1. Integrated Safety-Organized Practice
Last updated: 9/7/12
Integrated Safety-Organized Practice
Module Eleven:
Organizational Environments: Reflection, Appreciation, and Ongoing Learning
PURPOSE: This module introduces participants to the importance of organizational climate and its role in Safety-Organized Practice.

2. Our Thinking Draws From the Legacy of Others
Last updated: 9/7/12
Our Thinking Draws From the Legacy of Others
Insoo Kim Berg
Steve de Shazer
Andrew Turnell
CRC Staff
Steve Edwards
Sonja Parker
Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer created the Solution-Focused Therapy approach.
Andrew Turnell and Steve Edwards created the Signs of Safety (SofS) approach and wrote the book Signs of Safety.
Sonja Parker created the Safety House and has done a lot of work with safety networks and safety planning.
CRC staff bring the Structured Decision Making® (SDM) system to the table.
Rob Sawyer and Sue Lohrbach brought SofS and the SDM® system to Olmsted County, MN, Sue created Harm and Danger Statements, and they both took mapping to a new level.
Susie Essex wrote Working with Denied Child Abuse with Andrew Turnell.
Nicki Weld created the Three Houses.
Carver County, MN, staff have done a lot of work with SofS.
John Vogel, Sophia Chin, and Heather Meitner have brought SDM and SofS to Massachusetts, and they created the four-quadrant map.
Rob
Sawyer
Sue
Lohrbach
Susie
Essex
Nicki
Weld
Carver
County
John Vogel
Sophia Chin
Heather Meitner
…and we hope YOU will continue to build
on these ideas and approaches.

3. Safety-Organized Practice
Last updated: 9/7/12
Safety-Organized Practice
Safety is:
Actions of protection taken by the caregiver that mitigate the danger
demonstrated over time.
PURPOSE:
To remind people about the key organizing principle. Module 11 shows us how the process of inquiry can help a social worker gather critical information to make an accurate assessment of a child’s safety.
EXAMPLE:
Once again, just a quick reminder: In many ways this is what this series is about.
It is about imagining what would happen if this really became our definition of safety—in what ways our practice might change; in what ways our thinking or decision making might be affected.
Remember, in this definition, safety is a VERB—an action.
It is more than the absence of danger.
Adapted from Boffa, J., and Podesta, H. (2004) Partnership and risk assessment in child protection practice, Protecting Children,
19(2): 36–48. Turnell, Andrew & Susie Essex Working with Denied Child Abuse, Open University Press, 2006. 

4. Agreements “Try on.” Everyone always has the right to pass.
Last updated: 9/7/12
Agreements
“Try on.”
Everyone always has the right to pass.
Know that silence is a contribution.
We agree to share airtime and stick to time limits.
We agree to speak personally, for ourselves as individuals.
We agree to disagree and avoid making assumptions or generalities.
We agree to allow others to finish speaking before we speak and avoid interrupting and side conversations.
We will all work together to hold to these agreements and authorize the trainer to hold us to them.
PURPOSE:
This slide is to quickly remind people about the purpose of the overall series and to continue to reinforce the idea that safety is an action.
It also helps you catch up anyone who missed earlier sessions!
FOR EXAMPLE:
As always, our time together will be shaped by our shared agreements.
Any questions or comments?

5. Interviewing for Safety and Danger 2
Last updated: 9/7/12
Module
Subject 1
Interviewing for Safety and Danger 2
Three Questions to Organize Your Practice 3
Small Voices, Big Impact: Keeping Children at the Center of the Work 4
Solution-Focused Inquiry 5
Introduction to Mapping 6
Harm Statements, Danger Statements and Safety Goals 7
Mapping With Families 8
Safety Networks 9
Safety Planning 10
Landing Safety-Organized Practice in Everyday Work 11
Organizational Environments: Reflection, Appreciation, and Ongoing Learning 12
Summary and Looking to the Future
PURPOSE
To show where we are in the process.

6. Let’s Review and Reflect!
Last updated: 9/7/12
Let’s Review and Reflect!
What have you tried from last month’s module?
What worked well?
What were your challenges?
How did you handle those challenges?
PURPOSE:
To review the last module and show how the concepts weave together.
TRAINER NOTE
As people report on their experiences, take note of what they are saying so you can build on their experiences as you share the new content in this module.
Pay particular attention to how they handled their challenges and see if you can make suggestions in this module about where there might be challenges and how they can build on their strengths from last month.
One idea from Kim Giardina, a manager in San Diego County, is to have participants write down their experiences on notecards. On one side of the notecards they can write down what worked well when they tried this new practice. On the other side they can write down challenges they had. These notecards can be collected and some can be read out loud, or participants can volunteer to read their cards. The notecards can be collected and posted on a storyboard in your office.

7. What are we going to learn about today?
Last updated: 9/7/12
What are we going to learn about today?
Appreciative Inquiry
Facilitation Skills
Group Supervision
PURPOSE: To describe the concepts that will be covered in this module.

