Introduction

For any school program to improve, there must be both individual and group efforts. Group efforts may focus on planning, implementation, evaluation, advocacy, and involvement in shared decision making related to policy and resource deployment.

In working together to enhance existing programs, group members look for ways to improve communication, cooperation, coordination, and integration within and among programs. Through such collaborative efforts, they seek to (a) enhance program availability, access, and management of care, (b) reduce waste stemming from fragmentation and redundancy, (c) redeploy the resources saved, and (d) improve program results.

Formal opportunities for working together at schools often take the form of committees or councils and teams. To be effective, such collaborative efforts require thoughtful and skillful facilitation. Without careful planning and implementation, collaborative efforts rarely can live up to the initial hope. Even when they begin with great enthusiasm, poorly facilitated working sessions quickly degenerate into another ho-hum meeting, more talk but little action, another burden, and a waste of time. This is particularly likely to happen when the emphasis is mainly on the unfocused mandate to "collaborate," rather than on moving an important vision and mission forward through effective working relationships.

Think about the last collaborative meeting you attended. What was the purpose of the meeting? How well did the various participants work together? Did it produce more effective results than would have arisen without a formal collaborative effort? How might the process have been improved?

It's Not About Collaboration. It's About Being Effective.

Most of us know how hard it is to work effectively with a group. Many staff members at a school site have jobs that allow them to carry out their duties each day in relative isolation of other staff. And despite various frustrations they encounter in doing so, they can see little to be gained through joining up with others. In fact, they often can point to many committees and teams that drained their time and energy to little avail.

Despite all this, the fact remains that no organization can be truly effective if everyone works in isolation. And it is a simple truth that there is no way for schools to play their role in addressing barriers to student learning and enhancing healthy development if a critical mass of stakeholders do not work together towards a shared vision. There are policies to advocate for, decisions to make, problems to solve, and interventions to plan, implement, and evaluate.

Obviously, true collaboration involves more than meeting and talking. The point is to work together in ways that produce the type of actions that result in effective programs. For this to happen, steps must be taken to ensure that committees, councils, and teams are formed in ways that ensure they can be effective. This includes providing them with the training, time, support, and authority to carry out their role and functions. It is when such matters are ignored that groups find themselves meeting and meeting, but going nowhere.

There are many committees and teams that those concerned with addressing barriers to learning and promoting healthy development can and should be part of. These include school-site shared decision making bodies, committees that plan programs, teams that review students referred because of problems and that manage care, quality review bodies, and program management teams.

Two key teams are highlighted here because or the essential role they play in enhancing program effectiveness (a) a team to manage client care and (b) a team to manage program and service resources.

There are many fine resources that provide guidelines for conducting effective meetings. Some key points are synthesized below.

Forming a Working Group

• There should be a clear statement about the group's mission.
  
• Be certain that the members agree to pursue the stated mission and, for the most part, share a vision.
  
• Pick someone who the group will respect and who either already has good facilitation skills or will commit to learning what those that are needed.
  
• Provide training for members so they understand their role in keeping a meeting on track and turning talk into effective action.
  
• Be certain to designate processes (a) for sending members information before a meeting regarding what is to be accomplished, specific agenda items, and individual assignments and (b) for maintaining and circulating a record of decisions and planned actions (what, who, when) formulated at the meeting.
  

Meeting Format

• Be certain there is a written agenda and that it clearly states the purpose of the meeting, specific topics, and desired outcomes for the session.
  
• Begin the meeting by reviewing purpose, topics, desired outcomes, etc. Until the group is functioning well, it may be necessary to review meeting ground rules.
  
• Facilitate the involvement of all members, and do so in ways that encourage them to focus specifically on the task. The facilitator remains neutral in discussion of issues.
  
• Try to maintain a comfortable pace (neither too rushed, nor too slow; try to start on time and end on time -- but don't be a slave to the clock).
  
• Periodically review what has been accomplished and move on to the next item.
  
• Leave time to sum up and celebrate accomplishment of outcomes and end by enumerating specific follow-up activity (what, who, when). End with a plan for the next meeting (date, time, tentative agenda). For a series of meetings, set the dates well in advance so members can plan their calendars.
  

Despite the best of intentions, group members sometimes find it difficult to stay on task. Some of the reasons are

Hidden Agendas -- A person may feel compelled to make some point that is not on the agenda. At any meeting, there may be a number of these hidden agenda items. There is no good way to deal with these. It is important that all members understand that hidden agendas are a problem, and there should be agreement that each member will take responsibility for keeping such items in check. However, there will be times when there is little choice other than to facilitate the rapid presentation of a point and indicate where the concern needs to be redirected.

