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Company: Change and Innovation Agency (C!A), MO
Company Description: C!A, now part of VIMO, is a company dedicated to helping government human service organizations build capacity to do more good. Whether it's families in need of shelter and food, or vulnerable children in need of protection from abuse and select, government has struggled to keep up with demand. C!A works with these organizations to improve operations and exploit technology to get radical results
Nomination Category: Thought Leadership Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Thought Leader of The Year - Government or Non-Profit
 Nomination Title: Bill Bott
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated organization since January 1 2020, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 199 words used.
A Governing magazine Public Official of the Year, and one of Government Technology's Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers, Bill has a history of helping government improve. Since 2020, he has dedicated his time to fixing the child welfare capacity crisis and has now helped three states reduce caseloads by over 70%, reduce time to address abuse by 85%, and reduce children in foster care by 20%. The secret to his success has been using the same strategies factories and private businesses use to improve performance and applying them to the complex world of child welfare. The solutions he has championed have little to do with the safety models used to determine abuse, but focus on how the work is done and breaking up the bottlenecks, batches, and backlog issues that plague this industry.
In 2020, he found himself in a hotel, unable to fall asleep, tossing and turning as he contemplated the reality that there was just more work than resources. Shortly after 1am he took a walk to clear his head, and that is when innovation struck. By combining some key work tasks, and building a dedicated unit to assure workflow, radical results could be achieved with existing resources.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the nominee's thought leadership achievements since January 1, 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 198 words used.
Since January 2020, Bill has been on a non-stop mission to share his vision with every child welfare agency in the nation and abroad. He has written numerous articles designed to expose the root cause of the capacity crisis, spoken at the largest industry conferences, developed online offerings to share his findings through the pandemic, met with thought leaders overseas, and worked shoulder-to-shoulder with states and counties with the single vision of helping more children find safe homes.
Bill coined the phrase Capacity Crisis based on his research leading up to 2020. Working alongside dozens of agencies, his data demonstrates social workers get between 75-140 hours of work every 40-hour work week. The data on caseloads, timeliness, and quality all trend in the wrong direction and get worse every year.
His articles outline how common solutions, like requesting additional staff and building new technology, have not only failed to keep up with demand, but will continue to fall short unless agencies embrace the simple truth that we must innovate to address the root cause. Bill is a champion, swimming upstream, fighting tech giants and misguided lobbyists to bring real hope to the dedicated workers drowning under unrealistic caseloads.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 248 words used.
The stories of overworked social workers have been a regular feature since the 1980's - cliche social workers with their desk piled high with case files, and children in and out of foster care like musical chairs. As a nation, we have been trying a number of strategies that simply have not yielded results.
Primarily, we continue to search for new funding and more staff. While viable, it is not plausible. Departments would need to double or triple in size in order to deal with demand. In great economic times, agencies have been able to secure 10% more staffing at best. Even if the money was there, the people are not. Agencies cannot fill the openings they have now, so more positions will likely lead to more openings that cannot be filled.
The second solution is new technology. The current trend in child welfare IT systems is to make the work more mobile, more data driven, and remind workers when tasks need to be completed. In other words, you can now find out all the deadlines you're missing, on the go. Often these systems end up adding work to every case, thus putting workers even further behind.
Bill's solution is simplistic, but highly effective. After the child of concern has been seen, his process offers instant access to an expert that helps the social worker make the decision, documents the findings for them, and facilitates the next steps. It is all about reducing worktime and assuring work flow.
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
Bill's video on the Capacity Crisis https://vimeo.com/329670081
Bill’s Capacity Crisis Video for social workers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8ClRud92fU&
4 Articles that originally published for the American Public Human Services Association
https://changeagents.info/family-first-second-finding-a-solution-to-managing-the-workflow/
https://changeagents.info/never-getting-behind-again/
https://changeagents.info/digging-to-the-real-root-cause/
https://changeagents.info/all-we-need-is-love-and-time/
Fast Company Finalist https://changeagents.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CA-Fast-Company-Award-Entry-Overview-081621.pdf
State Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZKPlb6Nscg
Why Bill is a thought leader:
Government has always had a hard time improving their processes. When he was in government, Bill worked to help agencies unlock their potential by viewing public sector work through a systems lens. Now with Change and Innovation, Bill has been able to expand this lens across borders and dive into one of the most challenging areas; fighting child abuse and neglect. By applying the system lens to social work, Bill has been able to help states reduce caseloads and give workers more time with children. His solutions have meant millions in savings while helping thousands of children get the care they need. He openly shares the story at every opportunity and is changing the way that state and federal government looks at preventing abuse and neglect. There are many consultants that work with government, but few have the passion and the results that Bill has been able to achieve in this industry since 2020. His insights are sought after by public officials, technology companies, and private sector think tanks that specialize in child welfare. He is changing the world one child at a time.
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