sdhost posted on June 20, 2011 06:21
Customer Profile
Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities, located in Toledo, Ohio and the surrounding area, has been using Six Disciplines for almost two years. The Board is a publicly funded government agency that provides support for both individuals and their families living with development disabilities.
The Challenge
Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities has struggled to find the right operational model. In recent years, many challenges have affected their operations. Drifting priorities and a lack of focus helped the core group of administrators realize that they needed structure to help focus.
The Solution
Six Disciplines has provided the coaching and framework to help the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities set a course on a journey toward talking about the right things, clarifying their Mission, Vision, and Values. This has helped Lucas County BDD verbalize what they needed to get back on track and redefine their purpose.
The Benefits
- Governing board of volunteers now has clarity
- Executive leadership team can now optimally balance urgency against importance
- Individuals and families are receiving more targeted and individually appropriate services
- Staff training and support were revamped
The Result
Six Disciplines has helped Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities to set the roadmap and accountability for their journey toward providing better services in a more efficient and effective manner.
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Detailed Customer Profile
Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities is located in Toledo, Ohio and provides early intervention through senior services to individuals and families living with developmental disabilities in Lucas County, Ohio. The board provides approximately 4,000 services daily, through 620 staff members, to individuals and families living with mental retardation, physical and cognitive disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and so on.
Lucas County BDD began using Six Disciplines almost two years ago.
The Problem
Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities has struggled for many years to find the right model, frequently operating without any model for years at a time. In recent years, increases in political, social, and economic challenges have affected their operations. They found that they needed a framework to help them focus their priorities. Leading to this point, Lucas County BDD was struggling to find consensus as a leadership team and finding the right balance between priorities and goals was problematic. Drifting priorities and a lack of focus, together with jeopardized funding, helped the core group of administrators realize that they needed additional structure to help them focus.
The Solution
Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities is confident that they are on a journey toward the solution, through the very positive work that they have done with their Six Disciplines coach. The framework and the coaching have helped them talk about the important things, the right things. They have clarified their Mission, their Vision, and their Values. The process has helped Lucas County BDD to verbalize what they needed to get back on track and redefine their purpose.
The Benefits
Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities has recognized the following benefits from
using Six Disciplines:
- The governing board of volunteers clearly understands the very important things, the things to which it is most important to pay attention. The Board has narrowed their focus to seven major goals and seven change initiatives.
- The executive leadership team stays focused on those same very important things,instead of letting the urgent issues override the important issues every time.
- Individuals and families receive services that are most important and meaningful to them, instead of having the Lucas County BDD try to be everything for everyone.
- Better focus on getting the individual with the disability connected to the community and fostering an inclusive community has added great clarity to their purpose.
- Deeper support was made available to the staff, refocused staff training, and helping staff members through challenging changes has evolved from the realization that they have not, in the past, been appropriately investing in their own staff.
- Saving time is still a work in progress. They have spent much time analyzing what they need to be doing and what they need to stop doing because of ineffectiveness. This has frequently been challenging because of the historical structure and culture, which are resistant to change.
- Financially, they are seeing benefits from implementing a new way of budgeting, focusing on matching the resources to the initiatives, and using a filter to challenge whether each proposed initiative reinforces the mission statement.
What Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities has to say about Six Disciplines:
"The experience of self-realizing that we’ve been spinning our wheels for a long time and getting myself organized has been tough."~ John Trunk, Superintendent
"The managers feel that this has helped us get organized, to spend money a little wiser, to not get caught up in potential, but to be more methodical."
"This is a process that requires discipline, difficult conversations, and lots of focus. Our initial skepticism that the model could be applied to our business has been overcome."
"More than anything, [using Six Disciplines has] resulted in a sharper focus on our customer. The reorganization from 14 managers to 4 will be a big personal benefit, but will also help change how we do business. Faster decisions and communicating our priorities and strategic direction will help create a more consistent message for the community. It has the potential for helping us get more streamlined, efficient, and effective."
"I have no regrets. I would absolutely do it again." ~–John Trunk, Superintendent