8. Last updated: 9/7/12
If, as a leader, you are not creating hope and helping people see the way forward, chances are no one else is either.
PURPOSE: To show that leadership and front-line supervisors are critical in organizations and to the implementation of Safety-Organized Practice.
Strengths-Based Leadership – The Gallup Organization

9. Last updated: 9/7/12
Opening Activity
Think about a time when the organization was functioning in such a way that you were able to do exactly the kind of work you hoped to do—a time the organization supported you, in some way, in being the worker, supervisor, or manager you wanted to be.
How did this occur?
What did you do?
What did others do?
How was the organization helpful at this moment?
PURPOSE: To get the group to think about their organization at its best.
EXAMPLE:
If people struggle to think of a time when things were working well, get them to think about a time when this was possible in an organization they worked for previously.
If that’s not possible, have them think about what the organization would look like if it was working well.
See if you can surface qualities of a well-functioning organization such as:
I felt respected and recognized.
I was learning new things.
My ideas were listened to.
I had the freedom and flexibility to try new things.
I felt supported.
I respected the people with whom I worked.
Our children and families were actually helped.
I had fun at work.
I had the tools I needed to do what I do best.
I liked the work I was doing.
I felt safe—I didn’t feel like I had to watch my back.

10. Organizational Implications
Last updated: 9/7/12
Organizational Implications
Organization Climate relates to employee perceptions of the impact the work environment is having on their ability to effectively do their work and on their well-being. (Adapted from Glisson, 2007)
PURPOSE: To provide background on the importance of organizational climate.
EXAMPLE: Glisson is a researcher who has focused on social service organizations and the importance of organizational climate.

11. Improved Climate Leads to Better Outcomes for KIDS!
Last updated: 9/7/12
Improved Climate Leads to Better Outcomes for KIDS!
Three-year study of 250 children served by 32 public children’s service offices in Tennessee.
(Glisson & Hemmelgarn; 1998)
Organizational climate (low conflict, cooperation, role clarity, and personal relationships) was the primary predictor of positive service outcomes (children’s improved psychosocial functioning) and a significant predictor of service quality.
PURPOSE: To showcase a research study finding that organizational climates have impact on customers.
EXAMPLE:
What are your thoughts about this?
Key findings have to do with low conflict, cooperation, role clarity, and personal relationships.
Think about your own organization.
Where would you scale the strength of these items in your workgroup?
What are you personally doing to contribute to low conflict, high cooperation, role clarity, and healthy personal relationships?
What are your thoughts about how high conflict, low cooperation, role confusion, and lack of personal relationships can actually contribute to poor outcomes in kids?

12. Organizational Implications
Last updated: 9/7/12
Organizational Implications
Nationwide study of 100 mental health clinics in 26 states. (Glisson, et al. 2008)
Organizations with strong organizational climates and cultures had half the employee turnover and sustained new programs for twice as long as organizations with weaker organizational climates and cultures.
PURPOSE: To show another piece of research on organizational climate.
EXAMPLE:
What are your thoughts about this finding?

13. Factors That Contribute to Individual Resilience
Last updated: 9/7/12
Factors That Contribute to Individual Resilience
Feeling cared about
Opportunities to meaningfully contribute
High expectations
PURPOSE: To link the previous exercise to trauma-informed practice.
EXAMPLE:
The other side of the trauma coin is resilience.
These three factors are highly correlated with resilience.
“High expectations” means “high” but not “toxic.” High expectations is an important part of resilience, but if expectations outpace what is possible, people will fail. We have to tailor our expectations to meet what people can do, and then push them just a little further!
Consider secondary trauma for a moment. Consider how these three components of resilience could combat secondary trauma.
Advance slide…

14. Factors That Contribute to Organizational Resilience
Last updated: 9/7/12
Factors That Contribute to Organizational Resilience
Feeling cared about
Opportunities to meaningfully contribute
High expectations
PURPOSE: To show how these same components of resilience can apply to the organizational climate.
EXAMPLE:
Take a moment to form groups of three to four and discuss the following questions:
If you are a supervisor or manager, what are some of the ways you set high expectations for your staff? What are some of the ways you show your staff that you care about them? What opportunities are available for them to meaningfully contribute?
If you are a social worker, are these three factors present in your workplace? If yes, share some examples of how they are present. If they are not present, what are some things you could do to introduce high expectations, caring about people, and providing opportunities to meaningfully contribute?
How can you bring these three factors into your work with families?
Small-Group Exercise

15. What is Appreciative Inquiry?
Last updated: 9/7/12
What is Appreciative Inquiry?
PURPOSE: This is a transition slide to open the discussion for appreciative inquiry.
EXAMPLE:
Try to work off the themes that surfacedin this exercise as you describe what appreciative inquiry is.

16. Synonyms: valuing, prizing, esteeming, and honoring.
Last updated: 9/7/12
Ap-pre’ci-ate
Valuing
The act of recognizing the best in people and the world around us;
Affirming past and present strengths, successes, and potentials; and
To perceive those things that give life (health, vitality, and excellence) to living systems.
To increase in value, e.g., the economy has appreciated in value.
Synonyms: valuing, prizing, esteeming, and honoring.
PURPOSE: To define the the word “appreciate.”
EXAMPLE:
Notice the emphasis on the word “value” in the definition of “appreciate.”
Appreciating involves the acts of recognizing and affirming past and present strengths, successes, and potential.

17. In-quire The act of exploration and discovery
Last updated: 9/7/12
In-quire
The act of exploration and discovery
To ask questions; to be open to seeing new potentials and possibilities
Synonyms: discovery, search, study, and systematic exploration
PURPOSE: To define the word “inquiry.”
EXAMPLE:
Note how this word involves the concepts of openness, discovery, and exploration.

18. What is Appreciative Inquiry?
Last updated: 9/7/12
What is Appreciative Inquiry?
Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an approach to organizational change that draws on a core belief very closely related to solution-focused practice: What we pay the most attention to has the best chance of growing.
AI involves taking time to notice and then ask questions about the skills, knowledge, and high point moments of people’s work.
PURPOSE: To define appreciative inquiry.
EXAMPLE:
Appreciative inquiry is a way to grow social workers, great practice, and great parents.
People tend to thrive when they feel supported and when they feel hope.
It takes enormous psychological energy to “watch your back.” When people genuinely feel that the person they are working with wants to see them succeed, their inner creativity can be unleashed.

