Running Head: HEARTSHARE S MANAGEMENT TRAINING PROGRAM

Transcription

1 HeartShare s Management Training Program 1 Running Head: HEARTSHARE S MANAGEMENT TRAINING PROGRAM HeartShare s Management Training Program COA Innovative Practices Award Case Study Submission

2 HeartShare s Management Training Program 2 Abstract HeartShare s Performance & Quality Improvement plan and activities helped to identify the need for a management training program. Thus, for over a year, the agency designed an 18- month comprehensive, competency-based Management Training Program (MTP). The overall, long-term goal of the Management Training Program is to improve staff satisfaction and retention rates by improving the skills of our supervisors. The MTP is comprised of three tracks: Supervision and Management Skills (I), Communication Skills (II) and Leadership Skills (III). The Supervision/Management and Communication Tracks focus on basic skills necessary to become an effective manager, while the Leadership Track is designed to develop future leaders within the organization. To date, 53 supervisors successfully completed the Program. The effectiveness of the Program is assessed in several ways. Both the workshops and overall program were evaluated. The results indicate MTP met the outlined objectives and is actively progressing toward the overall goals outlines above.

3 HeartShare s Management Training Program 3 HeartShare s Management Training Program Background The Quality Improvement Department (QI) and Cabinet (upper management) determined the need for a management training program based on several sources, most of which derived from the Performance & Quality Improvement plan and activities. For example, results from annual job satisfaction surveys illustrated a need to improve supervisory skills (e.g. staff appreciation) of frontline managers. Also, the HeartShare Forum greatly contributed to identifying the need for management training. The Forum is a committee of direct support staff (no supervisory responsibilities) from all service areas who have an opportunity to work together, learn from each other and understand the full range of services HeartShare offers. Over the course of several meetings, a theme that continued to appear was the lack of consistency in management skills across all our programs. Moreover, Forum members had similar challenges with their managers, such as poor communication skills. Thus, the Forum helped to identify key topics/skills to be covered during the training. Once the need for a training program for supervisors was identified, the Quality Improvement staff collaborated with HeartShare s training consortium, HeartShare University, and developed a Management Training Committee. For roughly a year, the Committee researched management training materials and related research to design an 18-month comprehensive, competency-based Management Training Program (MTP). The MTP was created to cover all levels of the supervisory experience and to benefit a mix of both new and experienced frontline supervisors.

4 HeartShare s Management Training Program 4 Program Goals and Objectives The overall, long-term goal of the Management Training Program is to improve staff satisfaction and retention rates. The program expects to impact staff retention and satisfaction by improving the skills of our supervisors. Additionally, a desired outcome of MTP was to identify future leaders of HeartShare. Program Description The MTP is comprised of three tracks: Supervision and Management Skills (I), Communication Skills (II) and Leadership Skills (III). The Supervision/Management and Communication Tracks focus on basic skills necessary to become an effective manager, while the Leadership Track is designed to develop future leaders within the organization. The Leadership Track requires participants to develop a program-based project that is peerreviewed by other MTP participants, as well as by the MTP Committee. All workshops were designed and instructed by in-house trainers who were identified as having displayed expertise in the given subject. In addition, each participate in the MTP is paired with and mentored by either a member of senior management or by a seasoned middle manager throughout their 18-month training program. Mentors assist participants in understanding course materials and implementing them in the actual workplace. Mentors are coached by members of the MTP committee and are provided with course materials to ensure programmatic consistency. As an additional incentive and to reward successful course completion, individuals completing all three training tracks who also maintain satisfactory annual performance evaluations will

5 HeartShare s Management Training Program 5 receive a permanent salary increase of $500. In addition, successful MTP graduates will be considered for and potentially trained as instructors for the next round. Participant Criteria: 1. Employed at least 1 or more years with HeartShare and/or can be considered for selection under special circumstances with Division Head Approval. 2. Is recommended by their supervisor and must be in good standing. 3. Has been approved for participation by Division Head. 4. Will give priority to employees who currently have supervisory responsibility. 5. Will consider other employees with no supervisory responsibility who have been identified as having potential for a management position by their supervisors. Length of Time: Each track is 6 months in length and would include at least one session each month that would run 2 to 3 hours in length. Each track will run in sequence. Course Outline: Track 1: Organizational Skills 1. Getting to Know Your Resources/Networking 2. Time Management 3. Managing Multiple Priorities 4. Effective Delegation 5. Hiring the Right People 6. Supervision and Progressive Discipline 7. Effective Performance Evaluation 8. Creating accountability 9. Fiscal Responsibility Track 2: Communication Skills 1. Identifying Communication Barriers 2. Assertive Communication 3. Running Participatory Meetings 4. Customer Service 5. Conflict Resolution 6. Promoting Choice and Therapeutic Interactions in a Person-Centered Culture Track 3: Leadership Skills 1. Creating your Vision 2. Working with Challenging People 3. Supervisor as Coach 4. Staff Motivation & Team Building 5. Mentoring Skills 6. Strategic Planning Implementation and Monitoring

