This webpage provides ideas for how teams can use this site and its resource materials to develop local early childhood interagency agreements and collaborative procedures. These strategies can be modified as appropriate to fit the individual circumstances of local early childhood interagency teams. Strategies presented below include:

• Organizing Your “Development” Team
• Logistics for Using this Website for Agreement/Procedures Development
• Development Team’s Approach to Developing an Agreement and/or Collaborative Procedures
• Defining Development Team Member Roles
• Clarifying Decision-Making Related to Agreement or Procedure Signing or Adoption
• Team Meeting Tasks for Developing An Agreement
• Team Meeting Tasks for Developing Collaborative Procedures
• Technical Assistance and Sample Team Agenda
• Give us Feedback

Organizing Your “Development” Team

You have options for organizing the Development Team that will use this website to develop your local early childhood interagency agreement and/or collaborative procedures. The two most likely options are:

• All Team Members
• Task Force of members representative of all team members who have particular interest or expertise in developing agreements and procedures. Recommendations developed by the Task Force would then be submitted to all team members for their consideration and decisions.

A key factor in choosing the option best for you is the size of your team. That is, an optimal size for a task force such as this is 5-9 people. Thus, if you have a very large local early childhood interagency team, then use of a task force may be more efficient. A smaller local early childhood interagency team would likely choose to involve all team members

Logistics for Using this Website for Agreement/Procedures Development

You will need to have access to a computer that is linked to this website in order to use these resources for agreement and/or procedures development. There are a variety of options for doing this that can be used both with the All Team Member Development Team and the Task Force Development Team. In ALL of these options, identify one team member as recorder who will have responsibility for maintaining a copy with Development Team recommendations/decisions.

• On-Site Computer Lab – In this option, all Development Team members have access to a computer that is linked to the Internet while they are working as a team on agreement and/or procedures development. This can be done in a computer lab. An alternative would be for all Development Team members to have laptops that were linked to the Internet.

• On-Site Computer with LCD – Have a computer with an LCD set up for the Development Team so that all team members are viewing the same equipment while they are working as a team on agreement and/or procedures development.

• Individual Off-Site Computer Use – Have individual members review this website on his/her own and then bring written comments/recommendations for agreement or procedures wording to the Development Team meeting, bringing enough copies for each team member. The recorder can take notes on his/her laptop during the meeting if possible or transcribe team recommendations or decisions using website materials following the meeting. In either case, the Development Team will review the recorder’s work for consensus building. This can be done by email or by providing in hard copy at or between meetings.

Note : These logistics are only ideas to get you started. Modify to meet your team’s needs. For example, you could combine the Individual Off-Site Computer Use with the On-Site Computer with LCD or use some other adaptation.

Development Team’s Approach to Developing an Agreement and/or Collaborative Procedures

The Development Team can choose to develop an agreement and/or related collaborative procedures using the following approaches. These approaches are only ideas to get you started. Modify to meet your team’s needs.

• Full Team Approach – The whole Development Team works together, working through the website resources to develop the agreement and/or procedures.

• Subcommittee Approach – The whole Development Team assigns parts of the agreement or procedures to subcommittees composed of Development Team members. Once the subcommittees complete their work, then the whole Development Team reviews the work of all subcommittees and builds consensus, revising as needed until consensus is achieved. For example, if using 3 subcommittee, the task might be broken down like this (you could use a smaller or larger number of subcommittees if desired):

• Round 1: Sections I, II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII
• Subcommittee A
• Section I – Purpose, Guiding Principles and Goals of This Community Collaboration
• Section II – Participating Organizations with Contact Persons
• Subcommittee B
• Section III – Applicable Legal Requirements
• Section V – Mechanisms for Coordinating Agreement Implementation, Decision-Making and Dispute Resolution
• Subcommittee C
• Section VI – Monitoring, Evaluation and Program Improvement
• Section VII – Agreement Effective Date, Renewal, Amendment and Termination
• Section VIII – Signatures – Recommending who should sign and strategies for getting input of the signers early on and, as appropriate, throughout the development process and for getting signatures when the agreement is finalized.

