• Outcome Focused

• Committed to Accountability

• Belief in the Collective IQ

• Focus on Continuous Quality Improvement

• Invest in Ongoing Learning/Development

• Decision making informed by Data

• Value Creativity and Innovation

• Humor and Shared Love of Food

Our Mission

To enrich and enhance the lives of children

and families through medical and behavioral

healthcare, social services and education.

Mission Driven

• Focus on the Mission

• Lead with Success Stories

• Core Values

• Leave a Better System

Our People and Culture

We are family. We work because it matters.

We celebrate.

Values in Action Priorities• Put people first

• Do the right thing

• Inspire hope

• Partner with purpose

• Use data in decision-making

• Never be satisfied

• Be accountable

• Serve those with the greatest need

• Set the standard for the work we do

• Act with urgency – children can’t wait

The Michigan Model of Leadership

(DeRue, Spreitzer, Flanagan & Allen, 2013)

OUTCOME FOCUSED

• Strategic Plans for Areas of Programming and New Initiatives with

Measurable Goals

• Meaningful Action Steps with specific task assignment

• “Group Think” Avoided through outcome focus and accountability

Goals That Drive Us

1Collaboratively partner in ways

that accelerate outcomes for

children and families

2Assure system-wide strength

and responsible growth by

achieving program and fiscal

diversity

3Accelerate the advancement

of best practice initiatives and

clinical pathways within the

behavioral health and child

welfare systems 4Leverage KVC’s unique

expertise to influence current

and future care models and

payment mechanisms focused

on population health

Commitment to Accountability

• Both internal and external accountability

• Day to day work designed with accountability in mind

Accountability Methods• Reports to state agency partners

• Reports to grant funding agencies

• Annual Report and Annual Celebration

• Joint Commission accreditation

• Annual Program and Contract Audits

• External financial audit

• Internal reporting through

weekly management team

meetings

• Quality management and

performance improvement

reporting through EMR

• Consumer, Stakeholder and staff

surveys

Belief in the “Collective IQ”● Two Heads are Better than One

○ Rigorous conversation/consultation/collaboration

■ Office Space layout

■ Consistent Team Meetings

■ Regular Communication from Leadership

■ Modeled throughout all levels of staff and built into EMR

○ Creating psychological safety within teams through:

■ Hiring in Top Talent

■ Hiring in Cohorts

■ Every employee on a “team”

Learning from Google “Project Aristotle”● Effort to understand what made a team successful

○ Study of one hundred google teams for more than one year

○ Found that understanding “group norms” may be the key factor in improving team's

success rather than creating teams with similar characteristics (such as intelligence or

personality traits)

○ Found that the “good teams” had group norms that included equality in distribution of

conversational turn-taking and high “average social sensitivity” (referring to their skill at

intuiting how others felt based on non-verbal cues such as tone of voice and facial

expressions)

○ These traits refer to “Psychological safety-A shared belief held by members of a team that

the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking” (Harvard Business school professor Amy

Edmondson, 1999)

○ Psychological safety emerged as the key factor in making a team successful

■ Conversational turn-taking and empathy (Duhigg, 2016)

Focus on Continuous Quality Improvement

● “Food For Feedback” with employees

● Audit ready at all times

● Regular communication and feedback loop with staff and

community partners

● Stakeholder and Consumer Feedback Surveys

● Utilizing “Lessons Learned”

Value on Continuous Learning and Development

● Prioritize leadership development through:

○ Financial Investment in Leader Development

○ Ensure fiscal resources available through budgeting process

○ Leadership Programming through Leader development tracks

○ Self-identification of potential leaders

○ Semi-Annual Leadership Development Retreats (including up and

coming leaders)

○ Quarterly Workshops

Decision Making through Data•Lead meetings with data

•Focus on key outcomes

•Development of reporting mechanisms in EMR

Value on Creativity and Innovation

• Willingness to take risks

• Willingness to make mistakes in order to grow

Thriving Organizations

“A group, unit, or organization is thought to thrive when the collective is both learning and energized. Thriving collectives are not afraid to try new things, take risks, and learn from mistakes. They build capabilities (i.e. sets of routines) and new competencies from their learning. This collective capability can be used to respond to the demands of an unpredictable world.”

(Spreitzer & Sutcliffe, 2006)

Humor …

Shared Love of Food

Humor and Food…

Diversity/Differences Among Team

• Leadership Styles

• Diverse Strengths

• Distinct and Complementary Abilities and

Contributions

• Distinct Roles on team with versatility to take on

additional tasks

• Differing Perspectives

• Designated Champions for specific outcomes

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Liz: INTJ (Introvert, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging)

Gina: ENTJ (Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging)

Taylor: ESFP (Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving)

Megan: ESTJ (Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging)

Jarrod: ENTJ (Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging)

Our Teams Leadership Strengths/Styles

Liz Relationship-focused- naturally focus on relationships

Gina Results-oriented – naturally organize work, take charge

Taylor Pragmatic- practical, prudent, emotionally stable, level headed

Megan Process/Rule follower- pay attention to details, processes, and rules, organized, reliable, conscientious

Jarrod Innovative and Disruptive thinker- focus on innovation, anticipate problems, imaginative, curious

(Winsborough & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2017)

Examples of our Team at Work• Initiatives

• Outcomes

• Innovations

• Lessons Learned

Successful Initiatives● Implementation of large-scale growth

● Transition to Behavioral Health Services

● Additional of Substance Abuse Programming

● Focus on Employee Retention

○ Competitive Benefits

○ Tools for working more efficiently (iPads, iPhones, EMR, internet

hotspots)

○ Attractive work spaces

○ Focus on employee well-being (monitor burnout and offer new

opportunities)

Successful Initiatives• Successful agency wide roll out and dissemination of Evidence

Based Practices

• Grant Proposals

• Local and Statewide participation/leadership in advancing child

welfare and behavioral health initiatives

• Statewide Annual Holiday Activities for children and families served

Outcomes and ImpactKVC is driven to improve outcomes for children, families and communities. Our goal is

short-term safety and permanency for children and families to ensure long-term, lasting

wellbeing.

