2013 National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference: The Top 3 Things I Took Away from This Summer’s Conference

Every summer, for almost a decade now, the Conference on Ending Homelessness put together by the National Alliance to End Homelessness in Washington, DC has been a highlight for me. It has become a tradition. It reinvigorates me. It teaches me. It reminds me why we do this work – day in and day out.

There is no way to fully capture in this blog everything that was discussed at the conference. If you search the hash tag #naeh13 you can see the thread of some of the most dominant themes by some rather prolific tweeters.

In this blog, I wanted to reflect on the top three things that I took away from the conference this year – which may also be of interest to those unable to attend:

1. Success is possible.

It is inspiring to see the success of communities like New Orleans on track to end chronic homelessness. It is invigorating to see the results of the 100K Homes campaign, especially the 43 communities in the 2.5% club. It is refreshing to hear how communities like Grand Rapids and Cleveland made the necessary, but difficult, decisions to properly coordinate access into their homeless service delivery system. It is awesome to hear how organizations like UMOM in Phoenix transformed their resources to focus on serving people with higher acuity and many barriers to housing stability.

And I could go on. For anyone who feels that the job of working to end homelessness is an impossible task, take the time to look at those that are seeing success. But I should point out that each of these communities had to make tough choices to not provide business as usual. Success came from doing things differently – not doing the same things but expecting different results.

2. There is still confusion of some key concepts and terms

It is unfortunate – but an opportunity for improvement – to help people get greater clarity on several key concepts and terms: Housing First; Rapid Re-Housing; Prevention; Diversion; Acuity; Assessment; Collaboration; Case Management; Permanent Supportive Housing. For each of these, I encountered it used incorrectly on more than one occasion. If we are going to move forward collectively in the pursuit of ending homelessness, I think it will be important to all get on the same page when it comes to the concepts and terms used quite frequently. If we aren’t all on the same page, chances are we will think we are talking about the same things when we are not, or drawing upon a body of evidence and data in an incomplete or incorrect manner.

While I have addressed many of these in blogs and videos on our website, I think a consolidated glossary would probably be helpful too. I should really get on that.

3. Good data results in good decisions

The conference reinforced the importance of data many, many times. Data will only continue to become more important for decision-making as funding remains stagnant or decreases. And it is becoming more and more important for philanthropic investments.

It was encouraging to see communities like Tulsa use data so effectively for increasing the housing stock while also demonstrating social return on investment. It was excellent to see the likes of San Francisco demonstrate, through data, the relationship between the child welfare system and homelessness – and when the support intervention may work best. It was helpful to see how USICH and HUD both shared data to demonstrate where there has been effectiveness, and where improvements still need to be made.

It is a real delight to attend the Alliance conferences and learn. The next conference focuses on homeless youth and families and is being held in New Orleans in February. Stay tuned to endhomelessness.org to get more information – it is time and scarce money well invested!

5 Considerations for Making Collaboration Work

I have previously written about collaboration and its importance in another post. I want to take it a step further in this blog, providing you five considerations for making collaboration work in your community or organization – whether that collaboration be for the purposes of planning or implementation.

1. Agree on How You Will Communicate With Each Other

Your collaboration should be about participants focusing on ideas, not chasing each other down, having “offline” conversations, contributing to the rumor mill, or engaging in the politics of difference through talk in order to gain power. Determine in advance who will talk to whom, when and the frequency for doing so. Make sure people know the process for how this will occur, and that communication outside of this process will be seen as a violation of the collaboration.

I know this may sound rigid. But the truth is, many great ideas, plans, and programs go completely sideways solely because of communication errors.

2. Ensure Creative Conflict

Creative conflict is both powerful and productive. Many successful collaborations have also found this to be necessary. Having creative conflict doesn’t mean collaborators badger each other or act disrespectfully. All it really means is that there will be stimulating, fun and innovative ways to ensure people move beyond quiet politeness or other forms of holding back from contributing. When people are “all in” there is a better change that the collaboration will reap better rewards because each person had to put their best ideas forward…being both vulnerable and potentially rewarded for doing so.

