Social Services Worker?
Team Leader? Activity Leaders? Mentor? Program Coordinator?
Social Services Worker
- A name by any other name is still a social worker
How many executive and management leaders in the field of social services can really say beyond the shadow of a doubt that your program goals are being met 100%? Who can say that services are being delivered 100% by your line staff the way they should be? Are your grant requirements being met? How close does your staff come to aligning their behaviors with the company mission statement outside of the annual all-staff meeting?
Let’s face it, with paperwork, grant-seeking and writing, board meetings, philanthropic negotiations and advocacy … state meetings … federal meetings, staff meetings and the list can go on and on and on; who has the time to supervise the front line staff?
Sure you trust your on-site supervisors but again, let’s face facts, with today’s economy and the fear of losing one’s job, how much are they really telling you? Leadership has barely enough time to supervise finances and human resource improvement practices let alone, performance technology, marketing development and fund-raising.
The answer: Seek professional development training.
Perhaps you’re lucky enough to have a Chief Learning Officer (CLO) on staff or at best a Training Coordinator (TC) working with H.R. but if not, then what? You plan an expensive, one –time training session for as many staff members as you can possible pack in a room (or sacrifice for the day). They will learn the materials that the TC and Human Resources Director finally got the management team to agree to - and you hope. You hope for a transfer of knowledge that might trickle down to program. You hope that someone will grasp something of credence to take it back to the program and challenge a young person’s life. You pray that your attendees aren’t just sitting in the audience counting down to the next smoke break.
Perhaps you’re hoping to convince the funders that your organization has developed a well-thought out act plan of learning for program staff, a plan that will be nicely outlined in the next Request for Proposal (RFP) with hope of a continuation next fiscal cycle.
Of course neither the CLO nor the TC want to admit to the executive team that half these people won’t even be here next year, so really, the investment is null. Because while there has been precious moments to figure out what the training agenda should include, NO ONE has had the time to manage team stress or build team cohesion or advance team leadership and on and on and on!
So by the time the line staff gets to the training, they don’t really view it as a learning opportunity for advancing services but rather an opportunity to be out the office. Now in all fairness there will be one or two team members who’ll remember the ice-breaker and will make a futile attempt to present it to the youth when next they meet. However, they will probably mess it up because they won’t take time to understand what the goal and/or outcomes of the icebreakers are. They will however remember that the icebreaker was fun and simply want to share. After all, we haven’t had much time to encourage them that every program moment is a TEACHABLE moment.
What does one do? Contact Sandra Harrison for your free consultation and prepare a strategic learning plan for your organization.
Social Services Worker
- A name by any other name is still a social worker
How many executive and management leaders in the field of social services can really say beyond the shadow of a doubt that your program goals are being met 100%? Who can say that services are being delivered 100% by your line staff the way they should be? Are your grant requirements being met? How close does your staff come to aligning their behaviors with the company mission statement outside of the annual all-staff meeting?
Let’s face it, with paperwork, grant-seeking and writing, board meetings, philanthropic negotiations and advocacy … state meetings … federal meetings, staff meetings and the list can go on and on and on; who has the time to supervise the front line staff?
Sure you trust your on-site supervisors but again, let’s face facts, with today’s economy and the fear of losing one’s job, how much are they really telling you? Leadership has barely enough time to supervise finances and human resource improvement practices let alone, performance technology, marketing development and fund-raising.
The answer: Seek professional development training.
Perhaps you’re lucky enough to have a Chief Learning Officer (CLO) on staff or at best a Training Coordinator (TC) working with H.R. but if not, then what? You plan an expensive, one –time training session for as many staff members as you can possible pack in a room (or sacrifice for the day). They will learn the materials that the TC and Human Resources Director finally got the management team to agree to - and you hope. You hope for a transfer of knowledge that might trickle down to program. You hope that someone will grasp something of credence to take it back to the program and challenge a young person’s life. You pray that your attendees aren’t just sitting in the audience counting down to the next smoke break.
Perhaps you’re hoping to convince the funders that your organization has developed a well-thought out act plan of learning for program staff, a plan that will be nicely outlined in the next Request for Proposal (RFP) with hope of a continuation next fiscal cycle.
Of course neither the CLO nor the TC want to admit to the executive team that half these people won’t even be here next year, so really, the investment is null. Because while there has been precious moments to figure out what the training agenda should include, NO ONE has had the time to manage team stress or build team cohesion or advance team leadership and on and on and on!
So by the time the line staff gets to the training, they don’t really view it as a learning opportunity for advancing services but rather an opportunity to be out the office. Now in all fairness there will be one or two team members who’ll remember the ice-breaker and will make a futile attempt to present it to the youth when next they meet. However, they will probably mess it up because they won’t take time to understand what the goal and/or outcomes of the icebreakers are. They will however remember that the icebreaker was fun and simply want to share. After all, we haven’t had much time to encourage them that every program moment is a TEACHABLE moment.
What does one do? Contact Sandra Harrison for your free consultation and prepare a strategic learning plan for your organization.
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