• Round 2: Section IV – Areas of Agreement
• Subcommittee A
• Collaboration Area: Public Awareness, Child Find, and Screening Activities
• Collaboration Area: Quality Services for ALL Children
• Collaboration Area: Transition and Continuity
• Subcommittee B
• Collaboration Area: Family Involvement and Support
• Collaboration Area: Confidentiality
• Collaboration Area: Resource Sharing
• Subcommittee C
• Collaboration Area: Personnel Standards and Professional Development
• Collaboration Area: Data Collection and Sharing
• Collaboration Area: Other

Defining Development Team Member Roles

Assign the following roles:

1. Facilitator – This person leads discussion in a way that makes it possible for all other team members to participate equitably. The facilitator is also a participant. While in the facilitator role, this person is neutral. When in the participant role, this person can express his/her opinion and then resume the role of neutral facilitator. The facilitator should cue when he/she is moving in and out of these roles. The team may choose to have co-facilitators. They may also choose to share the facilitator role. That is, particular agreement sections or procedures may be assigned to various team members for facilitation. This helps share the workload and ownership for the agreement or procedures. If the Development Team is using the Subcommittee Approach, then appoint an overall Development Team facilitator and facilitators for each of the Subcommittees.
2. Recorder – This person has responsibility for maintaining a copy of the agreement or procedures with Development Team recommendations or decisions. The recorder is also a participant. If the Development Team is using the Subcommittee Approach, then appoint an overall Development Team recorder and recorders for each of the Subcommittees. As suggested for the facilitator above, the team may choose to share or rotate the recorder role.
3. Timekeeper – This person helps the team stay on task within the amount of time allotted for its work at a particular meeting. The timekeeper is also a participant. If the Development Team is using the Subcommittee Approach, then appoint an overall Development Team timekeeper and timekeepers for each of the Subcommittees. As suggested for the facilitator above, the team may choose to share or rotate the timekeeper role.
4. Participants – All team members serve in this role. They have the responsibility to:

• Participate actively in agreement or procedures development, sharing ideas and air time, valuing all ideas (even those with which one disagrees), focusing on areas of agreement (rather than disagreement), coming prepared to meetings, and helping the group stay on task and complete its assignment.
• Make recommendations reflecting the requirements and issues of the constituencies whom they represent on the team.
• Serve a liaison to their constituencies (supervisors including agreement signers, staff, consumers, etc.), both (1) keeping them informed and (2) soliciting their input throughout the process. Waiting until the agreement is completed to involve/inform these constituencies will likely result in their being resistant to what they see as a “new” agreement or procedures. Whereas, keeping them “in the loop” helps ensure that the team’s work will reflect constituents’ interests and will increase the likelihood that these constituents will buy-in to agreement or procedures adoption and implementation.

Clarifying Decision-Making Related to Agreement or Procedure Signing or Adoption

First, in most cases, neither the Development Team nor the overall local early childhood interagency team is a decision-making group. Rather, these teams are recommending groups. That is, they make recommendations to the agencies and organizations represented on the team and then each of those agencies and organizations makes the final decision about agreement or procedure signing or adoption.

In making its recommendations, it is helpful for the Development Team and the overall local early childhood interagency team to use modified consensus. Modified consensus requires the team to answer the questions:

1. Can we live with what is being proposed (as opposed to 100% absolute agreement). This indicates the team’s willingness to work with an agreement provision or procedure for some period of time after which the team can evaluate implementation and adjust the agreement or procedures as needed.
2. Can we publicly support it (that is, speak positively about the team’s recommendations outside of the team’s meeting such as with one’s constituents)?
3. If members cannot live with and publicly support particular wording in the agreement or procedure, then they should suggest wording to add, delete or change so that they will be able to live with and publicly support it.

Team Meeting Tasks for Developing An Agreement

Interagency Agreement - The agreement addresses the "what" of the interagency collaboration, stating overall policies and/or principles for the team's collaboration. It does NOT describe the specifics of "how" the team will actually implement the policies and principles in the agreement. This is a document to which the entire team agrees.

Agreement development will likely take place over multiple meetings. The following meeting tasks and schedule can be modified as appropriate to each team. That is, some of the meeting tasks below can be combined, that is, combining 2 or more meetings into 1 meeting. Or, tasks for 1 meeting may actually need to be spread over 2 or more meetings (particularly those suggested for Meeting 3 below).

Meeting 1 Tasks – Getting Started

1. Ask your team members if they are interested in developing or revising your interagency agreement and/or any of your collaborative procedures. If so, ask them to set a date for an Agreement Planning Meeting at which plans can be discussed.
2. Ask each of your local early childhood interagency team members to review this website prior to the team’s Agreement Planning Meeting and to get the input of the likely signers of this agreement from their respective constituencies so that they will be aware and hopefully supportive of this effort on the front end.

Meeting 2 Tasks - Agreement Planning Meeting

1. Preparations
   • Copy this webpage for your team’s review together with any other information you think relevant for your Agreement Planning Meeting.
   • If feasible, set up a laptop with an LCD linked to the Internet so that the team can review it during the Agreement Planning Meeting.
2. Decide how you will organize your Development Team – type of team and membership.
3. Determine logistics for using this website for agreement development
4. Decide on your Development Team’s approach to agreement development (as a full team or subcommittees – if subcommittees, how many, what tasks, what membership)
5. Clarify and assign roles for facilitator(s), recorder(s), timekeeper(s) and participants.
6. Clarify decision-making related to agreement signing.
7. Identify a schedule for agreement development including key tasks and timelines.