19. Is this a parallel process?
Last updated: 9/7/12
What is Appreciative Inquiry?
It can be used to help solidify new ways of working within an organization, and with families, and it can help individuals recognize their own skills and solutions to difficult problems.
Organization
Family
PURPOSE: To show the three primary venues where appreciative inquiry works best.
EXAMPLE:
The concepts we are talking about today work well in any of these three areas: organizational culture, with a family, or to solve a problem.
As the information from the next few slides is presented, think about how this could help your work unit or region, families on your caseload, or even a challenge in your own life.
Individual Problem
Is this a parallel process?

20. Practice-Based Evidence?
Last updated: 9/7/12
Practice-Based Evidence?
AI helps support the “parallel process.”
If we ask workers to treat families in different ways we have to be prepared to treat our staff in different ways.
We as a field need to increase the strategies we use to learn from practice.
The development of “practice-based evidence.”
AI can be used in multiple settings.
Between worker and family, supervisor and worker, group supervision, coaching, training, etc.
PURPOSE: To showcase additional uses and benefits of appreciative inquiry.
EXAMPLE:
The field of social work focuses a lot on evidence-based practice.
Step one in the process of evidence-based practice is to imagine or discover “the thing” that has been determined to actually help a family. Once “the thing” is discovered, a series of tests and evaluative measures are completed. After several years, “the thing” is then deemed “evidence-based” if it was found to truly have worked on a consistent basis in various settings.
By staying in a place of inquiry, social workers will be poised to make discoveries in their own practice, and their practices will become more innovative and will have more depth.
“What is now proved was once only imagined.” – William Blake

21. Cooperrider’s Definition
Last updated: 9/7/12
Cooperrider’s Definition
Appreciative inquiry is the cooperative search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them. It involves systematic discovery of what gives a system “life” when it is most effective and most capable.
AI involves the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to heighten positive potential.
PURPOSE: To showcase another definition of appreciative inquiry.
EXAMPLE:
Typically, in most child welfare cultures, being an “expert” or a “professional” has been the standard approach.
Appreciative Inquiry calls for a shift to a culture of inquiry in order to discover what is already working well.
This is the best way to spot promising practices or promising behaviors that can be built upon to reach the ultimate outcome of child safety.
Cooperrider, D.L., & Whitney, D. Appreciative Inquiry: A positive revolution in change. In P. Holman & T. Devane (eds.),
The Change Handbook, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 245–263.

22. The Traditional Approach
Last updated: 9/7/12
The Traditional Approach
The traditional approach to change is to look for the problem, do a diagnosis, and find a solution.
The primary focus is on what is wrong or broken; since we look for problems, we find them.
By paying attention to problems, we emphasize and amplify them.
PURPOSE: To contrast the more traditional approach of child welfare organizations to the emerging approach of appreciative inquiry.
EXAMPLE:
Notice how this approach is at play in the medical field, the mental health field, and, to some degree, even in the educational field.
We are a culture that likes to fix things.
Experts are highly valued in our society.
Entire industries are set up to solve problems.
Hammond, S. (1998). The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry. Thin Book Publishing Company.

23. Last updated: 9/7/12
A New Way Forward…
Appreciative inquiry suggests that we look for what works in an organization.
The tangible result of the inquiry process is a series of statements that describe where the organization wants to be, based on the high moments of where they have been.
Because the statements are grounded in real experience and history, people know how to repeat their success.
PURPOSE: To describe how appreciative inquiry works.
EXAMPLE:
When you can become a detective in your own work or in your agency— looking for examples of great work—you are moving into a place of appreciative inquiry.
Any example you can find, from very small (“I was honest with the mother and let her know what CWS needs to see for her daughter to be safe”) to very big (“I was able to partner with the father and he was able to safely reunify with all four of his kids in only three months and they are doing great a year later!”) becomes fertile learning ground.
When managers, supervisors, and social workers can get to the place where they normally reflect on the practice they are proud of and what happened to make that practice possible, then they have created a learning organization, which is fueled by appreciative inquiry.
Can you think about how this could work with a family?
Hammond, S. (1998) The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry. Thin Book Publishing Company.

24. Analyze possible solutions
Problem Solving
Felt need
Identify the problem
Find the “root cause”
Lack of insight + responsibility
Analyze possible solutions
What are available services?
Develop actions plan
Treatment
Basic assumption: “Problems” are challenges we can solve if we just find the right solution
Last updated: 9/7/12
PURPOSE: This is a chart that shows the difference between the problem-solving approach and the appreciative inquiry approach (1 of 2).
EXAMPLE: Let’s look at how we usually approach a challenge or a problem…we might call this the typical “problem-solving approach”. (Trainers – read highlights).

25. Problem Solving Appreciative Inquiry
Felt need
Identify the problem
Valuing
What are we like at our best?
Find the “root cause”
Lack of insight + responsibility
Imagining
How do we wish things could be?
Analyze possible solutions
What are available services?
Dialogue and design
How can we build on what we already do well?
Develop action plan
Treatment
Create
Participating together in making what will be
Basic assumption: “Problems” are challenges we can solve if we just find the right solution
Basic assumption: Systems are alive and have infinite, untapped energy and imagination
Last updated: 9/7/12
PURPOSE: This is a chart that shows the difference between the problem-solving approach and the appreciative inquiry approach (2 of 2).
EXAMPLE: Now let’s look at how we could be thinking instead, or at least some of the time (trainers – read highlights from left column).

