A lack of coordination between social services live a life of missed opportunities. An isolated program has costs. And not just money. There’s the cost of time, the cost of morale, and the cost of lives. In the modern world, social services must integrate seamlessly with their partners.
Connecting social services to fellow providers offers a range of benefits, including more efficient resource allocation, a boost via synergism, better data management, and a net gain in the community’s overall health. Coordination is key; no coordination is chaos.
Below, we’ll discuss the dangers of overlooking good coordination of social services. But don’t worry—it won’t all be negative. We’ll also outline several ways to avoid sequestering social programs and squandering potential.
The Danger of A Lack of Coordination Between Social Services
Poor coordination leaves social programs blind, purposeless, and vulnerable to injury. In this section, we’ll highlight some of the errors social services often make – and why they’re so dangerous. Along the way, we’ll outline countermeasures to ensure your program continues to thrive.
Here are several reasons disconnected social services suffer:
- They don’t have a clear goal
- They can’t measure improvement
- They’re leaving synergistic opportunities on the table
- Patients don’t receive holistic care
- There are barriers to long-term care
- It isn’t easy to build support for the program
- The problem only gets worse (as the world develops, those who aren’t united will drift further apart)
Now, we’ll examine each of these points so we’re all on the same page (because being on the same page is what this is all about).
No Clear Goal for Social Services
Social services that are out of touch with community members (and fellow providers) will not understand the real needs of their area. This is equivalent to flying blind or shooting an arrow while dizzy instead of aiming at a target.
Social programs must find their target to provide the best services. To do this, they must understand the needs of their community, and to understand the needs, social programs must be closely connected to their communities.
If a social services program is all-in in one area of its community and fails to realize that its community needs something different, it will experience many years of frustration and failure. In other words, you don’t cure a hangnail with heart surgery. It’s critical to find the right fit for your community’s needs.
With A Lack of Coordination Between Social Services, There is Little Ability to Measure the Improvement
Social services that fail to coordinate efficient data collection also fail to measure their improvement. This pitfall is similar to the last, but it’s even more dangerous, as you might think you’re making progress when really you’re stagnating. Or you might assume you’re going backward when really you’re improving.
To fix this problem, social services must ensure they measure key data points in an organized, integrated way. Tools like Julota help social services programs collect, manage, and share data so they can track key indicators of progress.
We’ve been talking data, but now, let’s discuss the practical benefits of coordination and connectedness in a community.
There’s a Loss of Synergy with Other Providers
Synergy is when two entities combine to create something more significant than the sum of their parts. With a synergistic partnership, 1 plus 1 is equal to 3. For social programs, synergistic combinations and possibilities are nearly endless, but let’s look at one example.
Let’s say a social services program is working to help people find stable housing. Now, on its own, the program is probably doing some good things; however, if that social services program partnered with a mobile integrated health team, they could each refer people to each other and provide more benefits to the people they serve.
Social services can partner with fire departments, law enforcement, emergency medical services, mental health professionals, addiction recovery specialists, physicians, and others.
If social services don’t have a platform to interact with partners, they won’t be able to work together, and their mission will suffer.
Patients Receive Less Holistic Care
People-serving organizations must work to provide truly holistic care. We’ve all heard stories (or have had this happen directly to us) of those who went to several different health clinics and were told different things at each one.
Often, it seems that health providers don’t communicate with each other—even when they are in the same area serving the same people! Thankfully, there is a growing movement to provide patients with holistic care. This means no accidentally repeating medical tests, no never-ending chain of “referrals,” and no burdening people with long (and constant) commutes.
Modern healthcare and social services are working closer to a one-stop-shop solution that is easier for providers to navigate and provides better patient care.
The key to providing more holistic care is connection—not just distant connections but strong partnerships. Part of maintaining connections in the modern world is having an open, clear, and easy-to-use phone line. A platform such as Julota provides that phone line for social services.
Long-term Care Suffers when Social Services Aren’t Coordinated.
Being coordinated isn’t just about the now. It’s about looking at the past and making a best guess about the future. When social services aren’t coordinated, they end up operating in a state of the “chaotic now.”
Instead of having long-term goals and seeing positive results in a community, disconnected social services are left in a state of worry, constantly responding to problems as they arise and never getting ahead of the game. Sadly, when this happens, it’s not just the program that suffers. It’s also all the people they are trying to help.
For social services to stay in the long game – and help people in the ever-changing now and the unpredictable future, they must keep a finger close to the community’s pulse. They must remain connected.
Funding and Support Can Falter
Have you ever seen the show Shark Tank? It’s a popular show in which businesses stand before investors and ask them to partner with their company. The lesson here is very simple: investors like ideas, but they like results much more.
The same is true when finding funding or support for your social program. Yes, it’s great to tell people all the good things planned, but most potential partners will ask for proof that what you’re doing is working.
That’s where everything we’ve been talking about becomes huge: connection, communication, data. Without these things, convincing anyone to engage in a serious partnership is impossible.
While this might frustrate some, it’s pretty self-evident. Those who want serious partnerships (funding, social services grants, etc.) need to demonstrate that they’re serious about their work. In the modern world, it takes more than just a good speech to get people excited about something—you must have numbers, facts, and proof that a concept will work.
Social programs that take the time to collect, organize, and present their achievements coherently will find that creating meaningful partnerships and securing needed funding is much easier.
It’s Not Enough to Maintain (Adapt or Fall Behind)
As the snowball rolls down the mountain, it travels faster and faster. That’s where we are with technology, ideas, and healthcare in the modern world. Certainly, the world has always moved quickly, but change’s momentum and speed only seem to grow.
Here’s what we’re seeing in many healthcare settings—those who don’t adapt don’t survive. And it’s no different with social programs. While people will always need food, water, and shelter, the challenges surrounding these needs continue to morph and present new complexities. In these changing times, connection is more important than ever.
Those social services that fail to stay truly connected to their communities will be like the man who falls asleep for fifty years, only to wake up and find that he does not fit in the current world. During these times, it’s all hands on deck. We must all tread these times with our eyes wide open.
But how?
Solution: Julota is the Web That Addresses A Lack of Coordination Between Social Services
We all know the saying “time is money,” but what about the idea that information is money? We cannot improve what we do not measure, we can’t measure what we do not record, and we cannot record what we do not collect. In other words, we can’t leave any data on the table. Social services must remain connected to their communities.
Julota is a platform where social programs can stand firm, ensuring they remain connected, integrated, and invested in their communities. Julota offers a solution to remain in contact with partners and allows social programs to organize and present meaningful data.
Contact Julota for a demonstration of how their services can help your social program achieve its goals.