EMBRACING CHANGE, MOVING FORWARD : ALL CHANGE IS DIFFICULT NO MATTER HOW LONG YOU PUT IT OFF

1. EMBRACING CHANGE, MOVING FORWARD: ALL CHANGE IS DIFFICULT NO MATTER HOW LONG YOU PUT IT OFF

2. “I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here." Stephen Bishop

3. JOE MARRONE INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY INCLUSION MAIN OFFICE: BOSTON, MA NW OFFICE: 4517 NE CESAR CHAVEZ BLVD PORTLAND, OR 97211-8124 TEL: 503-331-0687 CELL: 503-490-2072 FAX: 503-961-7714 EMAIL: joseph.marrone@gmail.com WEB: WWW.COMMUNITYINCLUSION.ORG

4. “ I CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE ARE FRIGHTENED OF NEW IDEAS; I’M FRIGHTENED OF THE OLD ONES.” JOHN CAGE, COMPOSER

5. IF PEOPLE CANWORK PEOPLE SHOULDWORK

6. HIGH PERFORMING STATES – ICI VIEW1] Leadership2] Strategic goals and operating policy3] Financing and contracting methods4] Training and technical assistance 5] Interagency collaboration/ partnership6] Services and service innovation7] Performance measurement and data management

7. SYSTEMS ISSUES TO TACKLE • WHOSE PROBLEM IS IT?–WORKFORCE, VR, DISABILITY AGENCIES, SCHOOLS, OR ALL • WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT EMPLOYMENT EBP OR BEST PRACTICE STANDARDS? • TTW POSSIBILITIES - REAL OR NOT?

8. SYSTEMS ISSUES TO TACKLE • SHOULD ALL DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT HAVE VR INVOLVEMENT? • WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE W. SIGNIFICANT DISABILITIES CHOOSE TO BYPASS VR & USE WORKFORCE SYSTEM? • WHAT DOES PROGRAM ACCESSIBILITY REALLY MEAN?

9. WHAT DOES THE NEW WIOA HAVE TO SAY ABOUT SERVING CUSTOMERS WITH DISABILITIES?

10. Increased Emphasis on Role of General Workforce Development System in WIOA for customers w. disabilities: • WDBs have to ensure sufficient service providers in local area w. expertise in assisting individuals with disabilities • WDBs may include as members, community organizations that support competitive integrated employment for individuals w. disabilities. • Employment Networks under the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work program, are specified as optional One-Stop partners. • Focus more on Transition and youth for VR and for Workforce especially “out of school” youth 16-24 (includes many with disabilities especially Beh Health)

11. State WDB develop strategies to support career pathways for people w. disabilities to enter and retain employment. • WDBs may have standing committees. Among 3 standing committees specified one on service provision for people w. disabilities • Annual assessment of physical and programmatic access of One-Stop Centers for people with disabilities required • Disability to be consideration in development of state performance requirements in use of workforce development funds. • The obligation of the general workforce system to serve youth with disabilities is emphasized within WIOA in multiple places. • 15% general workforce development funds - statewide employment & training activities including those supporting disability services

12. GOETHE “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

13. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED OVER THE YEARS IN WORKFORCE SERVICES TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, ESPECIALLY SINCE WIA?

14. Commonly Identified Barriers • Fragmentation & lack of seamless service delivery • Tendency to see people with disabilities as needing only disability specific services • Disability systems (such as MH and DD) often do not value community employment as an outcome • Need for increased staff knowledge & skills • Need to understand disability community • Need for access to support services

15. SUGGESTED PROTOCOL FOR DETERMINING CUSTOMER REFERRAL TO VR These questions are developed in a Decision Tree format and should be applied in sequence. 1] Do you know that a customer has a disability? • If Y. Did [s]he self-disclose and in what manner (on a form, to you directly, to other staff)? • If N. What factors lead you to believe a disability exists? 2] Does the customer have a disability that needs special accommodations if [s]he is to use Workforce services successfully? • If Y. What leads you to believe this? • Identify some possible accommodations and their resources. Continue • If N, No further action, unless the customer requests such assistance.

