PIÑON PERSPECTIVES - CYFD · having Courageous Conversations—and success-fully had one with a colleague that I think made a real difference. Thanks for the inspiration. Jesse Leinfelder,

PIÑON PERSPECTIVES OCTOBER 2013

PIÑON

PERSPECTIVES NEW MEXICO CYFD PROTECTIVE SERVICES E-MAGAZINE : OCT. 2013


YOUR PERSPECTIVES I continue to enjoy Piñon Perspectives and gain

insights into Protective Services. This publication

does an excellent job of creating a conversation

between all of CYFD, allowing people in different

divisions to learn from one another. Thank you

“y muchisimas gracias” for such a beautifully de-

signed magazine that is always informative and

insightful. Saludos Cordiales, J. Martín Rodríguez

Cultural & Linguistic Competence

Office of Community Outreach and Behavioral

Health Programs, CYFD

Thank you for the lovely publication. It is one I look

forward to seeing every month.

Lois Haggard, PhD

Community Health Assessment Program

NM Department of Health

I took seriously the daring piece last issue about

having Courageous Conversations—and success-

fully had one with a colleague that I think made a

real difference. Thanks for the inspiration.

Jesse Leinfelder, Office of Child Development,

CYFD

WELCOME Our goal is to provide you with a way to communi-

cate with the PS workforce and share lessons

learned nationally, so please consider sharing

your news, insights and ideas for new articles, in-

terviewees, and photography.

All the best– The Piñon Perspectives Team

Contact us at: [email protected].

THE ART OF PIÑON

About the artwork. Alonzo Zozo Garcia has a love

of dessert that he shares in his “work in progress”

with art and chocolate lovers. Zozo studied at New

Mexico State University and plans on going to

graduate school to attain a Masters of Arts in ei-

ther painting, drawing or art restoration. He first

started painting in watercolor at the age of nine

and slowly branched out to drawing and painting

in every medium available. He loves painting and

drawing with extreme contrasts of light, shadow

and color. Art©Alonzo Garcia. You may contact

Alonzo Garcia about his art at: [email protected]


PART 1

Q&A:

John Barela

Data Evaluation Specialist,

Santa Fe

John works in the Data

Evaluation Unit within the

Research, Assessment and

Data Bureau. One of his projects

is the 360 Degrees Report.

Continues on next page


How have you found ways to enhance your work

experience?

We can’t always decide which projects we work

on, but I believe it’s important to express where

you believe your skills would be best utilized.

How can central office and county office staff

work to create work environments that foster

courageous conversations-----addressing work

problems and conflict?

I think people need to be honest and respectful

with others in order to address problems.

How can information technology improve the PS

process----with laptops, tablets and cell phones

offering access to the net?

Technological advances are constantly changing

the way business is done in the private sector,

and how we live our lives. We need to adapt to

and embrace such items because they allow us

to become mobile, provide better services, and

stay competitive with other states.

What type of professional development opportu-

nities would you like to see offered?

As the economy continues to recover I hope there

will be more opportunities for training and attend-

ing conferences so that we can see what others

are doing to address the needs in their states.

How does our collection of data inform practice?

In my position I provide statistics and reports

that are used by others to make decisions which

can have a great impact on improving child wel-

fare outcomes. The data is used to focus efforts,

show needs, and determine the effectiveness of

current practices.

What is one thing you wish the public understood

about PS?

I wish the media would provide a more balanced

approach in their reporting. It is always great

when they are able to tell the public about our

success stories.

Thank you for your time and insights.

What do you like most about your job?

I work with a great group of people. We all show

each other respect, work hard, and use our

knowledge and skills to solve problems. I also feel

that our work is making a positive change in the

lives of the children in New Mexico and is truly

appreciated.

What is a typical week like for you?

In a typical week I work on updating various

monthly reports that are used by both internal and

external stakeholders. Some of these publications

include the desktop, pending and aging, central

intake, and the permanency and investigations

caseload reports. I also respond to our information

requests, and update the 360 degrees County

Profiles and strategic planning measures on a

quarterly basis.

What are the biggest challenges you face in your

job?

One of the biggest challenges I currently face is

developing and modifying existing reports. The

data unit is working on developing a new annual

report that will cover the current state fiscal year.

This report will cover statewide data and will

hopefully answer many commonly asked ques-

tions. We will also be unveiling a new 360 degree

County profile report in the upcoming fiscal year.

PS is a very complex area where people specialize--

- and those of us working in it often only experi-

ence a small part of the overall system. How have

you learned about the PS “big picture”?

Positions in the data unit are unique because we

need to be knowledgeable about the entire system.

In order to report statistics we need to have at the

very least a basic understanding of the various

processes that occur.

What innovation would you like to bring to PS in

NM?

I would like to get a system where individuals in my

bureau could access resources on the network and

run reports online. This would give us more

freedom and we could respond faster to requests.


PART 2

EXPERIMENTS Learning from Innovation

and Adaptive Leadership in

the Field.

San Juan County Manager

Nicole Garcia shares her

office’s adaptive challenges

and solutions.

What problem or challenge were you facing?

San Juan County worked on the challenge of

more consistent application of the safety as-

sessment tool and safety management proc-

ess.

