Helpline Center
Report date
April 2019
What has been most instrumental to your progress?
This past year the network has experienced tremendous growth with the addition of new partner agencies. The continued collaboration among partner agencies have been instrumental in making progress with our grant objective of growing the network. Each new partner agency brings a new dynamic to the network in the scope of services offered and referrals made within the network. There have been numerous inquiries about joining the network; however, a key component to the progress has been the importance of sitting down with these agencies first in what is called an exploration meeting. During these exploration meetings, we are clear on the expectations of the network from aspect that joining HCNC involves collaborating with others. Some inquiries have been more interested in only gaining access to the software, but not as interested in the sharing aspect with other agencies. We are clear that we work to customize the software as much as we can to meet their needs, but they also need to be part of the network in terms of collaborating and referring to other partner agencies. The exploration meetings help lay a solid foundation of understanding of the network’s purpose, and expectations.
A second key component to success is utilizing the data from the past two years to show partner agencies the value of utilizing all components of the system. As we have learned the system on a deeper level, network staff has been able to demonstrate different ways to utilize the system to better understand the entire picture of the system. For example, partner agencies started by only documenting a service when they were able to meet with an individual. They were not documenting all the times someone called for assistance, but the agency was not able to assist. Over the last year with the use of data, we have shown partner agencies the importance of documenting that request as an unmet need to better paint the picture of needs in our community. As a result, partner agencies are adjusting their processes to better capture all of their service requests not only the ones they are able to meet.
A third key component is the continued involvement of the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee has been instrumental in the project making progress by providing guidance and direction to keep our growth on target and manageable. They continue to provide support, ideas, and connections as we look to find sustainable funding partners.
Key lessons learned
A key lesson we learned is a continued persistence and belief in the work does result in success. The first two years of the Helpline Center Network of Care required the belief that this is possible, and if we stay true to the idea of a coordinated social service system, success will happen. We started to see glimpses of this success towards the end of year two, but in year three, the Helpline Center Network of Care is now part of the community conversation being viewed as a game changer. Agencies are reaching out to us to learn more as they have heard about it from other agencies or at other community meetings. A new challenge is to manage the timelines of those wishing to join and our staff’s capacity to on-board them.
A second key lesson learned is the challenge of prioritization. As the system administrator of a collaborative network, prioritizing is key. The importance of prioritizing multiple requests such as a partner agency request for a new custom report to working on a new agency joining the network to pulling data for funders interested in the work we are doing. Prioritization is key to continued growth and success. We’ve learned the importance of providing timelines when a request comes in to make sure each player understands the request and when that request will be completed.
Reflections on inclusive, collaborative or resourceful problem-solving
The most important element in our work is collaborative. The success of the Helpline Center Network of Care is built on collaboration. As we have grown, we have learned that partner agencies rely on the network as much as the network relies on their participation. When a key decision needs to be made for the growth or sustainability of the network, the decision ultimately lands on the Helpline Center as the system administrator, but it is important to bring the partner agencies along to educate them, allowing their input, and providing an opportunity to respond to the final decision. The network is not successful because of any one agency or person, it is successful because there are 16 partner agencies and 90 end users working together to better serve the needs of our community.
Other key elements of Community Innovation
Another key element in our community process is change. Change is necessary for innovation, but change is hard. The Helpline Center Network of Care has initiated major change in our community from a client perspective to an agency perspective to a community perspective. For the network to fully reach its potential, each player must be willing to change. At the start of our work, there was resistance to change because people believed that this project was too large - too big of an idea, but with continued hard work, dedication, and commitment of all players, change is happening, and the initial resistance has lessened with the recognition that change is possible and beneficial.
Understanding the problem
One grant objective was to analyze the first two years of data. We partnered with an outside research institute to complete this analysis for 2017 and 2018. We recently received the data analysis back, and the initial review of the data brings much clarity to the need of our work to develop a coordinated social service system. Over the next month, we are looking forward to diving into this data to truly understand it and identify areas of innovation. Our intent is to create a one-page summary of the data that we an use to share in the community to build awareness and support.
If you could do it all over again...
One piece of advice is to stay true to the work and the scope of the project. As the network has grown, we continue to have additional requests by different entities to integrate parts of the software for a singular vision of that entity. Though the goal of the network is growth, this type of growth would monopolize network staff’s time ultimately slowing down the overall growth of the network in its intended way. Saying no to a potential partner is hard when collaboration is key, but remaining true to the intent of the collaboration is key to successful growth.