Award for Excellence Sheryl Bailey, CCAP and Nick Burrows, CCAP Eastern Idaho Community Action Partnership Region 8/10 Conference May 13-15, 2014 Boise, ID

Agenda  Timeline  Approach  Deployment  Site Visit Preparation  Category Activities  Employee Empowerment  Strategic Planning  Questions and Answers

Timeline  October Started Pathways to Excellence  June 2007 – Completed the Pathways Self-Study  October 2007 – Received Pathways Feedback Report  September 2008 – Formally Started Excellence Program  January 2011 – First Award for Excellence Submission  May 2011 –Technical Assistance Site Visit  August 2011 – Received Feedback Report  January 2012 – Second Award for Excellence Submission  April 2012 – Award for Excellence Site Visit  June 2012 – Notified of Award for Excellence

Approach  Low Hanging Fruit (September 2008)  Engaged 40 employees, 2 Board members and 1 Policy Council member  A team was formed for each category  Category 7 Team was original Pathways Self-Study Team  Category Teams Reviewed Standards and Pathways Feedback Report to determine:  What we are doing  Gaps in our operations  The “low hanging fruit” to address those gaps  Monthly meetings with each Category group

Approach  Integration of Project (August 2009)  Dissolved category teams  Created two smaller teams  Fact-Finding  Made recommendations to Deployment Group  Assembled documentation where we already met standards  Deployment  Developed plans and implemented projects and initiatives to solve problems  Each team met every other week  This approach remained active for about six months

Deployment  Application  August 2010 – We made the decision to apply for the Award for Excellence  We knew that if we didn’t have the added pressure of the application, we would continue spinning wheels and the changes we needed to make would not happen  In writing our self-study for the application we honestly assessed where we stood as an agency, up to stating that we didn’t meet a specific standard  Submitted in January 2011

Deployment  Technical Assistance Site Visit  Community Action Partnership contacted us and said that the review team was impressed with our submission, however, we hadn’t met all of the standards  We were given the opportunity to have a TA Site Visit  May 2011 – TA Site Visit  Added context to the submission  Gave ideas for fixing existing gaps  We immediately wrote formal policies for what we had developed and implemented the “low hanging fruit” that came from the site visit  We would not have received the award without this!!

Deployment  Feedback Report  We did an inventory of every Strength and OFI in the feedback report  For each OFI, we conceptualized what it would look like for our agency  If we had already done it, we crossed it off our list  We developed policies and procedures for what we conceptualized, presented them to Leadership Team and then to the Board for adoption  Submitted second Award for Excellence Self-Study in January 2012

Site Visit Preparation  We went through our responses to each standard and determined what documentation we needed to provide to support what we submitted  We provided every document electronically via Google Sites 

Category Activities  Category 1  Defined Leadership System  Updated Agency By-Laws  Added Ex Officio Members to Board from Advisory Groups  Adopted Advocacy Issues  Measured Impacts of the Advocacy  Category 2  Developed a Strategic Planning Timeline  Formally Defined Sources of Information  Added Output Based Metrics to Strategic Plan

Category Activities  Category 3  Formally Defined Customers  Created Program Service Guides To Improve Referrals  Deployed Customer Feedback Cards  Standardized Community Needs Assessment  Conducted Focus Groups  Developed Policy for Employee Satisfaction  Developed Partnership Scorecard  Have a Partner Open House

Category Activities  Category 4  Developed a written Technology Plan  Created Unduplicated Count Process  Created Performance Scorecard based on Strategic Plan Metrics  Category 5  Formalize Policy for Hiring Low-Income People  Include Training Requests to Annual Evaluations  Created Training Evaluations

Category Activities  Category 6  Developed Administrative and Financial Risk Assessment  Contracted the Development of Communications Plan  Created and Implemented Awareness Surveys  Developed a System to Track Internal Referrals  Formalized a Performance Management System  Developed a Project Management Framework  Category 7  Ensured all Policies Discussed How the Results of the Activity will be Tracked and Incorporated into Scorecard

Employee Empowerment  One of the things that is absolutely critical to the success of implementing the standards is to engage and empower employees.  Ideas come from everywhere and as leaders, it is important to be willing to listen, accept and process feedback.