16. 3] Does the customer desire or think [s]he needs an accommodation? • If Y. What leads you to believe this? • Continue • If N. No further action, unless the customer requests such assistance. 4] Is the One-Stop Center able to provide this accommodation without VR assistance? • If Y. What leads you to believe this? • If N. What leads you to believe this? ? Seamless Link with VR – NO WRONG DOOR 5] Does the customer have more extensive, disability-related individual/personal support needs that would be better addressed by VR, to improve successful attaining or retaining of employment? • If Y. What information, besides the customer’s own statements, leads you to believe this?

17. Have you discussed this opinion directly with customer? • Do you need assistance from someone else to do so? • If N. What information leads you to believe this? 6] Does the customer wish to be referred for special disability-related services that VR provides? • If Y. What leads you to believe this? Proceed to #8 • If N. What leads you to believe this? Proceed to #7 7] Do you think the person should still consider VR even if [s]he is not interested? • If Y. Why do you believe this? • Did you discuss your opinion directly with customer? • Do you need assistance from someone to do so? • If N. The One-Stop Center now will provide the services that staff and the customer have discussed. • STOP

18. 8] Will you make the referral directly to VR if the customer agrees that [s]he is interested in such services? • If Y. Use your One-Stop Center’s VR referral process to do this. • If N. Why not? • If the customer prefers to self-refer, Workforce staff should advise customer of the self-referral process and offer to assist with it. 9] Since the customer with a disability will be served by VR, will the One-Stop staff also be providing Workforce services? • If Y. How will this be communicated to and coordinated with VR staff? • If N. Why not?

19. Promising Effective Practices: BROAD BASED ISSUES • Essentials of good service: Commitment, compassion, competence, coordination, collaboration, & client/ customer needs. • Directly confronting negative views of work capacity. • Providing training & TA focused on enabling workforce staff to: a) develop practices so customers benefit from available resources; b) identify resources that are accessed & leveraged; c) deliver “user friendly” services. • Understanding the demands of the One Stop system to meet the needs of the business customer AND the job applicant customer.

20. Promising Effective Practices: BROAD BASED ISSUES • Dealing w. impact of work on disability benefits. • Assisting staff to encourage people to self-identify, while preserving confidentiality & focusing on relevance to achieving employment success. • Understanding the role of the VR agency within One Stop system (now under WIOA) as well as in regard to services to people with disabilities. • Understanding need for local efforts to maximize funding through use of different funding streams -- “braiding” & “blending”.

21. Promising Effective Practices: ADMINISTRATIVE LEVEL • Variety of supports & system integration activities • Evidence-based practices in employment services with enhanced links between VR and workforce system • When VR engaged in the One Stop system at multiple levels, better coordination & integration of services • Workforce Development system engages VR in joint service delivery, not just as referral outlet • Partnerships created to assist VR customers to secure employment through One Stop as well as VR • Development of specialized programs for specific sub - populations (such as Youth with the SD DEI) • Creation of statewide & local policy initiatives (SD DEI)

22. Promising Effective Practices: ADMINISTRATIVE LEVEL Specific examples of coordination/collaboration: • Jointly funding services – “Braiding- Blending” • Serving persons in both systems simultaneously • Creating joint employment service planning teams • Using each other’s staff to conduct joint training • Jointly developing referral guidelines • Jointly funding staff positions • Involving both agencies’ staff in administrative or staff committees of the other • VRs encouraging community rehabilitation providers to use One Stop Center’s services.