3. Be Deliberate and Thoughtful in Figuring Out With Whom You are Collaborating

People collaborating should have a purpose for doing so. It isn’t about having a passing interest or simply volunteering. Some planning and implementation fails because great efforts went into getting “inclusive” participation rather than focusing on who has a vested interest as well as the skills, experience, motivation and compatibility with others that they will be collaborating with. Collaboration isn’t for everyone. Not all people/organizations are willing or able to blend their perspectives with others or share success/failure from what comes out of the collaboration. Furthermore, people that feel they have to be there rather than wanting to be there will not be as fully invested as it may be hoped. Finally, position power (an Executive) may have been the traditional “go to” person for the collaboration, but ultimately the level of experience or type of thinking you really need is not at the most senior level of the organization you are hoping to collaborate with. Look at the qualities of the collaborator, not just the job title.

4. Have a Defined Process

Collaboration requires structure. Random brainstorms don’t work long term. Without attention to participation methods there is a greater likelihood of a smaller number of the group dominating the conversation or idea generation – or both. A range of facilitation techniques are necessary to be effective when working with diverse collaborators as they rarely get fully involved or invested in just one approach. For your collaboration to succeed you need to ensure that the people (and whether or not delegates are allowed), processes and resources are well-defined in advance so that people can focus on actually collaborating, not managing or responding to logistics.

5. Make Certain There is Accountability

Collaborations should try to focus on equitable, reliable participation from the collaborators. Deadlines are a must – and deadlines only really work if there is some type of consequence to meeting the deadline. Working respectfully means there has to be an onus to complete tasks or activities that each collaborator (or group of collaborators) agrees to accomplish. Trust and morale goes out the window if accountability is violated. Double standards, delegating by omission (not completing tasks and watching others swoop in before deadlines to ensure it gets done), ungrounded postponements, etc. all kill effective collaborations.

The Three R’s of Mindset in Human Services and How Each One Impacts our Perspective and Approach

Whether it is direct service, working with community partners to improve the service system, government policy, or funding – you have to consider the three R’s of your mindset. Each one impacts your perspective and approach. One of the R’s is proven to get better results than the others – though it should be acknowledged that none of them are perfect.

Retribution

We need to get out of the mindset of retribution. Coercion, threats, intimidation, and/or undue pressure do not result in everlasting change, positive results, “buy-in”, trust or sustainable relationships. It also neutralizes the possibility of creating an opportunity for dialogue when there are divergent points of view.

Reciprocity

We need to get out of the mindset of reciprocity. Bargaining, paybacks, obligation through ingratiation, “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”, and/or trade-offs do not result in transparent decision-making. It also fails to take into account that agents involved in the deal making change, as do the circumstances and stakes of what is being reciprocated. An approach that uses reciprocity also runs the risk of someone or organization being asked to bend their rules, amend their values, or turn a blind eye when what they are being asked to reciprocate collides with who or what they truly are – but there is a feeling of owing.

Reasoning

Reasoning is the preferred approach that results in better, longer-lasting, sustainable, transparent and defensible approaches to engagement. With a reasoning mindset there is a presentation of facts (not opinions), an appeal to values, an appreciation of the goals of others (and when and when there is not the possibility of alignment between them), and, an intentional approach to have the mindset fit neatly with the assessed/understood needs of the other party.

As you engage with others, think about your tactics that ground your mindset. Yes, reasoning takes longer. Yes, there are unreasonable people/organizations that fail to agree with facts. But I would be happy to have anybody else know my reasons whereas with reciprocity and retribution I’m not so sure. I would also be happy to know that I prepared and presented facts that were considered and perhaps dismissed, rather than just expecting another person or organization to do something because they were told to or felt indebted to me.

Half a Year Left to be Totally Amazing

Earlier this year, I wrote this piece about 15 things to stop doing if you want to end homelessness. It is the most popular blog and video post I’ve ever created – by a large margin. It has also become a popular keynote address at conferences. Here we are at the start of July. With 6 months to go in 2013, here are five ideas to make the rest of 2013 totally amazing:

1. Toss out one useless policy or practice

Your organization/community has at least one unnecessary policy or practice that sucks up time. You may not even know why you have certain policies or practices…they just have always been there. If it doesn’t help you do your job better (and you won’t go to jail or lose your funding) get rid of the inefficient and ineffective policies and practices. (HINT: if you don’t know where to start, take a gander at your intake form.)