26. Problem-Solving Focused Discussion
Last updated: 9/7/12
Problem-Solving Focused Discussion
Think about a challenge you are facing in your work at the current time:
What is the background of this problem?
When did this problem start?
Who is contributing to the problem?
Why do you think this problem is continuing?
What have you tried to do to solve the problem?
What do you think is keeping this a problem for you?
What, if anything, from this conversation would you want to bring to this current problem in order to solve it?
PURPOSE: For participants to have a discussion where they attempt to solve a problem the traditional way.
EXAMPLE: Here is another way to think about the same thing: Would like you to get into pairs, select a “problem” each of you are facing and ask each other the questions on the slide.
Consider taking notes about the high points of your discussion.
Point out that this is a traditional approach to solving a problem.
Did anyone come up with some possible solutions to the problem?

27. Appreciative Inquiry Focused Discussion
Last updated: 9/7/12
Appreciative Inquiry Focused Discussion
Now have another conversation about the same problem:
Quickly restate the background of this problem.
Has there ever been a time, when something you did had some positive effect on the problem, even if just for a moment?
What did you do?
When you are at your best—when you are really “on top of your game”—how have you responded to similar moments in the past?
If I was a fly on the wall when you were responding to a problem like this in a way you felt good about, what would I see you doing?
How did you do that?
Who helped?
What, if anything, from this conversation would you want to bring to this current problem?
PURPOSE: For participants to have a discussion where they attempt to solve a problem using appreciative inquiry approaches.
EXAMPLE: In the same pairs, now discuss these questions.
Group Debrief: 
Was there a difference in these two conversations?
What was the difference?
How did the first conversation leave you?
What kind of shape would you have been in for taking the next steps?
What did you learn?
How did you feel about your work?
How did you feel about the organization?
In the second conversation
What kind of shape would you have been in for taking next steps?
What kind of difference, if any, would it make to have more conversations like the second one?

28. Why Do This in Child Welfare?
Last updated: 9/7/12
Why Do This in Child Welfare?
In child welfare organizations there is great potential for practice to be regularly surrounded by fear, blame, and defensiveness.
In this context, the idea of making one’s work visible, sharing it with others, and even learning from your own and other’s practice can be hard to imagine.
AI is one vehicle for helping make
this possible.
PURPOSE: To show a different way of sharing our work in the culture of a child welfare office.
EXAMPLE:
We know social workers are doing many really great practices each and every day in the field.
But because we tend to work alone, the only way for others to know the approaches to our work is for us to share our ideas and approaches with each other.
What are some of the reasons we don’t usually share our ideas, approaches, strategies, and stories of success with each other?
TRAINER NOTE:
Look for answers such as “not enough time, don’t want to brag, didn’t really think about it, don’t feel safe sharing what I do, I could be criticized.”
Consider doing a brief AI on their answers. Ask participants, “What do you think could happen to resolve these challenges?”
Turnell, A. (in press). Building a culture of appreciative inquiry around child protection practice. Draft chapter in
Turnell, A. (in press) Building Safety in child protection practice: working with a strengths and solution focus in an
environment of risk; Palagrave-Macmillian. Contact author at for more info.

29. Develop Local Practice Wisdom
Last updated: 9/7/12
Develop Local Practice Wisdom
AI provides a method for countering the tendency to isolate or silo one’s work by encouraging everyone to ask questions about the details of everyday practice when it is at its best.
This allows everyone in the organization to share stories of high-point moments, new practice innovations they have made or discovered, successful interventions they have used, and general good practice.
When these stories are described and circulated, the “know-how” about what really works in the organization grows, and people become more willing and interested in sharing and learning from their work.
PURPOSE: To describe the importance of storytelling in an organization.
EXAMPLE:
From an anthropological perspective, the way cultural wisdom and information is passed on in clans, tribes, societies, and cities is through storytelling.
According to Dan and Chip Heath in their book Made to Stick, storytelling is one of six strategies to make ideas “sticky.”
People remember stories. They don’t tend to remember facts and figures unless they are embedded in a story.
In child welfare, we tend to share stories that don’t have happy endings, or stories that can scare people. “Did you hear what happened to Jessie? He got behind in his work and ….”
Telling stories about how our work is helping a child, family, or morale in the office is the fastest way to shift an organization from a traditional/problem- focused culture to a learning organization, based on inquiry.
What are some ways you have seen stories shared at your office, in the families you work with, in your own family?
What are some of your ideas about how to share more success stories at work? Would it be a newsletter, blasts, a blog?

30. Safety and Solution-Based Practices
Last updated: 9/7/12
Safety and Solution-Based Practices
When child welfare organizations begin to try to adopt Safety- and Solution-Focused approaches, workers will look to agency leaders, managers, and supervisors to see if they “practice what they preach.”
Using AI can help embed new approaches throughout that organization, giving workers a chance both to practice some of the new skills and to see the depth of the commitment in the leadership of the organization to different ways of thinking and practice.
PURPOSE: To show how AI can work in all levels of the organization.
EXAMPLE:
Most organizations are problem-focused. Leaders spend their time running from one crisis to another, putting out fires.
The Gallup Organization talks about how the best leaders initiate rather than react. If a leader is clear about what he/she wants to accomplish and where he/she wants the organization to go, that leader can push him/herself to use his/her time to initiate that outcome. The best way to reach an outcome is to assume a stance of inquiry.
Think about how you could do this with families on your caseload.
What is the safety goal?
What are you doing to help the family initiate movement toward their safety goal?
Are you using an approach of inquiry?
Or do you take an expert, authoritarian approach?
What factors lead you to one approach vs. the other?

