Multi-agency services: working with change

Handling periods of change and uncertainty is becoming increasingly common for practitioners in all organisations, but it is particularly the case for people moving towards more integrated ways of working.

Theorists have tried to identify and describe these, for example Myers (1986) suggests that the competencies that allow a professional to change include:

• A strong sense of their own professional competence
  
  
• The ability to be comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty
  
  
• The ability to reason critically

Your leader or manager is likely to be focused on helping all service members manage the transition smoothly. But it also helps to understand a bit about the main processes and the kind of skills that can help you manage the transition yourself. The following may be helpful:

• Try to reflect on your past performance and ways of working. Is there anything you would like to do differently or think you should do differently? The more reflective and willing to learn from experience you are, the more adaptive you will be within the group.
  
  
• Understanding group dynamics can help explain why certain behaviours might be emerging in your group. This in turn can help you to decide how to behave in response. Click to read about a team building model that explains some of these issues.
  
  
• Take responsibility for your own behaviour and learning. Remember that you will only be able to understand each other if you all take time to talk about your own starting points and backgrounds.
  
  
• Remember you may have to work with resistance - and sometimes this resistance will be your own. This is a common phase. Being open and patient and keeping sight of the common vision of your service can help to get through it.
  
  
• Communication skills are critical. These include the ability to ask for information, impart it, consult and negotiate. It helps to be sensitive to whether you are being required to advise, provide consultation, teach or to just to listen and hear what is being said.
  
  
• Avoid jumping to conclusions or recommending solutions before you have explored all the issues. At times you will need to help other colleagues reach their own conclusions or solutions.

Fortunately, these are the same attributes that are so important in working with children, young people and families. It is little coincidence that they are also required in multi-agency settings, as this work involves developing a holistic understanding of children and families.

Reading and resources

C Myers. 1986. Teaching Students to Think Critically: A Guide to Faculty in all Disciplines. London: Jossey-Bass.