Meeting 3 Tasks – Agreement Development (may take place over multiple meetings)

1. Open up the Template for Local Early Childhood Interagency Agreement that appears on the Template Webpage on this Website. Follow the instructions that are embedded in this Template in the comment boxes that appear on the right side of the Template. In summary, you can adopt or adapt the wording on the Template to be appropriate to your team. While you can edit this wording, you should ensure that the concepts in the Template are included in the agreement.
2. Use either the full team or subcommittee approach to develop and achieve consensus on your agreement using the templates and related resources provided on the website, e.g., word search, product review.
3. During agreement development, decide what collaborative procedures:

Meeting 4 Tasks – Building Consensus on the Draft Agreement and Plans to Get Constituent Input

1. If the Development Team is composed of all local early childhood team members, you are ready to go to step 2 of these meeting 4 tasks. If the Development Team is a task force, then, at this meeting, that task force will submit the draft agreement to the local early childhood team composed of all members for consensus building, including revisions as needed to achieve consensus.
2. The local early childhood team will confirm tasks and timelines for securing input from the agency and organization constituents (supervisors including agreement signers, staff, consumers, etc.).

Meeting 5 Tasks – Finalizing the Draft Agreement and Plans to Get Signatures and Rollout

1. The local early childhood team will review constituent input and develop recommendations for finalizing the draft agreement.
2. The local early childhood team will confirm tasks and timelines for securing needed agreement signatures.
3. The local early childhood team will develop plans for agreement rollout and for providing training as may be necessary for persons who will have a role in agreement implementation.

Meeting 6 Tasks – Acquiring Signatures and Rollout

1. Track agreement signing until all signatures are received. Be prepared to get input from the signers that may necessitate further revisions to the agreement. This is particularly likely if the signers have not been “in the loop” during agreement development or if there have been intervening circumstances heightening sensitivity to particular issues. Remember, the local early childhood team is NOT a deciding group. It is a recommending group. Each agency or organization’s authorized representative is the one who makes the decision or who represents the group or board within those agencies or organizations that does.
2. After all signatures have been received, finalize plans for agreement rollout and for providing training as may be necessary for persons who will have a role in agreement implementation.

Meeting 7 Tasks – Agreement Rollout and Training (Rather than taking place at one meeting, these tasks actually take place over a period of time.)

1. Implement plans for agreement rollout.
2. Provide training as may be necessary for persons who will have a role in agreement implementation.

Team Meeting Tasks for Developing Collaborative Procedures

Collaborative Procedures - These procedures describe the specifics of "how" the team will actually implement particular policies and principles in the agreement. The how will address what needs to be done, who will do it, timelines, and any applicable forms or resources that the team will use in implementing the procedure. The team will determine which procedures it needs and which agencies on the team need to be involved in these procedures. For example, the team will need procedures for different kinds of transitions. The agencies involved with collaborative procedures for transition out of WV Birth to Three and into Preschool Special Education Services through the public schools will not necessarily be the same as those involved in procedures for the transition of children into and out of Universal Pre-K.

Collaborative Procedures development will likely take place over multiple meetings. The following meeting tasks and schedule can be modified as appropriate to each team. That is, some of the meeting tasks below can be combined, that is, combining 2 or more meetings into 1 meeting. Or, tasks for 1 meeting may actually need to be spread over 2 or more meetings (particularly those suggested for Meeting 3 below).

Meeting 1 Tasks – Determining Priorities for Collaborative Procedures Development

1. During agreement development, decide what collaborative procedures:
   • You have that you want to incorporate by reference - These are procedures that have already been developed by individual agencies and/or the collaborative team. Incorporating by reference means that you are not writing out the specific collaborative procedures within the agreement itself. In effect, incorporating by reference is similar to attaching the procedures to the agreement. This has the following advantages.

     • The agreement defines the "what"/policy and/or principles that should be applicable over a number of years. Whereas, collaborative procedures define the "How" and may need to be revised periodically. Incorporating by reference allows the team to revise referenced procedures without having to revise the whole agreement.
     • The agreement applies to all agencies on the team. In some cases, collaborative procedures may only apply to certain agencies on the team - not all.
   • You have but that you want to revise
   • You do not have but want to develop
2. Decide on sequence for procedures development. That is, will you develop them all one at a time in priority order or will you develop them all at the same time, e.g., using a subcommittee approach.
3. Ask each of your local early childhood interagency team members to review this website prior to the team’s Collaborative Procedures Planning Meeting to become familiar with relevant resources there and to collect relevant requirements, forms, etc. from their respective agencies and organizations to share with the team during collaborative procedures development.

