System Change

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System Change

• And Other Forms of Misery

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Stating the Obvious

• System Change is usually good for everyone other
  than ourselves. Frequently, know how everyone
  else needs to change.
• We can not control everything
• May be able to impact but can not control.
• Can not control how others view change and what
  others will do with the change.

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Change

• To change and to change for the better are two
  different things.
• German proverb

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Stating the Obvious

• The most stubborn habits which resist change
  with the greatest tenacity are those which worked
  well for a space in time and led to the
  practitioner being rewarded for behaviors. If
  you tell such persons that their recipe for
  success is no longer viable, their personal
  experience belies your diagnosis. The road to
  convincing them is hard. .. Charles
  Hampden-Turner

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Stating the Obvious

• Effective System Change is frequently managing
  the cards you are dealt. Not just a leader
  clearing conveying a vision.
• But having an vision of how to make the external
  forces work with the chosen direction.

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• Ensuring all levels of the organization
  understand the rationale behind the change and
  what would happen if the change did not occur.

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We live in a moment of history where change is
speeded up that we begin to see the present only
when it is already disappearing. R. D. Laing
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Changes That Have Impacted

• Concept of Individualization
• Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Changed Vocational Planning.
• Impacted how Rehabilitation Services are provided.

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Individualization

• How long did it take to be integrated into how we
  do business?
• Still not there for Job Development.
• Labor Market Job Development still
• very popular.

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Supported Employment

• Supported Employment
• Early 80s demonstrated that individuals
  previously thought unemployable were able to work
  competitively.
• Still a debate on the need for shelter workshops.

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Self-Employment

• Self-Employment in the general population double
  between 1980-1990
• Corporate restructuring
• Woman wanting flexibility in work hours
• Growth of the Internet
• National Choice Demonstrations found that persons
  with disabilities wanted self-employment at the
  same rate as the general public. (15)

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Self-Employment

• Public Rehabilitation required to view
  self-employment as a viable employment options.
• Yet many states still view self-employment as an
  option to avoid if possible.

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Need to Understand

• We do not function in a vacuum
• Concepts that impact rehabilitation can usually
  be found in other fields.
• Need to be able to extrapolate and learn from
  other fields.

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Lack of Faith in Public Institutions

• By 1992 the traditional role of government and
  use of public dollars had changed.
• The 104th congress played heavily on the belief
  that government was inefficient.
• Term limits
• Local Control
• Swelling believe that privatization of public
  services was a good idea.

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Medical Field

• Public wanted its institutions to treat them
  equally.
• They wanted the information, the ability to
  question the information and make their own
  decisions.
• Medical field started dealing with this 1980s, -
  now patients viewed as autonomous decision
  makers.

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Education

• 1991 Minnesota first state to establish
  legislation for creation of public schools.
• Currently 34 states have legislation and there
  are over 1200 charter schools nationwide.

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Welfare Reformed

• Welfare Reform captured the prevailing view of
  how to provide assistance with public dollars
• Time limited
• Efficient
• Little tolerance for individuals who did not
  work.
• Work started to be viewed as the answer for all
  societys problem.

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Informed Choice

• Informed Choice has its roots in
  individualization that had been required since
  1973 in the Rehabilitation Act. Yet, the field
  still struggles with how to balance the value of
  informed choice against the reality of meeting
  production standards.

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Workforce Investment Act

• Rooted in the belief of employment programs have
  been inefficient in the past.
• Need to streamline, partner and empower customers
  with information.
• To be successful requires a major change effort
  in how we understand our partners and define
  partnering.

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Partnering

• Exchange of Purpose
• defining vision value
• The Right to say no
• It means you may lose your argument, but you
  never lose your voice. Peter Block
• Joint Accountability
• No waiting to see, no blaming
• Honesty

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Ticket to Work

• Removing Disincentives to work.
• Moving from a medical model to an empowering
  model.
• Challenges how business has been done. Requires
  new relationships.

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• "In theory, there is no difference between theory
  and practice. But, in practice, there is. "
• Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut

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Implementing Change

• Is the change motivated by external or internal
  forces?
• How is the need for change explain to staff and
  stakeholder? How are they given an role in the
  change effort?
• People do not make changes just by being told.
  They need all the information, the good, the bad
  and the neutral. They need time to understand.

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Implementing Change

• Through whose eyes is the change effort being
  observed? Whom or what is requiring the change.
• Frequent mistake is not understanding your
  reference point. And not obtaining information
  from every possible perspective.
• How will information be convey and processed.

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Diagnosis

• Need to know what is actually happening now?
• What would happen if no change occurred?
• What ideally do people want to have happen? How
  realistic is that?
• What are the barriers getting in the way?

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Diagnosis

• Are the leadership and staff capable of carrying
  out the change?
• What are the
• decision-making,
• problem-solving
• communication
• abilities of the organization?

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Diagnosis

• Who will the change impact the most and how? Is
  this something they want?
• How are they involved in the decisions?
• Do the resources exist to support the change?

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Diagnosis

• What is the true commitment to the change?
• What type of change is required by staff
• knowledge
• Attitude
• Behavior
• What supports will be available?

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Potential Changes to Think About

• How to do more with less. What changes does that
  create in partnering?
• Do we need to explore how dollars are shared?
• Will funding streams be merged
• Will programs remain separate
• Does some form of privatization make sense?
• Do we need to reframe how we tell our story?

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Potential Changes to Think About

• Partnerships
• Usually focus on the systems partnerships
• Creating partnerships with Businesses to address
  the Systems Needs
• Rarely think in terms of helping the individual
  to establish partnerships that will address
  individual needs.

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Potential Changes to Think About

• Implementing informed choice in procurement
• does that mean participants
• control their case service dollars after plan?
• Individual budget?
• Brokerages?
• How does that Impact relationships with
  providers?

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Potential Changes to Think About

• Self-Determination Movement-answer to individuals
  with disabilities first.
• How much control are we willing to give the
  person with the disability?
• Who determines the significance of the outcome?

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Potential Changes to Think About

• When the customer evaluates the services, what is
  the correct balance between client satification
  and effective use of public dollars?
• How is that measured?

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Conclusion

• We are all responsible for system change..
• We all need to know why it is happening and how
  we can or can not support it.
• "All truth passes through three stages. First, it
  is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed.
  Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
• Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)