Alliance for Workforce Enhancement

The Alliance for Workforce Enhancement Initiative (AWE) provides specialized capacity building to child welfare organizations. Florida’s child welfare system has experienced persistent challenges with workforce stability. Based on the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute’s (NCWWI) Workforce Excellence Sites, the Institute created the Alliance for Workforce Enhancement to create an opportunity for specialized capacity building for Florida’s child welfare system. The project’s components include a comprehensive assessment to determine organizational strengths and areas in need of change, the co-creation of a plan to address the challenges identified through the assessment, guided implementation activities, project evaluation, and sustainability planning. Through a 3-year partnership, the selected AWE sites receive tailored technical assistance, ongoing well-being and resiliency sessions, and leadership development. This initiative is executed using principles driven by implementation science and NCWWI’s workforce development framework that outlines key components of assessing and addressing organizational and workforce well-being. Implementation Science phases include Exploration, Preparation, Implementation and Sustainability.

The exploration phase includes a comprehensive organizational health assessment, known as the Alliance for Workforce Enhancement Inventory.

The preparation phase includes a focus on strategy and vision. At this point, the organization works collectively to establish a strategy and vision for their workforce initiative and prepares a plan for change.

THE VISION:

Prioritize leadership development and organizational well-being within child welfare agencies across Florida. LEARN MORE:

IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE PHASES:

The implementation phase is the execution of the change plan within the organization. The sustainability phase creates mechanisms within the organization which will support the continuation of the strategies that have been implemented. The Institute facilitates the matriculation of all sites through each phase of the Implementation Science framework. With the AWE initiative’s emphasis on building internal capacity, the work is largely carried out by the agency through teaming. The teaming approach to this work reinforces that collaborative visioning and problem-solving lead to better outcomes. People are more likely to take calculated risks that lead to innovation if they have the support of a team behind them. Working in a team encourages personal growth and accountability through each phase of the process. First, a Strategy Team is convened in order to create a feasible and realistic plan to shift their workforce. Concurrently, as the Strategy Team works together on the preparation phase of the work, well-being and retention group sessions will be offered organization wide. It is the hope of the AWE team that this investment in the overall well-being of the organization contributes to their ability and bandwidth to create and carry out their change plan. The Action Team is convened next and implements the vision created by the Strategy Team. It is possible to have multiple Action Teams, depending on the necessary actions steps. At the start of year two, the AWE Initiative will launch a year-long Leadership Academy that will be exclusively focused on developing leaders at the sites. Participants in the Leadership Academy will receive robust content that has been curated and evaluated by the NCWWI. Each participant in the Leadership Academy will be assigned a coach for the duration of the Academy, as well as six months post Academy.