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July, 2011 Update



The National Institute of Corrections recently completed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Virginia Department of Corrections for a Workforce Development project to support cultural change efforts within the VA DOC. This project has been designed to reinforce the work, already under way, in Virginia as part of the Adult Reentry Initiative. The project will serve as a demonstration of a crafted work force transformation process that will identify corrections worker operating practices and behaviors to support a “healing environment.” The joint VA DOC/NIC project will focus initially on leadership and senior management and expand over time to involve and effect the entire organization culture, with both top-down and bottom-up strategies. Senior managers will become learning coaches in the development of a culture embracing trust, collaboration and teamwork. They will also mentor middle managers who will, in turn, mentor line staff so that staff at all levels will learn and practice behaviors and communication skills that support offender change. In this way, offenders living in this healing environment will be exposed to increasing pro-social learning and will practice communications skills that will improve their chances for success.

The project will proceed for a period of at least 24 months and follow three incremental phases; Building Readiness, Re-Envisioning the Organization; and Implementation. Throughout the project, there will be a focus on sustainability and performance measures to guide the Department in implementing a staff development system based upon the skills required by the Virginia Reentry Initiative. The three phases of intervention and training are designed to create a foundation for organizational change. The project will be carried out through the execution of eight tasks.

Task 1: Baseline Data Collection. NIC staff will provide support for the completion of executive 360 evaluations, for feedback, and for follow up coaching to senior staff of the VA DOC. NIC’s technical assistance provider, the Urban Institute (UI) of Washington, D.C., will work with VA DOC staff to develop data collection procedures and surveys to provide measures of organizational performance and staff perceptions to be used both to identify “baseline” data and access progress throughout the project.

Task 2: Executive Coaching. NIC staff will provide to VA DOC staff training and follow-up coaching through the delivery of its Management Development for the Future (MDF) course for correctional leaders. The VA DOC will also provide training and support to its own staff in dialoguing techniques to enhance the quality of communication among staff.

Task 3: Search Conference: NIC will provide support for a Search Conference. A Search Conference is a group meeting process that allows people in an organization to explore the organizational environment and develop plans to create a desired future state.

Task 4: Create Strategic Plan, Design and Develop a ‘Practice Model’, ‘Staff Development System’, and ‘Competency Model’. VA DOC will use in-house staff and the expertise of senior management, HRD specialists, a steering group representing a vertical slice of staff, and work groups representing diagonal slices of the agency to execute these steps. NIC staff and its technical assistance providers will support this effort through training and technical support as needed.

Task 5: Implementation of the New Practice and Staff Development Models. VA DOC will use in-house staff and expertise will develop and execute an implementation plan for the new practice and staff development models. NIC staff and its technical assistance provider, Justice Systems Assessment and Training (J-SAT) of Boulder, Colorado, will have worked with VA DOC senior management throughout the first phases of the project to plan for an effective and sustainable implementation.

Task 6: Institute Staff Hiring, Evaluations and Incentive Based Practice/Competency Model. VA DOC will use in-house staff and expertise to institute new practices in staff hiring, performance evaluations, and incentives based on their practice/competency models.

Task 7: Ongoing Data Collection: NIC staff and UI will continue work with VA DOC staff to collect measures of organizational performance and staff perceptions to be used for comparison with the early baseline data and other intermediate data that has been collected throughout the project. Staff from NIC will administer executive 360 evaluations and provide feedback and follow up coaching as needed.

Task 8: Published Results: The Virginia Department of Corrections, the National Institute of Corrections and its partners will develop and disseminate a variety of publications, including newsletters, project updates, and research papers.

More information will be posted here as it becomes available.


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