As Secretary Hunter mentioned in a previous post, my role at the Department of Children, Youth, and Families is to oversee the division of Programs for Children and Families. We have begun the challenging yet critical task of building a leadership team for this division. We announced a few weeks ago that Connie Lambert-Eckel and Marybeth Queral will be joining me in this work. You may have also noticed that we’ve been recruiting for our open Regional Administrator positions. In the coming days and weeks, we’ll have three more leadership team positions opening. I know that state government job postings can sometimes sound a bit dry or vague, so I want to provide you with more insight into the type of leaders I am looking for on my team.
What I look for in a leader
Any time a new leader comes to an organization, even an organization that is in itself new, people wonder about the values and direction that person brings to their role. Ross has spoken frequently about the values he has for our new agency — transparency, respect, and a relentless focus on outcomes for children. I agree wholeheartedly, and am working to build a team that can lead and manage change while always upholding our agency’s values. As a leader I work to include integrity, courage, compassion and humility. Here are some of the other characteristics I’m looking for in my leadership team:
- A vision and demonstrated commitment to building partnerships.
- The ability to work across sectors to implement an integrated service delivery model.
- Interpersonal skills to build and nurture relationships, both internally and externally.
- Familiarity with continuous quality improvement and experience using performance, project and change management to drive outcomes.
- The ability and desire to listen to a variety of voices, the willingness to have uncomfortable conversations and make difficult decisions.
- A commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and respect.
- An ability to coach, mentor and inspire others to act in alignment with our vision, mission and core set of values.
- The strength and humility to ask for help when needed and to hold oneself and others accountable.
- A blend of curiosity and courage — the willingness to ask questions, challenge the status quo, and to think innovatively and creatively even as the risk of failure.
As I build this new team, rest assured I am not looking to hire people who merely think and act like me. I thrive on diversity of thought and experience around me. I am looking for leaders who see their success, and the success of their teams, wrapped up in the success of the agency’s overall goals. That means putting what’s best for those we serve first.
Upcoming opportunities on my team
As we’ve mentioned before, the division of Programs for Children and Families will be responsible primarily for the services that directly interact with children and families. This includes the child welfare fieldwork plus four collections of programs that reflect our current thinking about how we manage our analytical framework and our interest in building mutually supportive and integrated services that support the safety and holistic well-being of children, youth and families.
Over the next month, we’ll be hiring directors for the following areas:
Family Support — this is the suite of programs that provide support to families, often of young children, such as home visiting, Early Support for Infants and Toddlers, child abuse prevention and other evidence-based programs.
Early Learning — this group will oversee delivery of the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP, the state’s version of Head Start), Head Start collaboration and Working Connections Child Care.
Child Welfare Programs — see the graphic in our recent blog post for a full list of programs under this umbrella. These include, but are not limited to:
- Well-being services
- Permanency, planning, and adoption support
- Foster care recruitment & retention
- Kinship care and caregiver support
The leaders we choose for these teams will oversee programs that interact with children and families at some of their most vulnerable times, but also have some of the greatest opportunities to build resilience and improve outcomes. All positions will be posted to our jobs page: https://www.dcyf.wa.gov/about/general-information/jobs. Please keep an eye out for new openings, and help me find the great pool of candidates for these leadership positions.
Respectfully,
Jody Becker, MSW, Ph.D.
Deputy Secretary, Programs for Children and Families