A Need for Validation -- Even when a person is task-focused, s/he may seem to be making the same point over and over. This usually is an indication that s/he feels s/he is making an important point but no one seems to be accounting for it. To counter such disruptive repetition and related problems, it is helpful to use flipcharts or a writing board on which group member points are highlighted (hopefully with some form of organization to enhance coherence and facilitate summarizing). Accounting for what is said in this visible way helps members feel their contributions have been heard and validated. It also allows the facilitator to point to a matter as a visible reminder to a member that it has already been raised. When a matter is one that warrants discussion at a later time, it can be assigned to an "agenda bin" to be addressed at a subsequent meeting.

Members are at an Impasse -- Two major reasons groups get stuck are: (a) some new ideas are needed to "get out of a box" and (b) differences in perspective need to be aired and resolved. The former problem usually can be dealt with through brainstorming or by bringing in someone who has some new alternatives to offer. The latter problem involves conflicts that arise over process, content, and power relationships and is dealt with through problem solving and conflict management strategies (e.g., accommodation, negotiation, mediation).

Interpersonal Conflict -- Some people find it hard to like each other. Sometimes the dislike is so strong that they simply can't work closely together. If there is no mechanism to help them minimize their interpersonal conflict, the group needs to find a way to restructure its membership.

When a client is involved with more than one intervener, management of care becomes a concern. This clearly is always the situation when a student is referred for help over and above that which her/his teacher(s) can provide.

Subsequent monitoring as part of the ongoing management of client care focuses on coordinating interventions, improving quality of care ( including revising intervention plans as appropriate), and enhancing cost-efficacy.

Management of care involves a variety of activity all of which is designed to ensure that client interests are well-served. At the core of the process is enhanced monitoring of care with a specific focus on the appropriateness of the chosen interventions, adequacy of client involvement, appropriateness of intervention planning and implementation, and progress.

Such ongoing monitoring requires systems for

- tracking client involvement in interventions
- amassing and analyzing data on intervention planning and implementation
- amassing and analyzing progress data
- recommending changes

Effective monitoring depends on information systems that enable those involved with clients to regularly gather, store, and retrieve data. Schools rely heavily on forms for gathering necessary information*. In coming years, more and more of this information will be entered into computers to facilitate retrieval and assist in other ways with client care.

* Examples of such forms and related resources are provided in the accompanying aid packet on School-Based Client Consultation, Referral, and Management of Care -- prepared by the Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA..

Management of care, of course, involves more than monitoring processes and outcomes. Management also calls for the ability to produce changes as necessary.

Sometimes steps must be taken to improve the quality of processes, including at times enhancing coordination among several interveners. Sometimes intervention plans need to be revised to increase their efficacy and minimize their "costs" -- including addressing negative "side effects." Thus, management of care involves using the findings from ongoing monitoring to clarify if interventions need to be altered and then implements strategies to identify appropriate changes and ensure they are implemented with continued monitoring. Along the way, those involved in managing the client's care may have to advocate for and broker essential help and provide the linkage among services that ensures they are coordinated. They also must enhance coordinated intervener communication with the student's caregivers at home.

Who does all this monitoring and management of care? Ideally, all involved parties -- interveners and clients -- assume these functions and become the management team. One member of such a team needs to take primary responsibility for management of care (a primary manager). Sites with sufficient resources often opt to employ one staff member to fill this role for all clients. However, given the limited resources available to schools, a more practical model is to train many staff to share such a role. Ultimately, with proper instruction, one or more family members might be able to assume this role.

All who become primary managers of care must approach the role in a way that respects the client and conveys a sense of caring. The process should be oriented to problem-solving but should not be limited to problem treatments (e.g., in working on their problems, young people should not be cut off from developmental and enrichment opportunities). In most instances, a youngster's family will be integrally involved and empowered as partners, as well as recipients of care. Well-implemented management of care can help ensure that clients are helped in a comprehensive, integrated manner that addresses her/him as a whole person. A positive side effect of all this can be enhancement of systems of care.

Management teams should meet whenever analysis of monitoring information suggests a need for program changes and at designated review periods. Between meetings, it is the responsibility of the primary manager to ensure that care is appropriately monitored, team meetings are called as changes are needed, and that changes are implemented. It is the team as a whole, however, that has responsibility for designating necessary changes and working to ensure the changes are made.

A few basic tasks for primary managers of care are

• write up analyses of monitoring findings and recommendations to share with management team
  
• immediately after a team meeting, write up and circulate changes proposed by management team and emphasize who has agreed to do which tasks by when
  
• set-up a "tickler" system to remind you when to check on whether tasks have been accomplished
  
• follow-up with team members who have not accomplished agreed upon tasks to see what assistance they need.
  

When there are many students receiving various types of assistance, it is imperative that a school have an effective system in place to manage care. What is the nature of the system at you school? Who is responsible for being certain that it is working well? Who shares the load as primary managers of care?