The Secrets to a Flourishing Agency
The detentions world is changing fundamentally, leading to dramatic shifts in an agency leadership approach to solutions. It's now a whole package, wrapped inside a defined series of critical discussions
In vision workshop conversations with corrections leaders, identifying their challenges, then offering insights for solutions is only the beginning of a holistic approach and one that truly shines. Such an approach allows us to take a detailed view of the entire agency while still listening to the individual requirements, ultimately breaking down roadblocks and positioning the agency to win for the future.
These focus on nine steps, which include.
1. Assessment: Provide a holistic review of the operation of the entire agency, including current applications, technology, and outcome-focused services. Detention stakeholders are usually leaders that happen to have responsibility for technology decisions. Therefore, they need to have a keen understanding of the scope and dynamics and what is differentiating and what is not.
2. Roadmap: Use the options and recommendations from the assessment to provide a roadmap. The roadmap outlines a priority and accurate valuations that ultimately drive you towards a proper alignment.
3. Execute: This is where the rubber hits the road for your entire agency. Leadership will learn more about themselves through this action than anything else they do.
4. Re-Assess & Adjust: As the agency starts down the execution path, lessons learned will bring adjustments. Those adjustments will span primarily with organizational skill gaps, a comprehensive understanding and buy-in of your processes, and judged by compliance. Continual improvement is a crucial hallmark to staying in tune with the changing demands of corrections.
It's about one thing. RESULTS.
Results are born from a transformation plan that addresses the agency's needs while achieving overall goals. These results come from meaningful discussions centering around topics including;
5. Dump the Status Quo: This is an area of significant importance these days, particularly aspirations and agency culture change. A strong example is raising the bar and agency performance expectations regarding the daily management of their inmate's needs. Leading this charge are those agency leaders who are "acutely aware of the potential consequences" if the agency fails to meet compliance standards. Thus, they won't get trapped by the lackluster policy norms and the status quo.
6. Policy and Procedure Differentiation: Consider which current policies and procedures followed are most consistent, using them as examples to incorporate additional differentiators within your agency. Focus on a technology platform that supports a shift in common behaviors to meet or exceed necessary standards.
7. Aligning Agency Strategy: Determine what tools enable best practices and catapult the agency's overall strategy. When making a technology shift, consider what platform brings a direct positive value to empower the detention staff. If your current tools do not, there is much to consider and ultimately gain through proper alignment that will welcome change. With so much demand on detention officers and leadership alike, a real focus should be on changes that bring the highest value while aligning with agency objectives.
8. Skip the status quo Vendor - Strategic Partner Selection & Management: Determining a technology provider is not like every other vendor relationship. It's more intimate and critical, as it will be crossing more sectors, touching more users, and is more important to your culture than some realize. As a result, vendor selection and post-implementation relationship management come into sharp focus over who can provide solutions.
Challenge it with a dive deep into not only what to expect upfront but what value post-implementation strategies come to the table. You will quickly discover there is no substitute for an advanced partner who is not only a leading-edge innovator but offers an ongoing process and possesses the vision to create constantly desired outcomes.
9. More Innovation Discussion: Actively seek ways to adopt new solutions and methodologies for continuous learning and improvement. Understand the value of ongoing dialog, and in training, particularly with new hires. These will continue to challenge traditional thinking and prove critical to staying ahead of the performance curve.