Employee Committees  Employee Council  Safety Committee  Recycling and Energy Committee (No longer exists)  IT Steering Committee

Annual Evaluations  Goals  Employees establish Goals for upcoming year  Progress is reviewed halfway through the year  Evaluation is based partially on accomplishment of Goals  Training  Employees request Training/Professional Development opportunities  Based on available budget, Training opportunities are located  Training requests are tracked by HR Director and followed-up as part of next annual evaluation

Training Evaluations

All Staff Meetings  Semi-Annual All Staff Meetings  Usually half day allowing departments to meet in the afternoon  Includes presentations from Employee Council, HR, Program Directors and Executive Director

Satisfaction Surveys  Utilize Survey Monkey  Conducted semi-annually  Employee Council reviews results and makes suggestions to Leadership Team  Trends are reported during the All Staff Meeting

Newsletters  Monthly newsletter  Announces upcoming events, employee birthdays and employment anniversaries  Employee Council includes a Staff Spotlight  Safety Committee includes a Safety Share

Staff Portal

Program Service Guide

Internal Referral Tally

Appreciation  Annual Meeting  Summer Picnic  Christmas Party  Kudo Kards

Strategic Plan  Held an employee focus group regarding the strategic plan prior to our last planning session  Invited members of our Excellence Committee to attend the last planning session  Strategic Plan is on our Staff Portal and website  We also engage employees in other ways which will be discussed in more detail later.

Board of Directors  All Board meetings are Open to the public and employees  We give an annual survey to the Board to determine their satisfaction with meeting structures and work on the Board

Strategic Planning and Performance Management Operational Plans Employee Engagement

Strategic Plan  Strategic Plan Defines Three Things:  Where you are  Where you want to be  How you are going to get there  Structure of EICAP’s Plan  Section I – Mission/Vision Statement, Values  Section II – Organizational Mandates and Stakeholders  Section III – SWOT Analysis  Section IV – Goals and Strategic Objectives  Section V – Updating the Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan  Section I – Mission/Vision Statement, Values  If you have these already, then they are important for determining what you want your plan to be  If you don’t – this should be an important part of your strategic planning discussions  Key Points:  Mission Statement is what you do  Vision Statement is where you want to go

Strategic Plan  Section II – Organizational Mandates and Stakeholders  Mandates define what we are required to do by law, as an agency  CSBG Act  Older American’s Act  OMB Circulars  Stakeholders define any group of people who have a vested interest in the success of your agency  This can help you meet the requirement of Standard 3.1 in formally defining your customers

Strategic Plan  Section III – SWOT Analysis  SWOT is Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats  Key Points:  Strengths and Weaknesses are INTERNAL to the organization  Opportunities and Threats are EXTERNAL to the organization  This defines where you are as an agency

Strategic Plan  Section IV - Goals and Strategic Objectives  There are three components to our Goals and Strategic Objectives section  Goals  Strategies  Metrics  Key Points:  This is defining how you want to get where you want to go

Strategic Plan  Goals  Our Strategic Plan follows the ROMA Goals  Goal 1. Low-income people become more self-sufficient.  Goal 2. The conditions in which low-income people live are improved.  Goal 3. Low-income people own a stake in their community.  Goal 4. Partnerships among supporters and providers of service to low-income people are achieved.  Goal 5. Agency increases its capacity to achieve results.  Goal 6. Low-income people, especially vulnerable populations, achieve their potential by strengthening family and other supportive environments.

Strategic Plan  Strategies  Use SWOT to identify ways to use strengths and opportunities and avoid weaknesses and threats to achieve goals  Strategies are defined for each of the ROMA Goals  Goal 1. Low-income people become more self-sufficient.  Provide services that reduce barriers for at-risk individuals and families  Facilitate life skills training, education, and other opportunities  Create employment opportunities for at-risk individuals and families.  Goal 2. The conditions in which low-income people live are improved.  Provide opportunities that improve the quality of life for residents throughout our service area.

Strategic Plan  Strategies  Strategies are defined for each of the ROMA Goals  Goal 3. Low-income people own a stake in their community.  Involve participants in program development from design to delivery.  Engage volunteers with meaningful opportunities to advance or promote EICAP programs.  Provide avenues for individuals and community organizations to actively contribute to EICAP’s mission.  Goal 4. Partnerships among supporters and providers of service to low-income people are achieved.  Develop, foster and formalize productive partnerships within the community.

Strategic Plan  Strategies  Strategies are defined for each of the ROMA Goals  Goal 5. Agency increases its capacity to achieve results.  EICAP will become more recognizable and respected in the communities served.  Actively engage legislative, regulatory and community institutions regarding EICAP’s Board adopted advocacy issues.  Foster a supportive work environment for employees.  Increase funding sources and amounts in response to the growing need for service.  Maintain sound fiscal stewardship.

