by Helen Sanderson and Mary Beth Lepkowsky with Michelle Livesley and Ruth Gorman
Many, if not all of us, upon experiencing the impact of supporting people in a person centered way, see the value in applying person centered practices with staff. Person centered organizations recognize that people are central to success. They focus on developing employees as well as getting good results with the people they serve. Employees who are respected, heard and supported well by supervisors and team mates who model person centered practices, are more likely to be person centered with people they support.
In our busy work days, it can be hard to know how or where to begin to apply person centered approaches within a team or organization setting. This paper, Using person centred practices within organisations and teams, shares some ideas and concrete, practical examples of how different person centered thinking tools and practices have been used by supervisors, managers, and senior leaders.
I have enjoyed thinking together with Helen, Michelle, Ruth and others about person centered teams, and continue to write on the topic for a book that will be published in spring, 2013. We hope you will find this paper useful and that you may be inspired to try something new to embed person centered practices deep within the culture of your organization…and then, by all means, please share what you tried and learned. Find more resources for person centered teams at www.helensandersonassociates.co.uk and learn about person centered thinking at www.learningcommunity.us To be notified about the release of the book Person Centered Teams, sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the page.