6 HeartShare s Management Training Program 6 Overall the program was implemented and monitored by the following committees in the agency: 1. Management Training Committee was primarily responsible for implementing and monitoring all Program activities. The committee consists of representatives from QI, DD Training Department, Fiscal, Communications, HR, and Administration. 2. HeartShare University served as the umbrella committee for the MTP Committee. 3. The Quality Improvement Department developed and implemented all evaluation instruments (e.g., workshop evaluations, pre and post tests, pre and post Leadership Practices Inventory, etc.). 4. Executive Committee and RESULTS Leadership Committee also oversaw the Committee and Program (providing feedback on ideas to improve the program and to approve any changes). The RESULTS Leadership Committee consists of employees at all levels of the organization (executive to direct care staff), program participants, and family members. 5. HeartShare Forum, mentioned above, is routinely briefed on the progress of MTP. Outcomes and Results To date, 53 supervisors successfully completed the Program. The effectiveness of the Program is assessed in several ways. Both the workshops and the Program overall were evaluated. The results indicate MTP met the outlined objectives and is actively progressing toward the overall goals outlines above. A description of each evaluation measure and summary of results are below: 1. Workshop tests. For the first two groups pre- and post-test for each workshop were used to assess the effectiveness of the specific workshop. The test included both knowledge-based

7 HeartShare s Management Training Program 7 (multiple choice, true/false, fill-in the blank) questions as well as questions that assessed the participants beliefs and attitudes about the topic as well as their abilities in relation to that topic. These questions followed a 5-point Likert-scale (from strongly agree to strongly disagree ), in which participants rated how strongly they agreed with a statement. For example, participants rated the following statement for the Accountability workshop: I know how to demonstrate empowerment to my staff. Overall, results indicate that participants gained a substantial amount of knowledge and confidence in their abilities to perform the supervisory skills they were being trained on. On average, participants improved by more than 7 points from the pre- to post-test (see Appendix, Table 1). 2. Workshop evaluations. For each training, participants completed a workshop evaluation to assess their satisfaction with the topic as well as to evaluate the overall quality of the workshop and the trainers. Using a 5-point scale (with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent ), participants rated the workshop on 10 core areas (topic usefulness, workshop format and design, trainer s knowledge, trainer s presentation style, etc.). Overall, with 5 being the highest (excellent), the average rating of the nine workshops in Track I was 4.4, the average rating for workshops in Track II is 4.3, and the average rating for the workshops in Track 3 was 4.5. This illustrates that participants are very pleased with the workshops in general (see Appendix, Table 2). 3. Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). At the beginning of the Program, a 360-degree leadership assessment is conducted using the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). Participants rate themselves using the LPI and they are assessed by their supervisors, subordinates and other staff who work closely enough to evaluate their leadership abilities.

8 HeartShare s Management Training Program 8 At the end of the Program, they are assessed again using the LPI. Results illustrate significant improvement from the baseline. Results indicate that both participants and observers rated the participants higher in the post measure (after completion of the Program) than in the pre-measure (baseline). These results suggest that participants and their colleagues, supervisors and direct reports (observers) noticed an improvement in their leadership practices. Moreover, this improvement was recognized more by the observers than the participants. Observers total scores increased by roughly 31 points while participants scores increased by about 15. This is noteworthy given at baseline, participants tended to rate themselves higher than observers (e.g. total score was about 25 points higher than observers ). One possible interpretation for this is that as the participants learned more about leadership and management skills, they worked to implement these new skills yet may have become more critical of themselves as well (see Appendix, Table 3). 4. Post Graduate Survey. Approximately six months after completing the Management Training Program, participants from the first cohort were asked to complete a postgraduate survey assessing their ability to implement what they learned during the course of the program, as well as assessing their overall satisfaction with the program. A total of 19 participants responded to the survey out of a total of 28 graduates for a response rate of 68%. Overall, the results indicate that participants from the first MTP cohort were very pleased with their experiences overall. On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 indicating very dissatisfied and 5 indicating very satisfied ), 89% of participants reported being satisfied (4 or more) with the quality of the workshops, support from the MTP committee, support from their supervisor, the quality of information given at the workshops, and MTP overall.

