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Slide #4

Some of the pieces in our lessons learned are, decide how and by whom decisions 
will be made before starting the process.  People want to know that.  It can 
cause great confusion when that is really unclear. Yet in the change process, as 
roles shift and you keep trying it on for size and effectiveness, you know there 
will be some crunch periods where there's upheaval and people feel discomfort. 
Essentially you want to do the best of your ability.  Try to make clear the 
givens. What's our vision?  What outcomes do we expect?  What kind of 
productivity are we looking for each of our staff members? Then involve the 
staff closely, regularly in small group meetings and large group discussions 
informally, and formally in the “hows” and “how to's”.  Get their ideas, get 
their input, and then give it a go.

One of the major questions to grapple with when you think about restructuring 
is, “How deep to go?”  How high up on the continuum do we want to go?  Who do we 
include?  If you've got a large organization, that includes all of these 
services, program components. [Do you] want to include the group homes, the 
other day services, non-employment, case management, case service coordination? 
That's for you to decide.  

How high do we go?  Management changes - - “Ouch,” that hurts when you start 
digging in at that level.  Be very thoughtful about who you need, and in what 
roles, and at what pace that change will occur.  There will be fallout, no 
doubt, and don't be surprised. Plan for it.  Expect it.  Staff will leave. Staff 
will be very concerned and disgruntled about, “What does this mean for me?  And, 
what’s going to be the impact on my job and my role?”  The more that 
communication loop can be open, ongoing, and consistent, and the more you can 
fold your stakeholders into the decision making process, the better.  

Let's revisit that issue of a generalist, first as a specialist. In supported 
employment or customized employment, a generalist would be somebody who does it 
all.  Who would get to know the individual seeking employment and services? Who 
would actually go out and make contact with community businesses? Who would 
actually assist in the training and support of that individual and perhaps 
monitor over time? As well as, maybe teach them to use public transportation and 
so on.  

[The term] generalist meaning, provide the array of supports as needed by the 
individual; versus somebody who might say, “I just do job development”, or “I 
just do the training piece.”  I don't know if we have to really settle on that, 
as it has to be one way or the other.  You decide again, what works for you. Who 
do you have? What expertise do people carry?  It really is more that question of 
how complimentary your staff are in working together? How you tap the expertise 
of the various players you have? Ultimately, what are the outcomes that they're 
achieving?

The key is to reorganize and restructure to meet the needs of people receiving 
services.  I'll revisit that again and again.  You know as an organization, as 
you're undertaking these tumultuous changes in structure and practice, you know 
that your primary concerns are: Where's my money coming from? How I'm dancing 
with the [funding providers] and referral sources? How my interfacing and 
partnering with my community employment sector? Internally, how are we jelling? 
How are you operating? How smooth is and how high is the stress level?  What can 
we tolerate in terms of change and the pace of change?  That's the 
organizational structure piece.