31. How We Become a Learning Organization
Last updated: 9/7/12
How We Become a Learning Organization
Whoever makes the most mistakes wins!
PURPOSE: To talk about strategies that create learning organizations.
EXAMPLE:
Have you ever noticed that after a football team wins the Super Bowl, or after a baseball team wins the World Series, they don’t do as well the next season?
Have you ever noticed how teams in last place tend to make the fastest comeback— sometimes with the exact same players, but with a different coach?
Richard Farson writes about this in his book titled Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins. His theory is that you can’t be innovative if you are trying to be perfect. The only way to become innovative, or a learning organization, is to have the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them.
In a truly innovative, learning organization, everyone is learning from each other. Typical hierarchies flatten.
How can you imagine using this information with children and families?
Obviously, we don’t want mistakes at the level where children get hurt, but can you facilitate a climate with the families on your caseload that gives them the freedom to get ideas and try new things to reach their safety goal faster and in a more lasting way?
Two-way learning

32. Last updated: 9/7/12
Grounding Organizational Culture in Reflection, Appreciation, and Ongoing Learning
Staff begin to see their own knowledge and skills recognized publicly.
They develop greater enthusiasm for sharing what they know with others.
There is a greater sense that everyone in the organization appreciates each other and the collective work being done.
Learning can become exciting and contagious.
PURPOSE: To show the benefits of creating an appreciative, learning culture.
EXAMPLE:
Excitement breeds excitement.
People generally want to be recognized for the good work they do, rather than called out for the mistakes they make.
Can you think of ways to recognize the families on your caseload when they make progress toward their safety goal?
What have you already noticed in your office that celebrates the good work that is being done?
What is one small thing you can do to help your organization move toward one of celebration and excitement about the good work being done?

33. Last updated: 9/7/12
Summary
Much like solution-focused work, AI works from the belief that the areas we pay the most attention to grow.
It is far easier to co-create solutions than to dissolve problems.
Joining in an appreciative inquiry can reach untapped energy and enthusiasm for change.
“Motivation (to change) is linked to the degree of hope that change is possible.”
How we interact with our staff in the organization is a parallel process for how social workers can interact with children and families in the field.
PURPOSE: To close this section with a reminder of key principles of solution-focused practices and appreciative inquiry.
EXAMPLE:
Notice that true change tends to come from a sense of hope, and it’s much easier to build on what is already working than to fix problems and start from scratch.
National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect

34. Facilitation Skills The Super 8! Last updated: 9/7/12
PURPOSE: To describe a simple approach to facilitating conversations, which can make conversations easier.
EXAMPLE:
Now that we have identified some of the themes or factors present in organizations that work well, and we have learned more about appreciative inquiry, let’s turn our focus to some specific steps designed to make our daily conversations with children and families, and our daily conversations in supervision and meetings, a little easier.
The Super 8!

35. Facilitate = To Make EASY
Last updated: 9/7/12
PURPOSE: To define the word “facilitate.”
EXAMPLE:
Most people think of a meeting when they hear the word “facilitate.”
But every home visit, phone call, or general conversation we have with another person is a meeting of some sorts—it’s at least two people coming together.
The question is, “How can you make that conversation easier?”
Many difficult conversations are avoided on a daily basis in CFS practice as well as in organizations.
It is hoped that these eight steps will help to make difficult conversations easier.
Once we can make conversations easier, we are in a better place to partner with families, to genuinely listen (appreciative inquiry/three questions), and to work toward building lasting safety for children.
Facilitate = To Make EASY

36. Structure and Predictability
Last updated: 9/7/12
Structure and Predictability
“When I have some structure I feel like I can deviate, freelance, and improvise and have some way to come back to it. When I don’t have that structure I feel like everything is improvising and it can be exhausting and I lose attention.” – social worker
We can do more to prevent “shooting ourselves in the foot!”
Having a (flexible) structure doesn’t have to be constraining.
It allows people a sense of predictability—“I know what’s coming next and can let myself be really present.”
PURPOSE: To show how these facilitation steps provide structure and predictability for conversations.
EXAMPLE:
Oddly enough, structures allow for more innovation and creativity!

37. The Super 8! Purpose Context Group Agreements Network/Stakeholders
Last updated: 9/7/12
The Super 8!
Purpose
Context
Group Agreements
Network/Stakeholders
Desired Outcome
Content
Next Steps
Plus/Delta
PURPOSE: Gives quick overview of the stages of facilitation.
EXAMPLE: So this can look like a lot of steps, but the point here isn’t that you need to do all of these every time, in exactly this order. The point is to think about these whenever you have a meeting and ask – what would help us to have a real conversation where everyone can participate and where we can get to the kinds of commitments and actions steps we need? We are going to walk through each of the stages now so you get a chance to really see what they are all supposed to do.

38. Last updated: 9/7/12
1. Purpose
Have you ever been at a meeting with no idea why you are there?
Think of ways you can describe the purpose of your meeting.
As facilitators, we will make sure the purpose of the meeting, interview, or mapping is clear before we start.
PURPOSE: To describe the first step of facilitating a meeting or conversation.
EXAMPLE:
Have you ever been at a meeting and realized you had no idea why you were there? This is meant as a bit of joke, but it happens with way too much regularity for all of us.
What do you think makes the difference between a meeting where you know why you are there, a meeting that makes sense to you, and you feel like you are making a contribution, and a meeting where you feel confused about why you are there— confused about what you are doing and unable to make the kind of contribution you want to make?
Even though it might seem obvious to you, it’s not always obvious to everyone why we are having a particular meeting.
Think about the modules you have been attending for the past 10 months. Can anyone say what the purpose of the module training is? What about the purpose of this module?
Does it make it harder or easier to engage in a meeting, training, or conversation when you don’t know the purpose? How about when you do know the purpose?