2. Start doing at least one thing differently/better

Unless you are perfect, there is a different or better way that you can be doing at least one thing in your job. Get at it and before the year is over you will be glad that you did. Oh, and don’t worry about getting it perfect on paper before you roll up your sleeves and give it a whirl.

3. Add one more skill or piece of knowledge related to your work that will challenge you to be even better at celebrating your passion

You’ve heard the cliché “work smarter, not harder” – and yet I bet you still feel over-worked and under-paid. Too many times people talk about what they would like to learn more about, but then come up with excuses related to their schedule, work demands, etc. that interfere with doing so. No more excuses. Commit to learning and/or practicing one new thing before the year is through. You get personal satisfaction from it – well, if the training doesn’t suck – and your coworkers, other professional colleagues and clients will benefit from it as well.

4. Solve one communication issue

Poor communication is one of the biggest barriers to accomplishment. Have meetings that zap your will to live? Change the way you meet. Have emails from staff or coworkers that read more like novels? Be clear how you best handle written materials from those that pass them your way. Keep avoiding conflict in order to keep the peace? Learn how to speak through the issue so you can resolve it. Have a supervisor that always seems to be picking your performance apart? Tell them how you best respond to criticism in a way that helps you grow. Have clients that seem to be trying to track you down constantly? Let them know when and how it is best to reach you –  and that you aren’t available 24/7. No one will solve your communication issues for you, even if it is the biggest challenge that you have day in and day out. Only you can communicate to others how best to communicate with you.

5. Every day do your job in a way that is worthy of the highest esteem of those around you

Be the most awesome you. Make the difference that you are capable of making. Don’t underestimate your potential to be awesome. You will never know all of the lives you are impacting. Never doubt that even what seems to be your smallest contributions may be a large inspiration to those that see you do it to the best of your potential.

Huh?

Dedicated to my pal Andy Burns who started a rather hilarious Facebook chat on how the next person who used the phrase “take it to the next level” was going to get punched in the taco.

Once communities started the job of organizing homeless and housing programs to operate services like a system instead of a collection of projects/programs, it has invited business jargon into human services unlike anything I have ever seen.  What am I talking about?

I’m talking about a data-driven paradigm shift to create a win-win in the interface between the service users and providers. After some blue skying about how to make the process run smoother, what most communities found is that they had to double back to the parking lot to take another look for the obvious – assuming they still had the bandwidth to do so and leaving the kimono open didn’t reveal that the Emperor had no clothes.

Change initiatives like this are really about squaring the circle. It’s a fact that most CoC’s came to the realization that if they didn’t step up by the time the rubber hit the road they’d be facing a perfect storm. And anybody worth their salt knows that when you are facing stiff headwinds it is best to put the mirror shoulder high, focus on core competencies and stick to knitting. All of this may sound like a broken record to you, but this is the only way known to move the needle.

When that needle starts to move, hold onto your cookies. Coloring outside the lines is the only strategy that makes sense if you want to get the ROI you know that everyone deserves. Hard to know if that means more boots on the ground, but it does mean more synergies – and let’s just embrace that sometimes 1+1 has to equal 3. Who steps up to the plate in the community to make that happen, though, is really the $64,000 question. But let’s not confuse putting a stake in the ground with putting lipstick on a pig. If we don’t take a “ready, fire, aim” approach, “hope” will be confused with “strategy”.

You may feel like a hamster on the wheel in the early days, but before you know it, our hard work will make it feel like we’re drinking from a fire hose. If we do this right – and I know we will – we have to be prepared for this whole thing to go viral. Sure, we have to be prepared for some pushback – but let’s take it as a sign that people are just resisting change. Our juggernaut is going to take some basic blocking and tackling, but we have left no stone unturned in the idea department, and we have to believe from soup to nuts there’s nothing we aren’t ready for. Look into your heart of hearts and you can feel we have a winner here…once the loop is closed we can hang our hats on this important moment in our careers, and if we want to take it to the next level, everyone knows this is completely scalable.