Meeting 2 Tasks – Collaborative Procedures Planning Meeting

1. Preparations

   • Copy this webpage for your team’s review together with any other information you think relevant for your Collaborative Procedures Planning Meeting.
   • If feasible, set up a laptop with an LCD linked to the Internet so that the team can review it during the Collaborative Procedures Planning Meeting.
2. Just like you did for your overall agreement, decide how you will organize your Development Team – type of team and membership.
3. Determine logistics for using this website for collaborative procedures development
4. Decide on your Development Team’s approach to collaborative procedures development (as a full team or subcommittees – if subcommittees, how many, what tasks, what membership). Note that depending on the nature of the collaborative procedures, these may not be applicable to all of the agencies/organizations represented on the team – only to a subset. If this is the case, then establish a subcommittee of relevant participants to deal with these procedures.
5. Clarify and assign roles for facilitator(s), recorder(s), timekeeper(s) and participants.
6. Clarify decision-making related to collaborative procedures adoption.
7. Identify a schedule for collaborative procedures development including key tasks and timelines.

Meeting 3 Tasks – Collaborative Procedures Development (may take place over multiple meetings)

1. The Template webpage on this website provides a variety of templates for collaborative procedures and resource sharing agreements. Open the Template on which the team wants to work. Follow the instructions that are embedded in this Template in the comment boxes that appear on the right side of the Template. In summary, you can adopt or adapt the wording on the Template to be appropriate to your team. While you can edit this wording, you should ensure that the concepts in the Template are included in the agreement.
2. Use either the full team or subcommittee approach to develop and achieve consensus on your collaborative procedures using the templates and related resources provided on the website, e.g., word search, product review.

Meeting 4 Tasks – Building Consensus on the Draft Collaborative Procedures and Plans to Get Constituent Input

1. If the Development Team is composed of all local early childhood team members, you are ready to go to step 2 of these meeting 4 tasks. If the Development Team is a task force, then, at this meeting, that task force will submit the draft collaborative procedures to the local early childhood team composed of all members for consensus building, including revisions as needed to achieve consensus.
2. The local early childhood team will confirm tasks and timelines for securing input from the agency and organization constituents (supervisors including agreement signers, staff, consumers, etc.).

Meeting 5 Tasks – Finalizing the Draft Collaborative Procedures and Plans for Adoption and Rollout

1. The local early childhood team will review constituent input and develop recommendations for finalizing the collaborative procedures.
2. The local early childhood team will confirm tasks and timelines for facilitating collaborative procedures adoption by the applicable agencies/organizations represented on the team. Depending on the nature of the collaborative procedures, these may not be applicable to all of the agencies/organizations represented on the team – only to a subset. Also, depending on the nature of the collaborative procedures, procedures adoption may or may not require a signature. Some other form of adoption may suffice, i.e., agreement to use. Also, procedures adoption may be able to be accomplished at a level in the agency or organization different from agreement signing. That is, such authority may be delegated to a middle manager.
3. The local early childhood team will develop plans for collaborative procedures rollout and for providing training as may be necessary for persons who will have a role in collaborative procedures implementation.

Meeting 6 Tasks – Collaborative Procedures Adoption and Rollout

1. Track collaborative procedures adoption until they have been adopted by all relevant agencies/organizations. Be prepared to get input from the “adopters” that may necessitate further revisions to the agreement. This is particularly likely if the adopters have not been “in the loop” during collaborative procedures development or if there have been intervening circumstances heightening sensitivity to particular issues. Remember, the local early childhood team is NOT a deciding group. It is a recommending group. Each agency or organization’s authorized representative is the one who makes the decision or who represents the group or board within those agencies or organizations that does.
2. After all relevant agency or organizations have adopted the collaborative procedures, finalize plans for collaborative procedures rollout and for providing training as may be necessary for persons who will have a role in collaborative procedures implementation.

Meeting 7 Tasks – Collaborative Procedures Rollout and Training (Rather than taking place at one meeting, these tasks actually take place over a period of time.)

1. Implement plans for procedures rollout.
2. Provide training as may be necessary for persons who will have a role in procedures implementation.

Technical Assistance and Sample Team Agenda

1. Technical assistance for help in working with your team and negotiating the agreement and procedures is available by clicking here.
2. Technical assistance for help with website/technology issues is available by clicking here.
3. For a sample process agenda that the team can use for an agreement and procedures development session using these Strategies for Team Use, click here.
4. Click here to download an Orientation PowerPoint presentation to use with your team or other interested groups.

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