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2. Context
External – Do we have any external pressures or constraints we should name? (We have court tomorrow, closure date is due, or “my manager is really on me about this.”)
Internal – Is anything going to make it hard for us to work together today? (Tiny room, “I just got an immediate response referral,” or limited time.)
PURPOSE: To describe step two in the process—Context.
EXAMPLE:
Context is important to call out because it can distract people from the meeting, and therefore make it “harder” and not “easier” to engage to co- create solutions.
What could be some context challenges on a home visit?
Small house making it difficult to interview a child privately.
Family is angry we are there.

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3. Group Agreements
Agreements are about HOW we are going to work together.
You could post these agreements on the wall.
You could make a handout and share it with families.
PURPOSE: To describe the third step—making agreements.
EXAMPLE:
In meetings and trainings, people tend to text, or keep their cell phone ringers on. This can be distracting and make it “harder” to engage in the meeting, rather than “easier.” Upfront agreements can resolve these problems.
Have you ever been on a home visit and the TV was turned on very loudly, and the family made no attempt to turn the TV down or off? This would be a time to make an agreement: “Can we make an agreement to turn off the TV while I’m here?” Or, if the family doesn’t want the TV off: “Can we agree to turn the TV volume down while I’m here so we can complete our work together?”
Have you ever supervised a visit and wondered if you should give feedback to the parent during the visit, or wait until after? Upfront agreements can help to make that decision, and that conversation, easier.

41. Agreements “Try on.” Everyone always has the right to pass.
Last updated: 9/7/12
Agreements
“Try on.”
Everyone always has the right to pass.
Know that silence is a contribution.
We agree to share airtime and stick to time limits.
We agree to speak personally, for ourselves as individuals.
We agree to disagree and avoid making assumptions or generalities.
We agree to allow others to finish speaking before we speak and avoid interrupting and side conversations.
We will all work together to hold to these agreements and authorize the trainer to hold us to them.
PURPOSE: Reminds participants of how we have used agreements in this series.
EXAMPLE: You can remember how we have used agreements in this series. What have people thought about this? Has this been helpful to have? Why or why not?

42. 4. Network/Stakeholders
Last updated: 9/7/12
4. Network/Stakeholders
Who are the most important people needing to be here? Who really cares about this child? Who are we going to ask to play a role in making a decision?
Is there anyone we wish could be here but is not?
PURPOSE: To describe the fourth part of the facilitation strategy.
EXAMPLE:
If we are working with a safety network, is the network focused on the child’s needs or the parent’s needs? Do we have enough people in the network who can make sure the kids are safe?
If we are in a meeting, is the decision maker there? Would it make more sense to reschedule the meeting when the right people can be at the table?
These components of facilitation can seem really basic, but when they are missing, our work with families and with each other can get derailed.
It is usually the little things that bring us down.

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5. Desired Outcome
What is it we want to walk away with from this meeting? This is a solution-focused imagery question.
Examples: We make an action plan; we make a decision; we figure something out; we get agreement on next steps; we formulate a question to bring to a family or a manager.
PURPOSE: To describe the fifth part of the facilitation process.
EXAMPLE:
It is important to ask this question because sometimes you will get very different answers than what you might have been thinking or expecting.
For example, our outcome when we are in a family’s home might be to find out enough information to decide whether or not a child is safe. The parent’s desired outcome might be for you to leave his/her house right now. The child’s desired outcome might be for you to take him/her to his/her aunt’s house where he/she feels safer. But we will never know what people are hoping for if we don’t ask.

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6. Content
Facilitation is the search for the best question to ask, rather than the best answer to give…
The Three-Column Map is a format we can use to organize content.
Secret Weapon: The questions we ask
Questions are an intervention in and of themselves. They promote thinking.
How can we get better and better at asking questions?
PURPOSE: To describe the sixth component of the facilitation process.
EXAMPLE:
This is where the appreciative inquiry (which we will learn more about in a moment) takes place.
One way to do an inquiry is to ask the three questions we have learned throughout this training series:
What is working well?
What are we worried about?
What should happen?
The better and better we get at asking questions, the better the chance we will learn accurate information about what is happening in a family or organization.
Once we have this information, we are in a much better place to assess this information and to make an accurate decision and a useful plan to reach the safety goal or the desired outcome of the meeting.

45. Solution-Focused Questions
Last updated: 9/7/12
Solution-Focused Questions
Past Success
(Answer embeds the learning)
Scaling
(Set Scale; what got you to this number; how can you move it up one?)
Preferred Future
Strength & Coping
(Answer = future compliment)
PURPOSE: To remind participants that they can use the solution-focused questions they learned about in Module 4 as a supplement to the Three Questions to guide the appreciative inquiry.
EXAMPLE: Solution focused questions can be a great part of the content you use in a meeting…either a in-office meeting or a meeting with a family.

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7. Next Steps
We will:
Capture discussion items from the content phase.
Summarize and write down action items.
Determine how to know if the action items are completed.
PURPOSE: To describe the seventh step in facilitation.
EXAMPLE:
One way to keep people engaged in a partnership to solve a problem, or to co-create safety, is to make sure the work is completed and progress is made toward the goal.
Writing down the next steps and following up on the progress of the plan are critical facilitation strategies.

