Workforce Development Model: A Comprehensive Strategy for Workforce
Development for Environmental Public Health Professionals in South
Carolina.

# 2005 - 2006

# Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute Fellow(s):

**Vicki Blair**

Region 6 Environmental Health Manager, South Carolina Department of
Health and Environmental Control

1511A Ninth Avenue

Conway, SC 29526

Phone: (843) 248-1506 E-mail: Blairvw@dhec.sc.gov

**Stuart Crosby, RHES, MBA**

*Region 7 Environmental Health Director;* South Carolina Department of
Health and Environmental Control

*Lonnie Hamilton Jr. Public Service Building*

*4045 Bridge View Dr., Suite B154*

*North Charleston, SC*

*Phone: (843) 202-2720 E-mail: Crosbysg@dhec.sc.gov*

# 

# Project Team

# 

# Mike Chappell

# *Region 5 Health Director*, SC DHEC 

### 

### Sue Ferguson

### *Division of General Sanitation*, SC DHEC

**Mike Longshore**

*Division of General Sanitation*, SC DHEC

## Jim Raymond

*Region 3, Assistant Environmental Health Director*, SC DHEC

## Wally Sheridan

*Director, Division of Direct Support*, SC DHEC

**LA Williams**

*Director, Division of General Sanitation*, SC DHEC

# Mentor:

### **CAPT Mike E. Herring, REHS, MPH**

*Senior Environmental Health Scientist;* CDC, National Center for
Environmental Health

# EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

# 

One of the greatest challenges facing Environmental Public Health
agencies today is assuring that a qualified, competent workforce is
available to carry out its activities. The purpose of this project is to
develop a strategy for building a Workforce Development Model for
environmental public health professionals in South Carolina. The
finalized model will provide the necessary guidance for competency and
skill building opportunities at each classification level along with
direction for career advancement.

This project used a collaborative process to form a multidisciplinary
team. Using a \"systems\" approach, the team analyzed the conditions
that have precipitated the current system, the cost/benefits of changing
versus not changing, and created a shared vision of the final goal. Once
the team defined the parameters of the project, sub-groups were
established and tasks were assigned, including the review of numerous
internal documents, policies, and procedures along with research on how
other organizations have approached this issue. Key research areas were
identified including recruitment and retention, training, promotional
practices, and present and future staff needs.

Knowing that we had to build a \"strong container for change\", the
overall purpose was to assess the system and information collection,
analysis, and dissemination processes regarding workforce development.
Our results should measure and improve staff workforce development
opportunities, uncover staff attitudes about learning issues, provide
data for long-range planning, evaluate effectiveness, and discover
opportunities for improvement. The team developed an extensive list of
objectives and all have been completed with the exception of compiling
all the information collected into a single document.

The completed Workforce Development Model will help insure a
well-trained, more highly skilled workforce that is flexible, more
adaptable, and generally better equipped to handle the complex work
environment faced by today\'s environmental public health professionals.
Staff will now also have more control over their career paths and chance
for advancement.

The strategy proposed in this project is the essential first step, which
will guide us through subsequent steps in building a complete Workforce
Development Model for environmental public health professionals in South
Carolina.

# INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:

Limited growth has occurred over the past decade for Environmental
Health programs. Services are impacted by increased demand and limited
staff capacity to fulfill its requirements in the following areas:

-   Foodservice facility inspections have increased from about 11,000 to
    over 16,000.

-   Septic system permit application has ranged from a low of 16,000 to
    over 29,000 annually.

-   General sanitation activities, especially rabies, lead and child
    daycare facility inspections, has increased dramatically.

Several years of budget cuts have made a monetary rewards system
virtually non-existent. State salaries are not competitive which
diminishes the ability to recruit and retain quality employees. The
routine implementation of regulations is often challenged in the courts.
Staff often has limited skills in adapting to the advancement in
technology. The net result of these occurrences has affected the ability
to respond to growing service demands, an over-stressed workforce and
low employee morale.