Yup. Good luck with that. Whatever that is. 

Bat Shit Crazy (And Other Common Excuses)

John, the support worker says, “I can’t help him. He’s bat shit crazy.” 

Elaine, the case manager says, “He was in the army. He’s a trained killer. When he’s off his meds I won’t go near him.”

Tony, the case advocate says, “She’s always drunk. There’s no point trying to do a home visit if she’s smashed.”

Alex, the peer worker says, “Until he hits rock bottom like I did, there’s no point in even trying.”

Know what the problem I have with all of these? None of them are truly person-centered. Each one is an excuse of why not to serve someone. None of them exhibit the creativity and tenacity I expect to see in housing support programs if success is to be achieved.

It has been said that success is a lot like pregnancy. People want to congratulate you when you achieve it. But they don’t know how many times you’ve been screwed to get there.

No housing support process is perfect. But that doesn’t mean we can’t keep focused on success regardless of how many issues, missteps or barriers come up along the way. It is up to us to address and solve these issues to work effectively with our clients, not expect them to be someone they are not.

These and other excuses for not providing excellent service have been known to come up when I do training. I want to take just a few moments to dissect some of the critical steps that have to be taken to help ensure success in service delivery – whether that be helping people enter into housing or supporting them once there.

It is true that people have to provide informed consent to participate in a housing support program. Undoubtedly, some people with severe mental illness may have smaller windows of lucidity to enter into such a conversation. But that has more to do with us trying to find those opportunities rather than being consistently dismissive and thinking they will never be able to consent or actively participate.

When a person does have compromised mental wellness and is in the program, I also want to know what steps have been taken to help support the individual. Is the case manager trained on the Recovery orientation to effective service delivery? Do they know how to create a WRAP or DREEM with their client? Is there an up to date crisis plan in place? Has there been brokering and advocacy to community-based resources, from peer supports to mental health professionals?

All clients present potential risks to case workers, whether that is in community or doing home visits. Oh, and strangers present risks too in places like buses, night clubs, grocery stores, shopping malls, gas stations, rest stops, public parks, etc. It is up to us to practice impeccable community worker safety strategies and perform risk assessments that allow us to better identify what the specific risk may be and then determine the person, process or technology that will help lessen that risk. All human interactions come with some risks. It is also a fallacy that persons with mental illness are any more violent than the rest of society.

Some workers/organizations place a strong emphasis on their clients taking their medications. That is more about compliance than being person-centered, or in the case of mental illness, truly understanding or expressing empathy when it comes to psychotropic medications. Theside effects of some of the most common medications are quite astounding and vary from medication to medication. How comfortable would you be with things like weight gain, dry mouth, constipation, unusual dreams, muscle spasms, menstrual irregularity, lack of sexual desire, lethargy – or a host of other things that can greatly impact your day to day life? I’m not suggesting we should not be encouraging people to consider their medication options, but let us appreciate that it ain’t all sunshine and roses, and that you too – if you were in the same position – may be carefully weighing the impacts of the medications with its potential side effects.

When supporting someone who chronically uses substances like alcohol, I ask workers how they have changed their schedule to meet the needs of the client instead of unrealistically expecting sobriety at any point during the day? This is one of the reasons why a 9-5, Monday to Friday approach to doing this work really isn’t effective. Doing so implies that the people we are supporting can and will adjust their behaviors and daily cycles to our schedule. It may be that the person who drinks heavily needs you to come in the morning after they have had one or two to get rid of the shakes but before they are intoxicated. Or maybe they need you to come late in the afternoon or early evening after they have had a nap for their day drinks but before they ramp up for using in the evening.

And then there is good ol’ “rock bottom”. There is no commonly accepted clinical definition of “rock bottom”. People are capable of change regardless of where they are at in their behavior patterns. It is up to find ways to engage, without thinking any two people are the same. Being person-centered requires us to truly be focused on the individual; not to be comparing them to ourselves or other clients past or present.

Truth is, we can come up with effective strategies to succeed, or we can hide behind excuses to not properly perform the required job. I ask (beg?) housing support workers to embrace effective strategies. When success happens it no doubt will have come with some setbacks and missteps along the way…but success is still success nonetheless.