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9. Plus/Delta
We will get feedback from the group about how the session went.
What worked well?
What should we consider changing in future meetings?
PURPOSE: To describe the final step in the facilitation process.
EXAMPLE:
We have a better chance of staying in a place of two-way learning if there is dialogue about how to make our time together better.
One way to approach this discussion is to ask people what worked well during the discussion or the meeting.
What would they like to change or do differently next time?

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PURPOSE: To provide a visual about how to set a discussion.
EXAMPLE:
This visual was used in Module 7 when we talked about mapping with families.
This is another way to visually see how we can come into a conversation with a person or a group of people.
This graphic ties in solution-focused questions, the Three Questions, and many of the facilitation skills we just learned.

49. One structure for facilitating any meeting
Last updated: 9/7/12
Stage of the meeting
Key question to guide the meeting
Purpose
Why are we meeting today? What are the key decisions to make?
Context
Is there anything that might pull our attention away from our focus today?
Group Agreements
How do we want to work with each other?
Network/Stakeholders
Is everyone who should be here actually here?
Desired Outcome
What do we hope to accomplish?
Content
What do we want to talk about?
Next Steps
What steps do we need to take from here?
+/∆
How did we do? What should we do differently next time?
PURPOSE: To show how these eight facilitation strategies could help in a general meeting.
EXAMPLE:
A structured dialogue allows for a much greater sense of clarity about the actual meeting.
People know why they are there, what they are doing together, what they want to achieve, and what needs to happen after the meeting is over.
The facilitator uses the structure of the dialogue to help focus the attention of the participants and can fall back on the structure if the group begins to veer off on tangents.
The specific elements of the structure allow the facilitator to encourage the group to share responsibility for the success of the meeting.

50. It could look like this for a case consult
Last updated: 9/7/12
Stage of the meeting
Key question to guide the meeting
Purpose
Why are we meeting today? Because we need to decide if we are all comfortable reunifying this family.
Context
We have had the child out of home for X days and have court coming up in Y. We need some kind of direction.
Group Agreements
Agree to disagree/all voices heard from? Is this a joint decision or will one person ultimately decide?
Network/Stakeholders
Do we have the most important people for making the decision here today? If not, how should we address that?
Desired Outcome
We need to make a plan we can bring back to the family and court.
Content
What’s the harm, danger, risk level? What acts of protection have we seen demonstrated? Has the safety plan been followed? Who has helped with that? SDM Reunification tool; On a scale from 0–10, how confident are we…
Next Steps
Do we have sufficient agreement to move forward?
+/∆
What was positive or helpful about this? What would we need to tweak or change?
PURPOSE: To describe how the eight strategies of facilitation can be used in a typical case consultation.
EXAMPLE:
The words in blue show how a case could be described in this format.

51. It could look like this for a first family meeting…
Last updated: 9/7/12
Stage of the meeting
Key question to guide the meeting
Purpose
We are meeting today because we received a report of concern…
Context
We have 30 days to make an initial decision. I will be coming out, talking with you and your child and would love to know who else…
Group Agreements
You don’t have to answer my questions but it would really help…you can ask me anything and I will do my best to answer…
Network/Stakeholders
Is there anyone else who really cares about you or your child who should be here today?
Desired Outcome
I hope we can talk about the worries and what’s working well…this is how we do that…what would you like to make sure we discuss?
Content
What are we worried about?
What’s going well?
Next Steps
What do we need to do next?
+/∆
How was this conversation today?
PURPOSE: To show how this facilitation structure could be used with a family.
EXAMPLE: Notice how the answers change in this slide compared to the last two slides, yet the structure remains the same.

52. WHAT are we going to walk away with?
Last updated: 9/7/12
Short and Sweet
Pre-Work
Group Agreements
WHY are we meeting?
WHAT are we going to walk away with?
HOW are we going
to get there?
Purpose
Desired Outcomes
PURPOSE: To show how the eight facilitation strategies can be combined and collapsed to shorten the length of a meeting.
EXAMPLES:
Have you noticed we have done this in every one of the modules?
A structured dialogue allows for a much greater sense of clarity about the actual meeting.
People know why they are there, what they are doing together, what they want to achieve, and what needs to happen after the meeting is over.
The facilitator uses the structure of the dialogue to help focus the attention of the participants and can fall back on the structure if the group begins to veer off on tangents.
The specific elements of the structure allow the facilitator to encourage the group to share responsibility for the success of the meeting.
Michael White used to say, “I never assume that bringing together a group of people without a structure will be helpful.”
Holding to a firm and transparent structure creates the best possible conditions for success.
How might this structure help with the work you are doing in supervision?
Content (SFQ)
Next Steps +/

53. Tying It Together Purpose Danger Statement Desired Outcome Safety Goal
Last updated: 9/7/12
Tying It Together
Purpose
Danger Statement
Desired Outcome
Safety Goal
Agreements
Safety Plan
PURPOSE: To show how three steps of facilitation tie directly to our work with families.
EXAMPLE:
Can you imagine how practice and outcomes could improve if we started every conversation with every family with the danger statement, the safety goal, and reiterating the safety plan?
In a moment, we are going to do an exercise where we tie together facilitation skills and appreciative inquiry. But first, a word about group supervision.

54. Group Supervision Last updated: 9/7/12
PURPOSE: This is a transition slide to open the discussion for Appreciative Inquiry.
EXAMPLE: Most of us have some kind of supervision regularly…but group supervision can be a chance to do something else, a different kind of thinking and talking about the work.