Assuring a flexible, adaptive, and highly skilled workforce has never
been more important than it is today. A competent workforce is the most
essential element in our collective efforts to provide quality public
health services. The Environmental Health profession has reached a
critical point. The profession must address its ability to meet the
service demands. A comprehensive Workforce Development Model is an
essential step in meeting service demands. A statewide staffing model,
which identifies career paths has not been developed for Environmental
Public Health professionals. For many years, Environmental Public Health
Managers have expressed the need for a workforce development model to
address our long term staffing need. This career path provides the
employee the option to plan their future and outlines training,
experiences and competencies needed for career advancement.

Many contributing factors impact this situation including a lack of
vision or the right motivation. Whatever the reason, it is important to
address this task at this time. Intellectual capital and its
transportability is the employment model for the foreseeable future.
This means a more mobile workforce. Employees entering the workforce
today can anticipate several careers in their lifetime. In addition,
employees are demanding more control of their careers. Organizations not
meeting employee goals for career control can expect to lose talent to
organizations that meet this need. Employees must know what skills and
competencies it takes to do their job and what they need to advance up
the career ladder. Managers need the best skilled employees that they
can have to meet ever-increasing challenges. State organizations not
meeting stakeholder needs can expect to be re-organized, re-structured,
right-sized, down sized, privatized or whatever state legislatures feel
is appropriate to meet stakeholder needs and concerns. Whatever the
challenges of the future, we are certain that the organization that has
a flexible, adaptive, and highly skilled workforce will be better
positioned to meet them. Because of these, and many other variables
affecting the employee/ employer/ stakeholder relationship, the past
approach to workforce development can no longer be allowed to continue.
One tool to accomplish this goal is the utilization of this WDM.

####### 

####### 

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####### ***Problem Statement:*** 

No career path or workforce development plan currently exists for
Environmental Public Health staff working in South Carolina. In
addition, there is no uniformity in the training of Environmentalists
across the state. These employees may be assigned to the same program
and have the same job title, but they did not receive the same training.
Because of this, employees responsible for doing the same tasks will
have varying competencies and skill levels.

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####### ***Behavior Over Time Graph:***

![](media/image1.wmf)

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####### ***Causal Loop Diagram and applicable archetype:***

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  ![](media/image2.wmf)

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####### ***10 Essential Environmental Health Services:***

We feel that "Assure Competent Workforce" is the most critical Essential
Service and is the first step in providing the other nine essential
services. That is why we chose as our project the development of a
strategy for building a Workforce Development Model for environmental
public health professionals in South Carolina. The completed Workforce
Development Model will help insure a well-trained, more highly skilled
workforce that is flexible, more adaptable, and generally better
equipped to handle the complex work environment faced by today\'s
environmental public health professionals. Once our objective is met, we
will be better prepared to provide the other essential services.

![](media/image3.png){width="3.75in" height="3.8125in"}

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####### ***National Goals Supported*** 

2.  Healthy People 2010 Objectives

> As stated in Healthy People 2010, "environmental factors play a
> central role in human development, health and disease." It further
> states: "Because the effect of the environment on human health is so
> great, protecting the environment has been a mainstay of public health
> practice since 1878." This vital role that environmental health
> professions play in public health has never been more important and
> never have the challenges been greater. Even with this truth so
> evident, public health resources in our state have continued to
> decline. In order for us to do the best that we can with the resources
> that we have, we must ensure that our staff has the knowledge, skills
> and abilities necessary to meet the challenges put before them.
> Workforce development in environmental health is critical to achieving
> the goals of Healthy People 2010.

3.  Environmental Health Competency Project: Recommendation for Core
    Competencies for Local Environmental Health Practitioners.

> The Environmental Health Competencies Project was an important
> resource for our project. As our project continues, we want to more
> clearly define the level of each competency that should be attained
> for each level of advancement. In addition, we want to identify
> training resources and a method to evaluate the degree to which an
> employee has achieved a particular competency.

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+------------+---------------+-----------------+----------------------+
| # Inputs   | #             | **Outputs**     | #                    |
+------------+---------------+-----------------+----------------------+

####### ***Project Logic Model:***

Workforce Development Model: A Comprehensive Strategy for Workforce
Development for Environmental Public Health Professional in South
Carolina.

# PROJECT OBJECTIVES/DESCRIPTION/DELIVERABLES:

####### ***Program Goal***

The goal of our project is to develop a more competent Environmental
Public Health workforce in South Carolina.

