Center Case Conferencing on Improvement and Learning

From the Case Conferencing Action Pack

Find your next improvement project

• Hunt for themes on the by-name list: Sort by “This Week’s Obstacles” or your barrier field. What recurring themes do you see? When an obstacle is affecting multiple clients, you know it’s time to scope an improvement project and make a change.
  • To read more about the “This Week’s Obstacle” field, see Optimize your By-Name list for case conferencing: Create fields to capture learning and commitments.
  • Set an aim for your improvement project that will eliminate or reduce this problem.
  • Get concrete for the project measure: Count how many people on the by-name list are currently affected by the problem, and measure success by how that number is reduced.
  • Example #1: Imagine that you are case conferencing clients who are matched to a resource. You sort by the “This Week’s Obstacles” field and find that eleven people have seen their applications rejected by landlords in the past month. Run some tests of change. If successful, you may see the number of affected clients drop from eleven to six. Ultimately your housing placements rate will rise as a result.
  • Example #2: If you sort by the “This Week’s Obstacles” field and find that many of your clients cannot be located, consider scoping an improvement project related to outreach. You might check if your system is adding clients to the by-name list too quickly. Test your theory, quickly confirm or refute it, then move onto a solution that will help these clients.
  • Example #3: If you notice in case conferencing that many clients are waiting for a unit inspection, run an improvement project to reduce the inspection times. Get as specific about the problem as you can before you get creative with solutions.
  • Look for themes on a recurring basis, perhaps after each case conferencing meeting but no less than once a month. Create a healthy system by recognizing issues quickly and reacting even quicker.
    
• Some other ways to find your next improvement project in the by-name list after case conferencing:
  • Sort by length of time on the by-name list, then figure: What percentage of clients have been on it for 0-1 month?; 1-3 months?; 3-6 months?; over 6 months? If one segment is significantly larger than others, isolate the clients inside that segment, study their data, look for patterns, and get curious about why your system isn’t working for them. Scope an improvement project that addresses these people first. As your system becomes optimized, the largest segment should become 0-1 month.
  • Sort by provider: If one is over-represented, do they need support? If one is underrepresented, can they offer resources or help to others?

Build the will to improve system architecture

• If you are still developing a quality by-name list: Improve your case conferencing practice now, as it will help you house people faster even before you have quality data. Don’t wait!
  • Earn buy-in for developing quality data by observing in case conferencing meetings when you could make a better decision or move faster if you had a better data infrastructure. One benefit of a quality by-name list is that you should be able to exchange more information outside coordination meetings.
    
• Replace verbal updates with offline data collection: If updates are taking up a large portion of your meeting, then ask what info you could collect before the meeting. Test several approaches to data collection or meeting prep to find one that consistently works.
  
• Look for system tune-up opportunities: If the by-name list you’re using in case conferencing frequently contains errors, outdated information, missing names, or names that should no longer be on the list, then troubleshoot the issue with your data team. Don’t just “clean the list”; change the underlying issue that necessitated a clean-up!
  
• Uncover convoluted processes: Case conferencing conversations frequently reveal parts of your housing process that are inefficient or just plain broken. One signal: When your team is brainstorming, and complicated workarounds are required for the client to reach the next step, then it’s a sign that you have a process problem. Another signal is routine staff complaints. Record the issue and begin testing changes. Lift it up to system leaders, if helpful.

Connect to your leadership team

• Hand learning up to the leadership team: As your case conferencing practice learns about a system improvement that would help house people—or redirect new people from entering the homelessness response system—communicate it succinctly to a relevant leadership team. Consider the basic format, We’re noticing ____, and the system will work better if you help us change ____. This cycle helps leadership clear the path and make systems improvements.
  
• Designate a leadership team liaison: Invite a systems-level leader to regularly attend case conferencing meetings, understand system barriers and challenges, and take the understanding back to the leadership team for problem solving and path-clearing.
  • Complete the loop: Ask this liaison to provide regular updates back to the case conferencing group on actions the leadership team is taking to address the challenges they’ve found.
    
• Generate a running report: Capture systems barriers and challenges and share it with the leadership team after each meeting. Use cloud-based software like Google Docs so both groups can provide real-time updates.

Develop leadership skills across your coalition

• Make it a training program: Consider how to setup your meeting so that experienced, successful case managers are modeling their behaviors, thought processes, and resource connections for newer case managers. Many agencies see high turnover, and this meeting can reinforce training for new hires.
  
• Make it a leadership lab: Consider how key members of your team can use this meeting to build leadership skills. Action-oriented case conferencing requires creative problem solving skills, strategic thinking, systems thinking, project management, driving for results, group decision-making, conflict resolution, and improvement mindsets. How can you invite people into practicing or growing those competencies so that they are one day ready to lead a team?