Solutions
Highlights from the webinar
People who choose a life of caring — and the organizations and communities they serve — deserve a special kind of support.
Your state vocational rehabilitation (VR) program faces unprecedented challenges ranging from workforce shortages, to compliance concerns, to remote learning and training. Many states have seen rehab rates fall below ideal levels as it becomes harder to maintain effective engagement over a long period of time.
To succeed in these challenging times, VR programs must gain organizational agility -- the ability to adapt to changes in the environment through collaboration and execution around strategic goals. WellSky recently brought together a panel of former federal and state leaders to share three essentials of organizational agility in a vocational rehabilitation program. Here are some of the major themes they discussed.
Agility is the ability of an organization to renew itself, adapt, change quickly, and succeed in a rapidly changing, ambiguous, turbulent environment. It gives organizations better collaboration and execution around strategic goals, and to be more responsive to environmental changes and demands. And that certainly describes the state of VR today!
The three aspects of organizational agility a VR program should focus on are:
Here is a little about each.
The fiscal operation of a VR agency has many moving parts and can be very complex. Meshing those moving parts with programmatic areas can be challenging. These four concepts can enhance your fiscal agility.
Develop program-driven budgets. Budgets should be more than finance department work; budgets should be guided by strategic objectives and are best when developed in full collaboration between finance and program.
Create fiscal clarity with key performance indicators. Identify those critical indicators that are essential to measure the agency and program’s progress and conduct regular interdepartmental reviews.
Bridge the gap between finance and program. Invest the time to create an effective working relationship between finance and program by finding a common language and an understanding of each other’s perspective.
Cultivate real financial accountability. Financial accountability implies that all managers at all levels of the organization have a clear understanding and working knowledge of their budgets and financials reports.
The team at Synergy Consulting frequently observes issues that can be solved by these three principles.
Set clear performance expectations. Know and communicate specifically what the goals and objectives are, make the expectations measurable, continually track performance, and share the facts of how you’re doing along the way.
Examine the data. The devil is truly in the details. Identify the key indicators of what you do well and not so well, as well as what your service providers do well and not so well, learn the reasons why and how to make improvements.
Act and then measure the impact. Learn how to make quicker decisions and take action rather than perpetually plan and hold meetings.
Foster the ability to move fast and respond decisively. The right culture builds the stable backbone that becomes the anchor point of consistency when many other things are changing constantly. Here are three ingredients of a successful culture.
Challenge the legacy. If it’s always been done a certain way, why? There will always be a few critical components of your agency that should remain constant. Identify those, and then open up everything else to questions.
Remember you’re all on the same team. Work toward breaking down organizational silos, finding a common language, blending diverse skills, and integrating wherever you can.
Create an effective culture with the behaviors you reward. Be equally mindful of what you allow (negative reinforcement) and what really improves the agency.
You can watch the entire webinar and download the slides and related resources for free by registering with the form at right.
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Recorded Oct 23, 2018
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Janet served as the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) in the Obama administration from 2013-2017. Her leadership helped maximize employment, independence, and integration into the community for individuals with disabilities across the country. Janet’s commitment and dedication in the field of blindness was recently honored with the dedication of the Janet L. LaBreck Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation at the New England College of Optometry.
Jimmy spent twenty-three years as a Chief Financial Officer with one of the nation’s leading multi-national financial service organizations before joining Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency as Chief Financial Officer and later Chief Operating Officer. His transformative leadership skills were crucial in mobilizing the agency to develop and implement a comprehensive strategic plan to assist individuals with disabilities into competitive jobs.
Greg has served as a chief executive for more than twenty-five years in both the private and public sector. He was the first executive director of the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, with more than 1,500 state employees and a $200 million budget. He also served as the executive director for the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, originally founded by President Franklin Roosevelt, where he was responsible for transforming the organization into the 21st century
People who choose a life of caring — and the organizations and communities they serve — deserve a special kind of support. So we help them to care smarter. Liberating them to focus on the people they serve. Providing solutions that make work flow, integrate insights, and update effortlessly. So they're able to anticipate — and exponentially increase — the impact of care.
People who choose a life of caring — and the organizations and communities they serve — deserve a special kind of support. So we help them to care smarter. Liberating them to focus on the people they serve. Providing solutions that make work flow, integrate insights, and update effortlessly. So they're able to anticipate — and exponentially increase — the impact of care.
People who choose a life of caring — and the organizations and communities they serve — deserve a special kind of support. So we help them to care smarter. Liberating them to focus on the people they serve. Providing solutions that make work flow, integrate insights, and update effortlessly. So they're able to anticipate — and exponentially increase — the impact of care.
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