Customized Employment From Start to Finish

Abby Cooper

Agenda• Strategies to create culture change internally for

customized employment Useful assumptions Supervisors and Managements Role in supporting

staff• Maintaining focus

o How not to get caught up in the labor market approach

• Ensuring Discovery lays the foundation for Customized employment planning

• Things to think about in developing and maintaining quality

staff in the delivery of customized employment?

Quick Review

• Steps in Customized Employment

o Discovery• Learning about the person through spending time with them• Learning when they are at their best• Translating information from their life into tasks they want to do for pay

o Profile• A positive written document based on what was learned in Discovery and lays

the foundation for the planning meeting.

• Customized Employment Planning Meetingo Review s- what works , contributions that an employer would be

interested in, tasks they want to do for pay, conditions needed to be successful

o Ends with a blueprint of what Employer should be contacted and by when• Customized Job Development

o One person at a timeo Use of visual resumeo A negotiated relationship between the employer and the job seeker

The Role of Risk and Uncertainty with

Change• • A risk is something one can gauge or has a sense

of the possible outcomes based on past experience and knowledge, when a risk is taken the risk taker has a reasonable idea of the expected outcome.

• Uncertainty, however, means one is unclear what will happen and has no way to project possible outcomes.

Changing Your Vantage Point• We are taught to be critical, to analyze and view

that as being:o Realistico Smarto Effective

• Frequently we assume a person who is positive is just naïve.

o Play the yes but gameo The blame gameo Or the we tried that years agoo Forget that in order to see possibilities, you need to think what

if….?o To be positive you have to be willing to take risks and

responsibility

Changing the Agency Culture of How

We View People• Many individuals with significant disabilities are fragile when they come to our

doors.

• Frequently either job seekers or people in their lives do not believe they can work.

“ All you can see is what you lack” Tom Waites, Come on up to the house.

• Sometimes our intake process can reinforce that employment may not be feasible.

o By the questions we ask• Have you ever had any problems in school• Problems with panic attacks, anger management, hallucinations

o We tend not to start with the positive• tell me what you are most proud of• When are you at you best

Reframing• Everyone wants to present themselves in the

best light, how can you add some questions to your intake/ eligibility that allows a person to do that?

• If the person has worked, ask which tasks did he or she enjoy?

• Ask what his employer liked about his/her work?• What is one of the best things someone has said about

them?• Who have they helped lately?• Rephrase what someone says about themselves in a

positive or neutral light.

Most people think that everything is just what they assume”. Van Morrison

• Careful of your assumptions & Languageo Know your bias, influences,o Think of ways to check out your assumptionso We label so quickly –sometimes we don’t see the persono Perception is based on unique experiences

• Information – share all, neutral, good, and bad

• Explain - your thinking and validate theirs

Check What People Hear

Management’s Role in creating

Change• Create a vision for your staff of what the change will look like• Set reasonable standards, realizing changes takes time• Ask you staff what information they need to make the change• Figure out how many job seekers with complex barriers you can

afford to place• Start small and build• Provide all staff working in customized employment with

negotiation training

• Create person center procedures• Reward staff for the process not just the outcome• Use your Board to support your change• Create a Business Advisory Board

Maintaining focus

• Chose staff to do customized employment that believe in the process

• It is difficult for the same person to do both customized job development and labor market job development. Don’t expect the same person to do both.

• Staff doing customized employment should have smaller caseloads

Maintaining focus

• Once a customized plan has been created follow it

• If jobs are not obtained go back and consider doing extended discovery.

• Reward success and remember securing employment for an individual with significant barriers is difficult

If Employment Is Not Being Secured

• Think about what information you are missing to get a picture of the person working?

• What do you need to learn about the person or businesses unmet needs?

• How will you learn it?o Observationo Work Experienceo Internshipso How do you set up the experience(s) to be

successfulo How could AT help

• Don’t blame the person

What Information Do You Need to

Learn about Business?

• How will you get that information?o Informational Interviewso Tourso Trade Organizationo Trends

o The more you know about tasks that occur in businesses the more you can help your job seekers obtain a jobs that match their contributions

What we think businesses want

impacts:

• How we work with people

• How we plan

• And who we consider employable

Common Assumptions• Businesses want:

o A competitive workforceo A little bit more than they are paying foro Employees with the ability to multi-tasko Employees they can understand with little effort

o Job descriptions are written by people who know what they need

o A job is defined by the job descriptiono Pay is based on work performed – productivity, multi-

tasking, speedo Businesses are intractableo Employers will not tolerate continual assistance

These Assumptions are Harmful• They reinforce our

fears – that individuals with significant complexes are too difficult to place

• That employers will not be willing to hire job seekers who are complex

Helpful Assumptions

• Job descriptions are outlines, you can help shape them

• What an employer will pay for varies widely and is based on need

• Business is fluid• Define the job by how it meets the employer’s

need• We have something employers need• We can be proactive, negotiate, establish a long

term relationship with business

Recap

• Change requires more than just demanding it• Leadership must provide the infrastructure for

the change• Maintaining focus requires both belief and

strategy • Need to follow the steps of customized

employment• Be willing to change your assumptions

Thank you• Questions?

• abbylindmancooper@gmail.com