Strategic Plan  Strategies  Strategies are defined for each of the ROMA Goals  Goal 5. Agency increases its capacity to achieve results.  Active involvement of the Board of Directors in agency activities and decisions.  Maximize efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.  Train employees to utilize the scope of supportive services within EICAP and the community at large.

Strategic Plan  Strategies  Strategies are defined for each of the ROMA Goals  Goal 6. Low-income people, especially vulnerable populations, achieve their potential by strengthening family and other supportive environments.  Provide services that identify and reduce barriers to stability for vulnerable populations.  Provide educational opportunities and support that empower vulnerable populations.  Metrics  Identify key outputs that we already generate internally that can be used to measure the success of each strategy

Strategic Plan  Section V – Updating the Strategic Plan  Developed and incorporated timeline and sources of information into Strategic Plan to meet requirements of Standard 2.2  Part of the updating process is the use of Needs Assessments and Focus Groups to ensure that we are engaging our constituents in determining our agency’s priorities

Operational Plans  Each division looked at the Goals and Strategies developed by Senior Leadership and Board  The division determines which strategies are relevant to their programs and develops a plan for addressing those strategies  Metrics are further refined during this process  Program Directors report on their Operational Plans as part of their reports to the Board of Directors  These are one of the primary tools that made our Strategic Plan a living document within our organization

Employee Engagement  Three tools to foster employee engagement in our plan

Employee Engagement

 Job Descriptions  All Employees have the following as a duty in their job descriptions:  As an employee of EICAP you will assume the responsibility of understanding your role in accomplishing the strategic goals and performance measures of the Agency.  All Supervisors have the following as a duty in their job descriptions:  As a supervisor you will assume the responsibility of assuring that all employees working under your direct supervision understand their role in accomplishing the strategic goals and performance measures of the Agency.

Employee Engagement  Employee Evaluations  All Employees are evaluated on:  Strategic Goals – Consider the employee’s understanding of strategic goals. Does the employee understand their role in accomplishing the strategic goals and performance measures of the Agency?  All Supervisors are evaluated on:  Strategic Goals – Consider how well the employee communicates strategic goals to subordinates. Does the employee actively assure employees under their direct supervision understand their role in accomplishing the strategic goals and performance measures of the Agency?

Agency Scorecard  The agency Scorecard is based on the metrics listed in the Strategic Plan  The Executive Director designates a Scorecard Chair to ensure the annual Scorecard is based on the current Strategic Plan’s metrics  Program Directors establish benchmarks for each metric related to their programs  Quarterly, the Program Directors send in the data for their metrics to the Scorecard Chair  The Scorecard Chair compiles the data into the scorecard  The quarterly Scorecard is shared with the Board of Directors and Leadership Team

Agency Scorecard  There are two components to the Scorecard  The first is a listing of the outputs of each Metric  The second is an aggregate outcome of the outputs as compared to the benchmarks

Agency Scorecard  Goal 1 – Low-income people become more self-sufficient.  Strategy – Provide services that reduce barriers for at-risk individuals and families.  Metric – The number of eligible households receiving emergency services.  Metric – The number of eligible households receiving LIHEAP services.  Metric – The number of seniors who receive assistance with Medicare enrollments.  Metric – The average cost savings for Weatherization clients based on the energy audit tool.

Agency Scorecard Goal 1 – Low-income people become more self-sufficient Strategy - Provide services that reduce barriers for at-risk individuals and families MetricGoalTypeFactorBench mark Q1 Q3Q4Adj. YTD Diff.% Diff. 1MaxAggr % 2MaxAggr % 3MaxAggr % 4MaxUnique$854 $1,153$891$635$706$854$0100% Strategy Score109%

Agency Scorecard Goal 1 Low-income people become more self-sufficient. Strategy Provide services that reduce barriers for at-risk individuals and families. Score 109% Strategy Facilitate life skills training, education, and other opportunities. Score 100% Goal 2 The conditions in which low-income people live are improved. Strategy Provide opportunities that improve the quality of life for residents throughout our service area. Score 106% Goal 3 Low-income people own a stake in their community. Strategy Involve participants in program development from design to delivery. Score 78% Strategy Empower and encourage individuals to create and maintain safe neighborhoods. Score 119%

Annual Report  Outputs from the Scorecard then feed directly into the Annual Report

Contact Information  Russ Spain –  Nick Burrows –  Sheryl Bailey – Any Questions???