####### ***Organizational Problem***

No career path or workforce development plan currently exists for
Environmental Public Health staff working in South Carolina. There is no
uniformity in the training of Environmentalists across the state. These
employees may be assigned to the same program and have the same job
title, but they did not receive the same training. Because of this,
employees responsible for doing the same tasks will have varying
competencies and skill levels.

####### ***Outcome Objective***

The outcome of this model is to provide a system to assure 1)
professional development, 2) a competent workforce, and 3) a defined
career path by December 31, 2006.

####### ***Determinant***

Implementation of the model will be our determinant.

####### ***Impact Objective***

Our impact objective will be an increased capacity of Environmental
Health Staff to provided improved services at all levels.

####### ***Contributing Factors***

As with any complex issue, there are many potential contributing
factors. We think they include the following:

-   No clear and guiding [vision]{.underline} exists that describes what
    an Environmental professional in South Carolina should be.

-   [Resources]{.underline}. Resources may have been insufficient to
    allocate to this task.

-   [Changing environments]{.underline}. Because of the changing
    technological, political and socio-economic environments any model
    would have to be fluid in nature. This makes a model more difficult
    to design.

-   [Buy In]{.underline}. All of those responsible for implementing and
    maintaining the model must be committed to its use.

####### *Process Objectives*

The following objectives were outlined for our project:

-   Documented support from the Director of the Bureau of Environmental
    Health (DBEH) to proceed with this project and for the creation of a
    problem solving team.

> Measurement Tool: Verbal commitment from the DBEH to pursue this
> project.

-   Bring together a diverse team of stakeholders willing to commit the
    time, energy and effort necessary to develop this Workforce
    Development Strategy.

> Measurement Tool: A problem solving team with appropriate stakeholder
> representation will be convened.

-   Organizational meeting of the problem solving team.

> Measurement Tool: Meeting held with a commitment made for future
> meetings.

-   Define the project scope, assign tasks and plan for future meetings.

> Measurement Tool: Documentation (notes from meetings) of the
> discussion of these topics.

-   Create a clear and guiding vision for a comprehensive strategy for a
    Workforce Development Model for Environmental Health and build a
    consensus among project team for its development.

> Measurement Tool: The strategy for the Workforce Development Model
> will be developed.

-   Complete strategy for workforce development.

> Measurement Tool: Present the strategy for development of the model to
> the DBEH.

# METHODOLOGY

This project used a collaborative process to form a multidisciplinary
team to develop a Workforce Development Model. Using a "systems"
approach the team analyzed the conditions that have precipitated the
current system, cost/benefits of changing or not changing and created a
shared vision of where we wanted to go.

After reaching consensus on the parameters of the project, subgroups
were established, tasks assigned and a regular communication schedule
was agreed upon. Tasks included the review of numerous internal
documents, policies and procedures along with research on how other
organizations have approached this issue. The subgroups identified key
areas to research which included recruitment and retention, training,
promotional practices and present and future staff needs.

####### 

# RESULTS:

Building a "strong container for change" particularly for such an
enormous undertaking is indeed a significant leadership challenge.
Overall Purpose: To assess the system and information collection,
analysis and dissemination processes regarding Workforce Development.
Results should:

-   Measure and improve staff workforce development opportunities

-   Discover staff attitudes about learning issues affecting the work
    environment, quality, and productivity

-   Provide data for long-range planning

-   Evaluate effectiveness

-   Discover opportunities for improvement

It was clear from the beginning that this project would require an
extensive commitment to have a complete project at this time. However,
substantial progress has been made. To date we have accomplished the
following:

1.  Conducted a meeting with Mr. Roger Scott, Director of the Bureau of
    Environmental Health.

2.  Discussed with and obtained verbal support from other senior agency
    stakeholders.

3.  Conducted three-project team meetings.

4.  Conducted three regional sub-team meetings.

5.  Researched and discussed existing state and agency personnel
    policies.

6.  Researched and discussed existing state, regional and local
    Environmental Health recruiting, selection, training, development
    and promotional practices.

7.  Researched and discussed present and future staffing needs. This
    included both the quantity and the make-up of future staff.