23. Promising Effective Practices: SERVICE LEVEL • Employment planning teams- ? SD Integrated Resource Teams • ID of disability with respect for confidentiality, choice, privacy • Assistance to bridge gaps between universal access/ self service and needs of customers with disabilities • Flexible funding • Assisting business service teams incorporate needs of job applicants with disabilities • Job retention activities, understanding that employment retention is usually more crucial than job retention • Specialized employment-related services for transition age youth • Engaging “hard to serve” populations

24. SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS Need for on-going training. Training topics: • Effective business services incorporating the needs of people with disabilities • Marketing workers with disabilities to employers • Accommodations for job applicants/ workers w. disabilities • Engagement and outreach strategies for [potential] customers with disabilities • Increasing staff expectations that work is a priority and expectation for people with disabilities in conjunction with local workforce’s VR and other disability partners • Managing performance standards • Motivational interviewing/ personal “readiness for change”

25. SPECIFIC EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE ISSUES YOUTH (16-25) • BETTER LINKAGE WITH TRANSITION TYPE SERVICES • USE OF IMMEDIATE JOB OPTIONS: WORK EXPERIENCE, SUMMER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT (? OJT FUNDING), INTERNSHIPS, VOLUNTEERING • PARENTS/ SIGNIFICANT OTHERS SHOULD HOLD MORE SWAY THAN STAFF EVEN IF THEY ARE “WRONG” • YOUTH NEED MORE DIRECTION • PLANNING LESS IMPORTANT THAN ACTION - IMMEDIACY • JOBS THAT WE SHY AWAY FROM FOR ADULTS MORE AND MORE (FOOD, FILTH, FLOWERS ETC ETC) ARE MORE ATTRACTIVE & APPROPRIATE FOR YOUTH • DON’T TRY TO GET YOUTH TO ACT LIKE ADULTS IN TERMS OF JOB/ EMPLOYMENT STABILITY

26. GREEK PROVERB “ BEFORE PRACTICING VIRTUE, FIRST SECURE AN INDEPENDENT INCOME. “

27. RITA MAE BROWN “ IF THE WORLD WERE A LOGICAL PLACE, MEN WOULD RIDE SIDESADDLE “

28. AMBROSE BIERCE “ PATIENCE: A MINOR FORM OF DESPAIR --- DISGUISED AS A VIRTUE.”

29. HELPING PEOPLE (AND SYSTEMS) CHANGE: HOPE, HELP, AND HASSLING

30. “IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE YOUR OWN FUTURE WHEN YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE ECONOMIC FABRIC OF THE CULTURE YOU LIVE IN” PATRICIA DEEGAN 20th World Congress Rehab International: Oslo, Norway – JUNE 2004

31. W. EDWARDS DEMING “ BEWARE THE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT OF THINGS NOT WORTH IMPROVING “

32. KEN MILLER “The length of a minute is relative, depending on which side of the bathroom door you are on.” From WE DON’T MAKE WIDGETS

33. 5 SIGNS TO RECOGNIZE SYSTEM CHANGE:Grieff, D., Proscio, T., & Wilkins, C. (2003) NOT FOCUSED ON WORKFORCE SYSTEMS BUT THE PRINCIPLES HOLD IN SD & ELSEWHERE

34. 5 SIGNS TO RECOGNIZE SYSTEM CHANGE: • CHANGE IN POWER: Designated positions—people with formal authority—responsible for the new activity (not just individuals who care about it).

35. 5 SIGNS TO RECOGNIZE SYSTEM CHANGE: • CHANGE IN MONEY: Routine funding is earmarked for the new activity in a new [new money, shift in existing funding, or new priorities & criteria for accessing money].

36. 5 SIGNS TO RECOGNIZE SYSTEM CHANGE: • CHANGE IN HABITS: Participants in a system interact with each other to carry out the new activity as part of their normal routine not just respond to special initiatives, demonstrations, or projects.

37. 5 SIGNS TO RECOGNIZE SYSTEM CHANGE: • CHANGE IN TECHNOLOGY OR SKILLS: Growing cadre of skilled practitioners at most levels in the delivery chain, practicing methods not previously common or considered desirable. Practitioners are now expert in skills that new system demands & have set a standard for effective delivery of results.

