Objectives What are Silos? Why silos occur What it causes Steps to breaking down silos Silos in our work How breaking the cycles help students

What are silos? Tall structure with no windows; designed to store grain; difficult to access the grain; few limited entrances; protects the grain on the farm Happens in work too

Why silos occur… Desire to maintain a sense of familiarity aka the comfort zone Provides a feeling of order and consistency

Organizational Inefficiencies Power Struggles Organizational Inefficiencies- organizations have a set of informal rules=“way of doing things” Have to deal with other teams/silos have to deal with how others choose to do things. Can create a line in the sand; often created out of fear and if a mistake is found blaming others often occurs Example of organizational inefficiency=Don’t take time to update shared info Organizational Inefficiencies Power Struggles

What does it cost? Destroys Trust Cuts off Communication Fosters Complacency Lack of information be shared All of these things create the inability to make informed decisions

Steps to Breaking Down Silos

Communicate a Common Goal Our purpose is students and seamless transition

Customize Communication Customize how It works for the team- not all teams need the same way of communication

Collaboration Collaboration is a huge piece; 94% of businesses surveyed say collaboration is critical to success- nothing different with our work Encourage mistakes as opportunities to learn and improve

Communication Lack of communication causes frustration Communication must be done often Effective communication increases finishing work by 17%

Keep it together Encourage Flexibility Build relationships and trust Educate, work and train together which is why YTP focuses on the team of teacher, TS, VRC and admin Work management tools- list of things to bring to apts etc

All have valuable info to help common goal of our students Silos in our work

Essential Features of YTP Program Characteristics Part of the essential program management which includes the staff rolls; Collaboration with schools family and VR Coordination with other programs Public relations

How Breaking Silos impacts students Students actively engage in successful post school outcomes when students, families, IEP team, teachers, VR, other agencies collaborate set high expectations- research shows that high expectations causes students to do better Person centered planning approach- access to gen ed/college and career readiness assessments; aligning the IEP/IPE; focus on interests and strengths that come from collaboration and age appropriate assessments Support emotional and social support- provide every day language and not profession jargon; help students think outside the box, helping them research, not telling them they can’t do something Provide supports to make own decisions/informed choice (as said before without information sharing informed choice suffers)- support in establishing goals, actively understand IEP/IPE, understand disability and accommodations needed; getting all parties especially families involved Collaboration- every step takes a variety of people involved to help student success as well as a variety of activites

How do you help break down the silos in your area???

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