Charles Wilson

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• Charles Wilson
• Chadwick Center-Rady Childrens Hospital-San
  Diego
• Donna Pence
• Retired Special Agent-Tennessee Bureau of
  Investigation
• Academy of Professional Excellence SDSU
  Foundation

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DEFINITION OF A TEAM

• A group of people who are necessary to
  accomplish a task that requires the continuous
  integration of the expertise (along with
  resources and authority distributed among them).

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• In October 2006, 94 representatives from 41
  child protection teams in 36 California counties
  gathered to share the ways they kept their teams
  energized over the years.
• Some of these teams had
• been active for 30 years.

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Think back

• To a case when the team really worked.
• Describe the attributes of that success
• To a period of time that things with the team
  were really clicking.
• Describe the attributes of that success

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Traits of Members that Contribute to Success

• Professional competency
• Passion for the work
• The ability to be ego-less and to be team
  players
• Availability
• Communication
• Accountability
• REAL commitment
• A desire to make the team work better
• Social relationships with teammates
• Trust based on respect for teammates
• Understanding of each others goals
• Understanding that other people and agencies
  may have resources helpful to their your work

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Successful Teams Have

• Clear leadership
• Clear role definitions
• Personnel assigned to specialized units
• Acknowledgement of successes
• Transparency on how decisions are made
• Positive reinforcements, both internal and
  external
• Buy-in from the top
• Agency validation for the work
• Multiple agency commitment
• Decisions based on need, not funding
• A paradigm focused on child protection
• High visibility in the media
• Knowledge of why they started down this path
• Knowledge of the history of the team
• Knowledge of what is driving the MDT process

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Role Confusion The Cop as a Bleeding Heart
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SUCESSFUL TEAMS HAVE

• TASK SKILLS
• TEAM INDENTITY
• INTERDEPENDENCE
• TRUST

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TEAM CULTURE

• Culture is those things you know and that
  everybody else in the culture knows.

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CULTURE IS DEFINED BY

• Shared experience (often historical)
• Traditions
• Values and belief system
• The meaning of behavior
• Language
• Dress
• Food

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Institute for Healthcare Improvement Model
Community/ Funders
Participating Organizations
Unit/Squad Within Organizations And The Team
Social Workers, Investigators, DAs, Therapists,
Medical Professionals, etc (interaction with the
families)
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Complexity of Change in a CAC Environment
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Strategies

• What have you tried that has really worked to
  revitalize the team?
• What other strategies do you think should be
  considered?

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Addressing the Top Ten Barriers to Sustained
Success

• Team Building/Team Cohesion
• Communication
• Lack of Standardization
• Team Management
• Orientation of New Team Members
• Feedback for Improvement.
• Quality Improvement
• Building Political Support.
• Rural Special Strategies
• Urban Special Strategies

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Recommendationsfor Organizational and Community
Leaders

• Choose people to serve on the team based on a
  combination of skills, knowledge, experience and
  willingness to work on a team.
• Be knowledgeable about the team, expect to be
  kept informed about team performance, and the
  challenges the team is facing.
• The nature of this work and the importance of
  personal relations and trust among team members
  makes frequent team personnel changes
  counterproductive. Agency policies about routine
  rotation should be reevaluated.

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Recommendationsfor the CAC Director/Board/Team
Facilitators

• Formal orientation processes for new team members
  
• Annual reports
• Newsletter that keeps the team informed of
  emerging issues, case and statutory law changes,
  as well as, more personal and professional news.
• Measurable outcome goals
• Formal plan to stay in the face of political
  leaders and the public
• Cross agency peer review and/or quality assurance
  efforts that examine the team as a whole as well
  as the contribution of each agency.

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Recommendationsfor Team Members

• 1. Read the protocol, know the protocol, and
  follow the protocol unless it does not make
  sense in a unique case.
• 2. Be willing to hear the perspective of another
  agency or discipline and to accept constructive
  criticisms.
• 3. Take it upon yourself to bridge the gaps
  between agencies and disciplines.
• 4. Reach out to new team members, introducing
  them to the team and its work. It is really the
  individual team members informal responsibility
  to acculturate the new members.

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Recommendations for All

• 1. One of the most powerful tools of building
  quality and team respect is effective peer
  review. Teams should be sure interviewers and
  medical providers are able to participate in peer
  review. Teams should also consider periodic peer
  review with another county team to learn from
  each others processes, protocols, and practices.
  
• 2. Teams should have interagency training plans
  to keep teams effective and skills sharp as well
  as building the skills and knowledge of new team
  members.

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RESOURCES

• King, David N. (2006) Multidisciplinary Teams
  Collaboration in Child Abuse Intervention A
  Selected, Annotated Bibliography National
  Childrens Advocacy Center Research Library
• www.nationalcac.org/professionals/library/biblio.
  html
• McGarry, Peggy Ney, Becki, (2006) Getting It
  Right Collaborative Problem Solving for Criminal
  Justice. National Institute of Corrections NIC
  Accession 019834

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Resources

• Gray, Barbara, Collaborating Finding Common
  Ground for Multiparty Problems. Jossey-Bass,
  Inc. San Francisco, CA ISBN1-55542-159-8
• Breaking the Cycle of Violence Recommendations
  to Improve the Criminal Justice Response to Child
  Victims and Witnesses OVC Monograph (1999)
• www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/factshts/monog
  raph.htm
• Packard, T., et al. (2006) Using the Image
  Exchange to Enhance Interdisciplinary Team
  Building in Child Welfare Child and Adolescent
  Social Work Journal
• DOI 10.1007/s10560-005-0035-4