... CONTINUED

The overall feedback from the summit was very positive and supported the idea of continuing the effort to develop a statewide plan and a new corresponding entity/organization to guide the efforts. Following the summit, the core team worked diligently on outreach. Over several months, they engaged as many stakeholders as possible from the health care industry, policy makers, and funders as well as education and training providers. nearly a dozen presentations were made, always by at least two members from the core team to demonstrate shared ownership. A subteam led by the University of Alaska worked closely with the Research & Anal-ysis Section of the Department of labor and Work-force Development to refine occupational priorities through presentations with diverse audiences and with an online survey. The core team created a website and a contact list to communicate with the wider coalition of interested stakeholders. In parallel with the outreach process, core team members continued to meet monthly. They discussed and integrated what they were learning from stakeholders, and strengthened their resolve to produce a well-written strategic plan summarizing the compelling and complex workforce needs of the health care industry focusing not only on occupational priorities but also on systems change and capacity-building strategies. Funding offered by three of the larger partners was pooled to hire contract resources to assist with writing and printing the plan. The AWIB endorsed the health Workforce Plan in early 2010making it the first significant product from the AhWC. The plan was well received and helped to achieve significant visibility for health care industry issues, priorities, and possible actions. however, it was not specific enough to drive collective action. The groups logical next step was to follow up the plan with a targeted, four-year Action Agenda. They also recognized the need to address organization development and sustainability issues. The found-ing individuals and organizations had developed the initial plan through informal processes and volunteer contributions of time and resources. To sustain through small group and round table discussions. Core group members aligned the topics with the framework and then used a modified Open Space approach that allowed people to refine ideas in strategies about which they were most passionate. Core team members facilitated each table, gathered information and insights, and pre-sented the results in a plenary session using sim-ple planning templates. The overall feedback from the summit was very positive and supported the idea of continuing the effort to develop a statewide plan and a new corresponding entity/organization to guide the efforts. Following the summit, the core team worked diligently on outreach. Over several months, they engaged as many stakeholders as possible from the health care industry, policy makers, and funders as well as education and training providers. nearly a dozen presentations were made, always by at least two members from the core team to demonstrate shared ownership. A subteam led by the University of Alaska worked closely with the Research & Anal-ysis Section of the Department of labor and Work-force Development to refine occupational priorities through presentations with diverse audiences and with an online survey. The core team created a website and a contact list to communicate with the wider coalition of interested stakeholders. In parallel with the outreach process, core team members continued to meet monthly. They discussed and integrated what they were learning from stakeholders, and strengthened their resolve to produce a well-written strategic plan summarizing the compelling and complex workforce needs of the health care industry focusing not only on occupational priorities but also on systems change and capacity-building strategies. Funding offered by three of the larger partners was pooled to hire contract resources to assist with writing and printing the plan. The AWIB endorsed the health Workforce Plan in early 2010making it the first significant product from the AhWC. The plan was well received and helped to achieve significant visibility for health care industry issues, priorities, and possible actions. however, it was not specific enough to drive collective action. The groups logical next step was to follow up the plan with a targeted, four-year Action Agenda. They also recognized the need to address organization development and sustainability issues. The found-ing individuals and organizations had developed the initial plan through informal processes and volunteer contributions of time and resources. To sustain the effort and reap the benefits of the plan would require a more formal approach and organization.

Continued Coalition Development

Over the next year, the AhWC became larger and more formal. In part, this was enabled by a plan-ning grant from the health Resources and Services Administration (hRSA). This grant provided one years worth of funding to support the research and development of a four-year Action Agenda, greater alignment of health care workforce data, and con-tractual support for staff, organization develop-ment, and sustainability efforts. During this time, the AhWC welcomed the opportunity to join forces with related groups where their goals were aligned and they could support one anothers efforts to go further together than either might achieve alone. For example, the Alaska health Care Commission (hCC) recognized workforce shortages as a priority when they were initially formed, and rather than conducting independent research and developing their own recommendations, the hCC aligned their direction with the AhWC, endorsing the work of the coalition as their own. Similarly, the AMhTA had several years of experience advancing their Workforce Focus Area focused on home-and community-based behavioral health services. They realized that sustaining their efforts and participation in the AhWC could be aligned with the Focus Area to create a single, unified approach. As a result, the two efforts merged in 2011 to unite health care workforce planning and action for Alaska, inclusive of the distinct needs of the AMhTA and its beneficiaries. The coalition researched alternative approaches to forming a sustainable organization to advance their goals around health care workforce issues. A number of models were identified and explored using the principles from the initial charter to guide the process. The core group determined that continuing their loose collaboration without formally establishing a new nonprofit entity was preferred. The individual who provided support to the Workforce Focus Area on behalf of the AMThA, DhSS, and the University, had her scope of work extended to include AhWC activities in late 2011, bridging the staff needs from the planning grant to full operations. Organization development consulting support has continued to provide additional resources and continuity with coalition and core meetings and activities.

Evaluation

The creation of the Alaska health Workforce Coalition has resulted in several benefits to its members and to the Alaskan health care system as a whole. These include: An industry-led workforce plan with tangible actions, accountabilities, and committed resources The use and integration of data to establish occupational priorities Actions focused on occupational and systems change priorities that drive health care work-force activities and investments by members and other stakeholders A unified approach to advocacy for policy changes and funding opportunities Increased resource commitments, actions, and emerging results that all serve to build the Alaska health care workforce In 2012, the coalition documented a retrospec-tive of early achievements by AhWC in response to requests by other industry groups. The coalition also elected to undergo a strategic refresh process in recognition of the completion of several Action Agenda objectives and the actual or planned transi-tion of several leaders. The AhWC coordinator and OD consultant interviewed each core team member to gather feedback on the greatest achievements to date, alignment with each organizations priorities, update to occupational and systems change priori-ties given the changes to the health care industry, and suggestions that would enhance the effective-ness, relevance, and impact of the coalition going forward. The data suggested that success has been achieved through the attention and balance of two equally important aspects: Content, action, and results. The coalition convened on the premise of shared need and the desire to take collective action. This was achieved through a strategic plan that defined the workforce goals to engage, train, recruit, and retain a qualified health care workforce for Alaska. The coalition developed a corre-sponding Action Agenda with objectives to drive action in six occupational priorities and six systems change and capacity-building efforts.

Process, relationships, and respect.

The coalition emerged through relationships and shared need. Individuals with loose relation-ships agreed to begin exploring the merits of common goals and collaborative action. The processes have been thoughtfully guided and intentionally nurtured throughout the first three years to build respect and strengthen relationships across the organizations and indi-vidual leaders. The results also helped the core team to update the Action Agenda priorities as well as refine their processes of engaging with one another. The pro-cess of evaluation and continuous improvement confirmed the need to retain and nurture strong relationships among key partnersparticularly when decisions and direction are needed. It also confirmed the need for dynamic strategy and prior-ity setting processes given the uncertainty faced by the health care industry and the resulting changes in care models that lead to new demands for the health care workforce of the future.

1. In this case, what drove the requirement for a network of organizations?

2. Discuss some of the complex issues of identifying, convening, and organizing a network such as described in this case.