9 HeartShare s Management Training Program 9 The participants also reported that they were satisfied with the mentoring program, with 68% reporting they were satisfied with the support they received from their mentor and 79% reporting overall satisfaction with the mentoring program overall. Areas to review for future planning by the MTP Committee are the use of the Podcasts, the group project process, and the use of the LPI as a self-assessment tool since only 47% of Group A participants were satisfied with these aspects of the program. A chart presenting satisfaction with the MTP can be found on the next page (see Appendix, Chart 1). 5. Job Satisfaction Survey. In summer 2009, HeartShare administered its newly redesigned Job Satisfaction Survey. The survey consisted of several questions that assessed employees opinions on various aspects of HeartShare and their job using a 5 point Likert scale with 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. Overall results are very positive; with an average rating was When rating HeartShare on various factors (e.g. communication, benefits) the average satisfaction rating was Moreover, when comparing results from 2009 to 2010 (after the first group completed MTP), results indicate some improvement in key areas. For example, more employees indicated that they respect their supervisor and feel that their opinions count (see Appendix, Table 4). 6. Retention Rates. Lastly, since 2008, HeartShare s retention rates have improved significantly; with staff turnover rates declining from 30% in 2008 to 22% in 2009 and 15.7% in 2010 (see Appendix, Chart 2). Overall, the agency sees several positive outcomes that can be attributed to MTP. For example, MTP continues to effectuate cross-agency collaboration, as illustrated by MTP graduates serving on various HeartShare committees. Also, there have been three promotions

10 HeartShare s Management Training Program 10 within the past year from among the Group A MTP participants. Additionally, annually performance evaluations illustrated that MTP graduates showed improvement in their job performance. Specifically, 73% showed some performance increases. Conclusion The Management Training Program was identified as a need by all levels of staff. Based on this feedback as well as HeartShare s Core Values that include Collaboration and Organizational Excellence, there was a concerted effort to design a program that would best meet the needs of our workers as well as strengthen the leadership base throughout the organization. Evaluation findings clearly indicate the program not only met the identified need but also strengthened the organization s foundation by developing future leaders and maintaining its commitment to organizational excellence.

11 HeartShare s Management Training Program 11 Appendix: Supporting Charts and Graphs Table 1: MTP pre- and post-test data Track Workshop Total Points Possible Pre-test Average Post-test Average Average Difference Effective Networking Time Management Managing Multiple Priorities Effective Delegation Recruitment, Interviewing, and Retention Effective Performance Evaluation Supervision and Progressive Discipline Creating a Culture of Accountability Fiscal Responsibility Track 1 Average Identifying Communication Barriers Effective Communication Running Participatory Meetings Customer Service Promoting Choice Conflict Resolution Track 2 Average Creating Your Vision Strategic Planning Staff Motivation & Team Building Supervisor as Coach Mentoring Skills Track 3 Average

12 HeartShare s Management Training Program 12 Table 2: MTP workshop evaluations results Track Workshop Average Evaluation Rating Would recommend course Effective Networking % Time Management % Managing Multiple Priorities % Effective Delegation % Recruitment, Interviewing, and Retention % Effective Performance Evaluation % Supervision and Progressive Discipline % Creating a Culture of Accountability % Fiscal Responsibility % Average % Identifying Communication Barriers % Effective Communication % Running Participatory Meetings % Customer Service % Promoting Choice % Conflict Resolution % Average to Date % Creating Your Vision % Strategic Planning % Staff Motivation & Team Building % Supervisor as Coach % Mentoring Skills % Average to Date %

13 HeartShare s Management Training Program 13 Table 3: LPI Pre- and Post- Comparison Observer Self Total Model Inspire Challenge Enable Encourage PRE Average Total Average Rating POST Average Total Average Rating Total Change Rating Change PRE Average Total Average Rating POST Average Total Average Rating Total Change Rating Change

14 Chart 1: MTP Post-Graduation Survey Results HeartShare s Management Training Program 14

15 HeartShare s Management Training Program 15 Table 4: JSS Comparison Please rate how well each statement describes your overall opinion (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree) My job provides sufficient training materials My job provides ongoing training opportunities I receive useful/constructive feedback and evaluations regarding my job performance. I receive recognition for my accomplishments There are opportunities for me to share my ideas about improving the services we provide I feel my opinions count There are opportunities for ongoing professional and/or career development My environment is supportive I am aware of my job requirements I know what is expected of me I respect my supervisor(s) My supervisor(s) respects me Overall, I am satisfied with my work place