Workforce Priorities:
How to Attract, Hire, and Retain the Right People for Today’s Behavioral Health World
New York State behavioral health agencies are facing unprecedented challenges. Through health care transformation, agencies are now expected to embrace approaches that are recovery oriented and person centered, trauma-informed, and of course integrate physical and behavioral health. Now, coupled with the reality of COVID and its economic impacts, it is essential that agencies are efficient, agile, and still closely aligned with the priorities of licensing bodies, payors, and other funders.
In this webinar series, we will talk about how your agency can use Human Resources to attract, hire, and retain a workforce that will help you deliver high-quality services and accomplish your goals. Each webinar will be accompanied by the release of resources that can be used to further support your work.
Webinar Offerings
Using Human Resources Strategically to Support Health Care Transformation
Release Date: June 23rd 2020
Presenter: Glenn Courounis and Naomi Weinstein
This webinar served as an introduction to the 6-part webinar series entitled: "Workforce Priorities: how to attract, hire, and retain the right people for today’s behavioral health world". During this webinar, participants can expect to learn how to harness the power of Human Resources to align agency workforces with the goals of health care transformation.
Getting the Right People in the Door
Release Date: July 16th 2020
Presenter: Glenn Courounis, Edye Schwartz, and Naomi Weinstein
This webinar discussed how to attract and identify top talent for your agency. Topics included branding and interviewing skills and questions, including behavioral interviewing. Viewers also heard from a former Executive Director on how she used HR to bring together a team of senior leaders and front line staff committed to recovery in mental illness.
Organizational Culture
Release Date: July 30th 2020
Presenter: Glenn Courounis, Edye Schwartz, and Naomi Weinstein
This webinar discussed the different dimensions of organizational culture that play a role in attracting and retaining top staff. The webinar also explored both culture visible to outsiders (mission, vision, and values), as well as the more internal "what it's like to work here." Presenters will also talk about the importance of leadership in establishing and maintaining culture, and how to honestly assess your own organizational culture.
Interviewing Tools
Release Date: August 13th 2020
Presenter: Naomi Weinstein
In this pre-recorded webinar, viewers will receive a brief overview of the toolkit being released as part of the Workforce Priorities, along with a more detailed introduction to a packet of recommended questions that can be used when interviewing candidates to get a more in-depth understanding and skills about recovery-oriented, trauma-informed, whole health approaches to supporting people with behavioral health challenges. Discussion will also incorporate information on current best practices in interviewing.
Managing Performance
Release Date: September 17th 2020
Presenter: Glenn Courounis, Edye Schwartz, and Naomi Weinstein
In this webinar, our presenters will talk about managing performance for all staff: coaching, corrective action and appraising performance, accountability, and engagement. Tips for managing high, middle, and low performers will also be discussed. Special focus will be given to performance indicators that can be used to monitor adherence to the principles of recovery oriented person centered services, trauma-informed care and integrated behavioral and physical health.
Employee Engagement
Release Date: October 1st 2020
Presenter: Glenn Courounis, Edye Schwartz, and Naomi Weinstein
This webinar will look at some of the ways we can spark people's passion for their jobs and help maximize their commitment to our agency and reduce staff turnover. The presentation will focus on both organizational strategies as well as things team leaders can do at the program level. Resources such as an Organizational Culture tool, and a tip sheet on Employee Retention Strategies will also be introduced.
When Values Align: Human Resource Tools to Help your Organization Hire and Support Mission-Aligned Staff
Release Date: October 15th 2020
Presenter: Amy Mendenhall and Naomi Weinstein
In this webinar, participants will be introduced to a Mission Alignment Human Resources Toolkit, a set of resources designed in a collaboration between ICL and researchers from the University of Kansas. This toolkit includes a pre-employment screening tool, interview questions, and performance measures, all designed to ensure alignment between staff and the behavioral health approaches of recovery-oriented, person-centered services, trauma-informed care, and a focus on whole health. Panelists will include representatives from ICL and a researcher from the University of Kansas.
Supplemental Resources
Promoting a Recovery-focused Workplace: Getting the Right People in the Door
Release Date: July 16th 2020
This supplemental resource expands on the content discussed during the “Getting the Right People in the Door” webinar where we talked about how to attract and identify top talent for your agency. It also covers how an organization can take steps towards promoting a recovery-focused workplace.
Leadership as a Driving Force in Organizational Culture
Release Date: July 30th 2020
This supplemental resource expands on the content discussed during the “Organizational Culture” webinar. It also outlines the seven principles of leadership that are critical to the development and sustainability of an effective and efficient recovery-focused organization.
