Award for Excellence
Sheryl Bailey, CCAP and Nick Burrows, CCAP
Eastern Idaho Community Action Partnership
www.eicap.org
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 2005 - 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
 https://sites.google.com/a/eicap.org/award/
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
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
Employee Engagement
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
Metric
Goal
Type
Factor
Bench
mark
Q1
Q1
Q3
1
Max
Aggr.
1
2
Max
Aggr.
3
Max
Aggr.
4
Max
Unique
Q4
Adj.
YTD
500
166
206
263
27
662
162
132%
1
6250
3284
879
0
2176
6339
89
101%
1
66
8
13
0
46
67
1
102%
$854
$1,153
$891
$635
$706
$854
$0
100%
Strategy Score
Diff.
%
Diff.
109%
Agency Scorecard
Goal 1
Strategy
Strategy
Goal 2
Strategy
Goal 3
Strategy
Strategy
Low-income people become more self-sufficient.
Provide services that reduce barriers for at-risk
Score
individuals and families.
Facilitate life skills training, education, and
Score
other opportunities.
109%
100%
The conditions in which low-income people live are improved.
106%
Provide opportunities that improve the quality
Score
of life for residents throughout our service area.
Low-income people own a stake in their
community.
78%
Involve participants in program development
Score
from design to delivery.
119%
Empower and encourage individuals to create Score
and maintain safe neighborhoods.
Annual Report
 Outputs from the Scorecard then feed directly into the Annual Report
Contact Information
 Russ Spain – rspain@eicap.org
 Nick Burrows – nburrows@eicap.org
 Sheryl Bailey – sbailey@eicap.org
Any Questions???