Continues on next page


What experiment did you implement to address the

challenge?

We tested the assumption that teaming across dif-

ferent service areas within PS would lead to an in-

crease in shared responsibility for outcomes and

the exchange of information would be more seam-

less across units. Many experiments we tested in-

cluded some form of Teaming between units, such

as each unit being represented at key decision

making points in a case. For example, participating

in 48 hour staffings, FCMs, or facilitated meetings

that went over treatment progress.

How did staff and/or clients react?

Teaming benefits that both staff and families, as

well as other key stakeholders, have reported in-

clude the following:

The transition is much smoother when PPWs

(Permanency Planning Workers) are involved while

the case is still with the investigators.

All units which have contact with families involved

in the case should be represented at these early

meanings.

The people who will be working the case get to

know the dynamics, the family, the possible prob-

lems, input from investigators about supervised

visits, etc.

With all workers involved early there is better coop-

eration and coordination between units.

It becomes a partnership rather than “yours” and

“ours” and the families can’t play one unit against

the other. It’s unified decision-making.

(We consider this a Best Practice)Ego has to be left

out of the process; the goal is working together for

finding the best options for the child.

Teaming will improve the working relationship with

the foster family.

Feedback from the staff who participated in these

staffing/FCMs (Family Centered Mediations)

stated the information being received makes for

more effective case transfer and less information

being lost or not transferred..

Placement staff also noted it was helpful for them

to assist with identification of relatives and for

placement staff to see the “big picture” outside of

just their perspective.

Improved communication with all at the table at

the same time and reduced time to permanency.

Parent questionnaire results indicate positive

teaming experiences and improved communica-

tion.

Workers have seen the shift in office culture; im-

proved internal communication with provider and

all other service providers.

What is your assessment of the success, thus far,

of the experiment?

After multiple tries at experimenting with teaming

and the positive outcomes being reported by staff

and families it became standard practice to do

business this way. It increased our respect for the

work each individual brings to the table no matter

what position or role you have within the office.

Adaptive Leadership: Work in Progress

To keep up to date on the Piñon Project and adap-

tive leadership, visit: www.cyfd.org/pinonproject


EXPERIMENTS Adaptive Leadership and

Innovation in the Field

Lessons from Jolene Martinez

Dona Ana County

Office Manager

Permanency Planning and

In-Home Services


What problem or challenge were you

facing?

In Doña Ana we initially selected Supervisory Ca-

pacity as our adaptive challenge. Through a brief

experiment we realized we may have been focus-

ing our energy in the wrong direction. We re-

grouped on selecting our adaptive challenge and

we are now focused on improving our Internal Rela-

tionships.

We are focused on the Piñon Value of customer

service. We are throwing our energy into improving

our relationships with better communication, un-

derstanding one another’s roles, managing our

competing demands, and by taking ownership for

our work products.

What experiment did you implement to

address the challenge?

We gathered some pre-experiment data from our

staff on the issue of customer service. It collected

basic opinions about issues like office morale, sup-

port from supervisors, and addressing office con-

flict/gossip. We used this baseline information to

implement our experiment of using Learning Cir-

cles.

The goal of a learning circle is to build, share, and

express knowledge though a process of reflection

and group dialogue. The key concepts include de-

veloping shared responsibility for the leadership,

problem solving, and task completion related to

addressing the problems at hand. We have multi-

ple Learning Circles going on currently.

We are currently collecting data in the form of the

survey, to see how staff opinions have changed

regarding our internal relationships, with a central

focus on customer service to one another.

How did staff and/or clients react?

Our staff is the key to the success of the project

implementation here in our county. They work

hard, and take the time to engage openly in the

process as well as to be reflective on their contri-

bution to the shared values we have. Our staff

have demonstrated a clear competency of the pro-

ject.

They take a clear effort in the positive change

that is occurring in our office. We are hoping to

take the concept of Learning Circles, and open it

up to our community partners and other stake-

holders like our foster parents as we gain exper-

tise with the process.

What is your assessment of the suc-

cess, thus far, of the experiment?

We are looking forward to the data results of our

post intervention survey, but in the mean time I

believe that the majority of staff feel heard, they

feel part of the office decision making, and they

know that there is a consistent culture and set-

ting where they can present their concerns.

We have seen improved communication and feel-

ings about coming to work. It has developed rela-

tionships amongst supervisors and management

as a team.

Adaptive Leadership: Work in Pro-

gress

To keep up to date on the Piñon Project and adap-

tive leadership, visit: www.cyfd.org/pinonproject

NEWS & UPDATES

CYFD employees were recently recognized for

their hard work. The Heart Gallery of New Mexico

Foundation presented the Heart Gallery Heart

and Soul Award to Renee Fitts, Acting Statewide

Recruitment Manager, and Isela Burciaga, Foster

Care and Adoption Bureau Chief for their work in

the recruitment of foster and adoptive parents

and tireless efforts to support the CYFD Heart

Gallery of New Mexico.


“Ideas should be clear and chocolate thick.”

“Las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso.” ~Spanish Proverb

Documents

PIÑON PERSPECTIVES - CYFD · having Courageous Conversations—and success-fully had one with a colleague that I think made a real difference. Thanks for the inspiration. Jesse Leinfelder,