8.  Discussed and outlined the benefits of a WDM versus not having one.

9.  Discussed and outlined potential career paths (technical,
    managerial, combination).

10. Researched and discussed skills and competencies associated with
    Environmental Health positions.

11. Reviewed and are continuing to update an entry-level basic training
    guide for Environmental Health staff.

12. Discussed and outlined next steps for continuing this project.

13. Briefed stakeholders at statewide meetings on two different
    occasions.

With respect to the identified objectives, all have been completed with
the exception of the final objective. The final step in completing the
strategy for workforce development is compiling all the information
collected into a single document, which will be accomplished during the
end of 2006.

# CONCLUSIONS:

One of the greatest challenges facing Environmental Public Health
agencies today is assuring a qualified competent workforce is available
to carry out its activities. Having a qualified workforce doesn't just
happen, it takes planning. Planning for a qualified workforce begins
long before you "post" that vacancy and doesn't end with the new
employee orientation. The journey that we face in addressing workforce
development is no doubt a long one, but each journey begins with that
first step. The strategy that we plan to provide will guide us through
subsequent steps in building a complete Workforce Development Model.

# LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES:

####### ***Vicki Blair***

Being a member of the inaugural class of the Environmental Public Health
Institute has been a wonderful experience. The chance to work on new and
existing skills with such an amazing group of facilitators, mentors, and
faculty members was truly an honor. The project was definitely a
challenge and, while I have worked on projects in other leadership
trainings, none have been as directly related to environmental health as
this one. The networking has opened my eyes to the fact that many of the
problems experienced in South Carolina are certainly not specific to our
state. Being able to use systems thinking to analyze the problem
addressed in our project facilitated the collaboration of creating a
shared vision. This allowed for the opportunity to join forces with
others across the state to address our concerns with a common mission,
objective, and strategy.

I can't say enough about the fellowes that have shared this journey with
me. I have established personal connections with many of them and look
forward to sharing experiences and challenges with them throughout my
career. They are a formidable group and their respective states should
be proud and honored to have them representing environmental health.
Their peers have much they can learn from them and I hope they will take
advantage of that opportunity. I wish them all the best and know that
being of member of this class has been as memorable for them as it has
for me. My sincerest thanks for the chance to participate.

####### ***Stuart Crosby***

Participating in the Environmental Public Health Leadership Institue has
been a great opportunity for me to expand my existing skills as well as
develop new ones. While I have had many leadership opportunities over
the years, I have never worked on a project which would potentially have
such a significant impact on the future of Environmental Health in South
Carolina. Participation in the institute and this project provided me
with this oportunity. It allowed me to co-lead a diverse team and to
help create a shared vision of what we wanted Environmental Health in
South Carolina to look lke in the future. The skills that I learned
through the institute about Systems Thinking allowed me to apply these
newly learned techniques to problem analysis.

The institute also provided me the opportunity to share ideas and gain
new information from exceptional Environmental Health professionals from
across the country. This opportunity in itself made participation
worthwhile. The curriculum overall was excellent and addressed a broad
range of topics that are important for today's Environmentalist.

# ABOUT THE EPHLI FELLOW(s)

Vicki Blair

Vicki Blair has been an Environmentalist with the South Carolina
Department of Health and Environmental Control for fifteen years. She
graduated from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte with a B.S. in
Biology and currently is an environmental health manager in the coastal
area of South Carolina. She is regional supervisor of the rabies and
vector control programs but also works in all general sanitation areas.
She is secretary/treasurer of the South Carolina Environmental Health
Association, a section officer of the South Carolina Public Health
Association, and state delegate for the Interstate Environmental Health
Association. She resides with her husband in Surfside Beach, S.C.

Stuart Crosby

Stuart Crosby is an Environmentalist with the South Carolina Department
of Health and Control where he has worked for more than twenty years.
After graduating from the Citadel in 1981, Stuart did a three-year tour
in the Army as an Engineer officer. Following his military tour Stuart
was hired as a county environmentalist for the Colleton County Health
Department where he progressed to County Environmental Health
Supervisor. For the past seven years Stuart has served has Regional
Environmental Health Supervisor for SC DHEC Region 7, based in
Charleston, South Carolina.