Recovery and Organizational Culture: Is Your Agency Ready to Make a Change?
Release Date: July 30th 2020
This supplemental resource expands on the content discussed during the “Organizational Culture” webinar. It also provides conversation starters for program leaders to think through existing organizational culture and to identify what may need to be modified in order to achieve a more recovery-centric approach.
Interviewing Tools: Sample Job Descriptions to Promote a Recovery-Focused Workplace
Release Date: August 13th 2020
This supplementary resource outlines the components of a job description and offers examples of effective job descriptions.
Interviewing Tools: Recommended Interviewing Questions on Recovery-Focused and Person-Centered Care
Release Date: August 13th 2020
This supplementary resource provides examples of questions that will help guide interviewers interested in exploring candidate’s skills, knowledge, and attitudes towards recovery and person-centered care.
Interviewing Tools: Recommended Interviewing Questions on Recovery-Focused and Person-Centered Care
Release Date: August 13th 2020
This supplementary resource provides examples of questions that will help guide interviewers interested in exploring candidate’s skills, knowledge, and attitudes towards recovery and person-centered care.
Interviewing Tools: Recommended Interviewing Questions on Trauma-Informed Approaches
Release Date: August 13th 2020
This supplementary resource provides examples of questions that will help guide interviewers interested in exploring candidate’s skills, knowledge, and attitudes towards trauma-informed approaches.
Interviewing Tools: Recommended Interviewing Questions on Whole Health/Integration of Physical and Behavioral Health
Release Date: August 13th 2020
This supplementary resource provides examples of questions that will help guide interviewers interested in exploring candidate’s skills, knowledge, and attitudes towards physical and behavioral health care.
Is Corrective Action Appropriate? A Guide
Release Date: September 17th 2020
This supplementary resource is a guide for supervisors to determine if corrective action is an appropriate next step when working with staff.
Sample Performance Assessment and Measures
Release Date: September 17th 2020
This supplementary resource is an example of a Performance Assessment that focuses on recovery oriented, person centered, trauma informed, and whole health approaches to care.
Strategies to Enhance Retention Resource
Release Date: October 1st 2020
It's important to understand what motivates good staff to stay. Beyond compensation, this resource outlines the different strategies managers and organizations can use to support employee retention. This resource was shared as part of the Employee Engagement webinar.
The World of Work Project: Culture Assessment Questionnaire
Release Date: October 1st 2020
This resource was developed to allow your organization to think more deeply about your organizational culture and identify areas that might not be in alignment with your organization's mission and values. This resource was shared as part of the Employee Engagement webinar.
Quality Care Tool Kit - Pre-Employment Attitude Surveys, Interview Questions, and Performance Measures
Release Date: October 15th 2020
This comprehensive toolkit can help guide your organization when selecting, interviewing, and evaluating potential candidates. It was offered during the final webinar in this series, "When Values Align: Human Resource Tools to Help your Organization Hire and Support Mission-Aligned Staff".
Quality Care Pre-Employment Attitude Survey for Program Staff - Self-scoring Excel Version
Release Date: October 15th 2020
When hiring program staff, this brief Attitude Survey screens potential job candidates for the Quality Care values and beliefs that are foundational to the organization, specifically recovery, integrated health, person-centered care, trauma-informed approaches, and openness to change. This tool was offered during the final webinar in this series, "When Values Align: Human Resource Tools to Help your Organization Hire and Support Mission-Aligned Staff".
Quality Care Pre-Employment Attitude Survey for Administrative/Non-Program Staff - Self-scoring Excel Version
Release Date: October 15th 2020
When hiring administrative/non-program staff, it's still important to make sure their values align with the values of the organization. This brief Attitude Survey screens potential job candidates for the Quality Care values and beliefs that are foundational to the organization, specifically recovery, integrated health, person-centered care, trauma-informed approaches, and openness to change. This tool was offered during the final webinar in this series, "When Values Align: Human Resource Tools to Help your Organization Hire and Support Mission-Aligned Staff".
Workforce Priorities FAQ
Release Date: October 2020
Following the conclusion of the webinar series, presenters compiled the list of questions received throughout the series and provided their insight and answers.
The Conversation Continues:
Using Human Resources to Support Organizational Health and Resilience
To build on key concepts from the Workforce Priorities series, our partners at NYAPRS facilitated regional discussions across New York State on organizational health and organizational resilience. The webinars from each region are now available by clicking the link below.