38. 5 SIGNS TO RECOGNIZE SYSTEM CHANGE: • CHANGE IN IDEAS OR VALUES: New definition of performance or success, & often a new understanding of the people to be served & the problem to be solved [i.e., new goals]. The new definition & understanding are commonly held among most actors in the system, & are no longer in great dispute

39. “ YOU NEED A LITTLE LOVE IN YOUR LIFE & FOOD IN YOUR STOMACH BEFORE YOU CAN HOLD STILL FOR SOME DAMN FOOL’S LECTURE ABOUT HOW TO BEHAVE.” BILLIE HOLIDAY

40. John P. Kotter (1998). Leading change: why transformation efforts fail. In: Harvard Business Review on Change. Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press.

41. Error #1: Not establishing a great enough sense of urgency. • In the eyes of stakeholders, how important and urgent is the adoption employment access for all people w. disabilities? • Are people so comfortable with the status quo that they will not want to take the effort and risks associated with change? • Are a significant portion of the key “stakeholders” (i.e., people with authority or influence or ideally both) honestly convinced that “business as usual” is totally unacceptable? Bottom line: Is there a system-wide perception of urgency?

42. Error #2: Not creating a powerful enough guiding coalition. • Which stakeholders are driving the system redesign? Which stakeholder groups are indifferent? Which are opposed? • Do the people “pushing the change” have the means to create incentives and modify the organizational infrastructure to support the system redesign? • Who are the strong, credible, and assertive leaders who will communicate the need for change to all in the system? Bottom line: Do the people driving change have the means to make it happen?

43. Error #3: Lacking a vision • Is there a clearly articulated vision of what we are doing and why? • Does the vision easily translate into actions? • Is the vision concise and easily understandable (The “rule”: If you can’t explain it easily within 3 – 5 minutes, you don’t really know it)? • Is there a clear link between the vision and each specific system redesign activity? Bottom line: Is there a clear theme and blueprint showing how the various system redesign initiatives relate to a vision, or is system redesign perceived as a collection of disparate activities with no central theme?

44. Error #4: Undercommunicating vision by a factor of ten. • How has the vision been communicated? Do people “get it”? • Are day-to-day actions of the system’s leadership & the guiding coalition consistent with the vision? Are we practicing what we preach? • Are we using every possible communication channel to communicate the vision? Bottom line: How effectively have we communicated the vision?

45. Error #5: Not removing obstacles to new vision. • Have we identified the obstacles? • Are we willing to make changes in the existing organizational structures if those structures do not support system redesign? • How will the system handle administrators, supervisors, and/or managers that do not support change and make demands on their employees that undermine system redesign? Bottom line: Are we willing and able to take the actions necessary to manage organizational and personnel obstacles?

46. Error #6: Not systematically planning for and creating short-term wins. • What are some potential short-term wins that would get system redesign off to a positive start? • Do we have the commitment to devote resources to creating short-term wins? Bottom line: Are we willing and able to do what it takes to create short-term wins?

47. Error #7: Declaring victory too soon. • Does the system have the long-term perspective to maintain the system redesign initiative over time? • Do the stakeholders recognize that change requires years, not months? Bottom line: Is there a plan to orchestrate a series of short-term wins so that momentum is sustained?

48. Error #8: Not anchoring changes in the organization’s culture. • How can we create a culture of “program accessible” for customers with disabilities within the local system? • How can we develop a broad base of support so that disability employment efforts are not restricted to a small circle of advocates? Bottom line: How do we make successful community employment for people with disabilities an integral part of the disability and workforce systems so that it is self-sustaining?

49. People don't resist change. They resist being changed. ~ Peter Senge

50. OLD YIDDISH PROVERB If 1 person calls you a jackass, ignore him; If a second person calls you a jackass, think about it; If a third person calls you a jackass- get a saddle.