55. What Facilitated Group Supervision is NOT
Last updated: 9/7/12
What Facilitated Group Supervision is NOT
It’s not:
A place to put out fires and respond to crises.
A place to trouble-shoot the latest performance measure. (“We need to get our referrals closed on time!”)
An information download.
A place to complain.
PURPOSE: To draw a contrast between a traditional approach to supervision and a new way of looking at how to use supervision time.
EXAMPLE: When we get together as a group our purpose isn’t to put out fires, respond to crises or just to the business of the work. It’s to learn something new and to think critically together!

56. What Facilitated Group Supervision IS
Last updated: 9/7/12
What Facilitated Group Supervision IS
It’s basically a “learning environment.”
It’s a place to:
Think
Learn
Reflect
Collaborate
Offer mutual support
GROW
PURPOSE: To offer a new way to think about group supervision.
EXAMPLE:
These are only some possibilities.
Can you think of others?
Andrew Turnell says that child welfare suffers from a crisis of vision. One of the best ways to align with our vision and purpose is to have time to reflect and critically think about our practice.
What is working?
What could we try to do differently?
How could we try a new approach?

57. What Facilitated Group Supervision Can Look Like
Last updated: 9/7/12
What Facilitated Group Supervision Can Look Like
Small groups, meeting regularly, focused on dialogue, experimentation, and group learning.
It offers opportunities for lots of different kinds of learning:
Sharing a piece of work and reflecting on why it worked and what the challenges were.
Mapping sessions to dive deeply into a case and critically think through it together.
Practicing solution-focused questions with each other.
Applying SDM assessment tools to a case.
PURPOSE: To offer ideas about how group supervision could be used.
EXAMPLE:
These are just some ideas for ways a group supervision meeting could be used.
Can you think of others?
Could this same approach be used in manager meetings, supervisor meetings, or case reviews?

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Closing Activity
Form groups of four or five and select one person to be the facilitator.
The facilitator will set the stage using the first five steps of the facilitation process.
For step six, practice the appreciative inquiry questions by going around the group and having everyone answer the AI questions (including the facilitator!)
Facilitators: Help move your group to step seven – next steps and step 8 – a plus/delta.
PURPOSE: To provide a closing activity that brings all of the concepts from this module together.
TRAINING NOTES:
Allow for minutes for this activity.
Participants will use the “Closing Activity” handout.
One person should be the facilitator.
Try to cap the groups at four to five people max.
The facilitator will set the stage, going through the first five steps of the facilitation process.
The facilitator will then facilitate the group answering questions – one round at a time.
When all four rounds are complete, the facilitator should complete the seventh and eighth steps of the facilitation process.
Come back together and debrief the exercise as a large group:
What did they learn that they might not have if this facilitation process wasn’t followed?
Did the structure allow for more creativity and deeper discussion?
What was challenging about this exercise?
How might you change it in the future if you were to practice facilitating a conversation or a meeting at work?

59. One last thing: Thinking ahead
Last updated: 9/7/12
One last thing: Thinking ahead
In pairs:
What is one thing you heard today that you value or makes sense to you?
What are you already doing to put that into action in your work?
What else would you like to do to “land it” even more in your work between now and next time?
PURPOSE: Help people make the transition from training to actual work.
TRAINER NOTE:
After all the exercises you may have a group of tired people so make this an “in-the-moment” decision. This is a useful slide to end these small modules on when folks have energy to do it.
This can be a very brief conversation (two minutes). See if you can get two to four people to share their thoughts or just share as a large group.

60. Opportunities for Practice
Last updated: 9/7/12
Opportunities for Practice
EXAMPLE:
For next month, have participants think of any piece of work they have completed over the past year. This could be a story of how they engaged a family, a copy of a Three Houses or a Safety House, or a Danger Statement or a Safety Goal that really helped them work with a family.
It is important that you commit to or look at attempting some of these suggestions for practice over the next “x” weeks.
Your early adopter/supervisor/coach is available for support via phone or during that time.
Your early adopter/supervisor/coach can also provide a more formal in-person follow-up in “x” amount of time through attending a unit meeting or providing opportunities for lunch and learn, etc.
HANDOUT
Provide the “Things To Try” handout to the social workers and the “Coaching and Supervision Tips” to the supervisors.
Explain that at each session, a similar handout will be provided with ideas for simple things to try.
Participants can use this to keep track of what they have tried, and maybe even note what went well and what did not so they can learn from their experiences.
TRAINER NOTE
Some trainers like to move this slide to the front of the presentation so trainees can be thinking about the thing they will try during the next month.
Next month we will do a closing exercise. Please
bring a piece of work of which you are proud to Module 12

61. Last updated: 9/7/12
References
Cooperrider, D. L., & Whitney, D. Appreciative Inquiry: A positive revolution in change. In P. Holman & T. Devane (eds.), The Change Handbook. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 245–263. Handout by Philip Decter, MSW. For more on appreciative inquiry please see: Farson, R. (2002) Whoever makes the most mistakes wins. Free Press. Gallup Organization – Strengths-Based Leadership Glisson & Hemmelgarn, Glisson, Hammond, S. (1998) The thin book of appreciative inquiry. Thin Book Publishing Company, 6–7. Heath, C. & D. (2008) Made to Stick, Random House. Rath, T. (2010) Strengths Based Leadership. Gallup Press. Turnell, A. (in press). Building a culture of appreciative inquiry around child protection practice. Draft chapter in Turnell, A. (in press) Building safety in child protection practice: Working with a strengths and solution focus in an environment of risk; Palagrave-Macmillian. Contact author at for more info.