Outcomes as a result of our contributions include:

• Setting a standard for reduced reliance on congregate and Out of Home Care

• Revolutionizing residential treatment

• Creating trauma-focused service delivery throughout an entire continuum

• Impacting the System of Care for adolescents and families through evidence-based

substance use disorder treatment

• Elevating the child welfare industry by leveraging our knowledge and expertise

through collaboration and consultation

Scope of KVC Kentucky’s Annual Impact

• 9,778 Children and adults received Family Preservation services

• 2867 Families served in Family Preservation Programs

• 97% of Children and Families remained safely together in home

one year post discharge

• 1, 412 Children and adults received critical behavioral healthcare

support

• 180 Adolescents (12-21) received treatment for substance abuse

• 25 Children cared for in foster families

Outcomes and Impact● 91.2% Annual Employee Retention (National turnover rates between 20-40% in Child Welfare)

● http://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/42494.pdf

● Over 175 Hours of training offered in-house to direct service staff

● Independent State Audit Results

○ 18 cases from each of 8 regions reviewed--12 items from each case, totaling 1,728

documents

○ 16 items from employee training documentation--totaling 768 documents reviewed

○ Fiscal side review of 80 items

○ Resulted in 8 findings out of 2,576 documents reviewed

● 2016 Joint Commission Accreditation site visit resulted in 1 finding

Customer Satisfaction Survey

FY 2015-2016

KVC Kentucky Innovations• RUS Technology Grant

• Regulation changes to SW supervision to include supervision by

secure video conferencing

• Development of robust and fluid EMR tailored to unique

programming with built-in reporting mechanisms for

Management and Supervisors

• Technology built from scratch with continuous quality

improvement

Lessons Learned

● Re-purposing of staff into new programming (FPRS) de-

stabilized our primary program

● Delayed implementation of adolescent substance abuse

treatment services

○ Rollout of funding

○ Lack of previous continuum of care

Fostering the Team for Ongoing Growth

• INVESTMENT IN INTERNAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

• INVESTMENT IN EXTERNAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Leadership Development

Investment in Internal Leadership Development

• Semi-annual leadership retreats

• Ongoing leadership workshops

• Utilizing tools such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicators

• “Deepening the Bench” by building a pipeline of leaders

through identifying and including in leader development

opportunities

Investment in External Development

• LEADERSHIP LEXINGTON

• PARTICIPATION IN KEY STATEWIDE INITIATIVES

• COLLABORATION WITH NATIONAL CHILD WELFARE,

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

TREATMENT EXPERTS

Leadership Development

Non-Profit Leaders of TomorrowJean Crawford’s “Manager-Leader Model” for Nonprofit leadership delineates 15 must-

have attributes:

Competencies (7)

● Strategic thinker

● Relationship builder

● Collaborative decision-

maker

● Entrepreneurial achiever

● Effective communicator

● Change Leader

● Inspiring motivator

Personality Traits (5)

● High Integrity

● Adaptable/Agile

● Perseverant/

Patient

● Interpersonal

Sensitivity

● Passionate

about the

mission

Knowledge/Expertise (3)

● Financial acumen

● Deep sector-specific

knowledge

● Understanding & valuing

diversity

(Crawford, 2010)

Collaboration and Influence• Child Welfare Performance and Accountability Partnership

Steering Committee, Practice Subcommittee and Fiscal

Subcommittee

• Fatality Review Panel

• Kentucky Children’s Alliance

• University of Kentucky College of Social Work Advisory Board

• Fayette County Public School Mental Health Work Group

• Many Others (Wrap + MAP initiative, Local FAIR teams, etc.)

Collaborative Spirit

SAFE & CONNECTED

FRAMEWORK

Question

&

Answer

Contact Info

Elizabeth L. Croney, MSW, LCSW

President

ecroney@kvc.org

(859) 229-8473

Gina Klyachkin, MSW, LCSW

Vice President

gklyachkin@kvc.org

(859) 559-2088

Megan Moore, MSW, CSW

Director of Training, Development & Compliance

mmoore@kvc.org

(859) 608-9417

References:

DeRue, D.S., Spreitzer, G., Flanagan, B. &, Allen, B. (2013). Developing Adaptive Leaders for Turbulent Times:

The Michigan Model of Leadership. The European Business Review.

Duhigg, C. (2016). What google learned from its quest to build the perfect team. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html

Spreitzer, G., Sutcliffe, K. (2007). Thriving in Organizations. Positive Organizational Behavior, 74-85.

http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/spreitze/Pdfs/ThriveinOrg.pdf

Winsborough, D., Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2017). Great teams are about personalities, not just skills. Harvard

Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/01/great-teams-are-about-personalities-not-just-skills

Crawford, J. (2010). Profiling the nonprofit leader of tomorrow. Ivey Business Journal.

http://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/profiling-the-non-profit-leader-of-tomorrow/

Bazigos, M., Gagnon, C., Schaninger, B. (2016). Leadership in context.

McKinsey.http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/leadership-in-context

Thank You.