The College of Frontline Supervision (CFS) is an online multimedia training resource. It focuses on the topics of how to recruit, train, and retain high quality direct support professionals. The content was developed with frontline supervisors in mind as a primary audience. However, it was also developed in a way so that others could benefit from much of the content.

People who may benefit from the material in the CFS include:

•  Frontline supervisors who supervise direct support professionals.

•  Direct support professionals or others who are interested in promotions to supervisory work

•  People who work on committees or workgroups who want to learn more about stemming turnover and improving quality in direct support.

•  People who directly hire and supervise their own direct support professionals or family members who hire and supervise direct support professionals for a person in their family.

•  Administrators, trainers, and human resource personnel of agencies who employ direct support professionals.

The Curriculum:

These online courses were based on a paper curriculum developed by the Research and Training Center (RTC) on Community Living at the University of Minnesota called: Removing the Revolving Door.

This curriculum was one of three developed to help employers improve their ability to find and maintain a high quality workforce able to support people with disabilities and related conditions, in their homes, places of employment, and communities.

This curriculum was based on thousands of hours of technical assistance and workshops that have been developed and delivered by staff at the RTC. It is also based on work that has been done to identify and validate a set of competencies for frontline supervisors in this field.

The Competencies:

Efforts have been made in Minnesota and nationally to identify the skills, knowledge, and attitudes it takes to be an effective supervisor in human service jobs. To learn more about these competencies you can download the PDF document: The Minnesota Frontline Supervisor Competencies and Performance Indicators .

The Courses:

There are 4 courses in the College of Frontline Supervision . Completing these courses will give you a solid foundation in recruitment and retention skills. Below is a short description of each course and the lessons contained in the courses.

Course #1 Developing an Intervention Plan: This course will help you pull together a solid plan for reducing unwanted turnover and vacancy rates based on the most critical needs in your site. Learn how to calculate your turnover and vacancy rate and how to use the results to select the best interventions and track their progress. Learn how to anticipate and overcome barriers and challenges in implementing your plan. It is strongly recommended that you complete this course before completing others in the CFS. This course has 4 lessons:

Lesson 1: Understanding the Intervention Plan

Lesson 2: Assessing the Challenge Part 1: Retention Basics

Lesson 3: Assessing the Challenge Part 2: Additional Assessment and the
Assessment Process.

Lesson 4: Developing Your Intervention Plan

Course #2 Training and Orientation: This course reviews the need for assessing employees as the foundation for and development of successful training programs. In addition, you will learn about the various components of training and how training practices can influence turnover of high potential staff. The emphasis is on the structure of training including methods and topics for training. Because orientation serves a different purpose than skill training, a separate lesson on orientation practices is included. This course has 5 lessons:

Lesson 1: Understanding Training

Lesson 2: Choosing Training Tropics

Lesson 3: Choosing Training Methods

Lesson 4: Understanding Employee Assessment

Lesson 5: Orientation Practices

Course #3 Fueling High Performance: You can reduce the turnover of high potential staff by providing professional development opportunities and by having consistent and high performance requirements. This course reviews a number of important interventions that give structure and definition to performance expectations and promote high quality performance. This course has 5 lessons:

Lesson 1: Competency Based Training

Lesson 2: Employee Development

Lesson 3: Building a Successful Team

Lesson 4: Coaching and Positive Discipline

Lesson 5: Employee Participation, Motivation, and Recognition

Course #4 Recruitment and Selection: You won't retain the right staff if you can't find and hire them. This course will help you understand how to bring more potential employees to your door and how to choose the best of those that apply. This course has 3 lessons:

Lesson 1: Recruitment and Marketing

Lesson 2: Realistic Job Previews

Lesson 3: Selection and Hiring

The Study:

The Research and Training Center and their funding sources are very interested in learning more about the effectiveness of the content in this curriculum. The College of Frontline Supervision was developed to help make an impact in the serious problems in finding and maintaining a high quality direct support workforce. To learn more about the effect the curriculum has, the RTC is looking for volunteers to participate in a study regarding the outcomes of using this product and also to track who is using the product.

For a period of time, the content of the CFS is available for free to people who are willing to participate in a research study being conducted by the RTC at the U of M. For those who do not wish to participate in the study, the content is available for free by downloading the paper curriculum during the period of the study. In addition, a fee-based option for online training will become available once the research goals are met.

To learn more about the study and what would be expected of you, click here to review the consent form . Reviewing the consent form does not obligate you to participate in the study. It is for informational purposes only. In order to participate in the study and sign a real consent, you must go to the Overview and Registration portion of this site.

Learning More and Registering:

To learn more about the CFS and the research study you can click on the link on the home page that says: "Overview and Registration". This will take you into an interactive and multimedia introduction to the current challenges being faced in developing a competent and stable workforce. You will get a better idea about what the curriculum offers and can learn more about the research study.

You are not obligated to participate in the study; however, if you decide not to, you will not be able to register for the online courses at this time. You will be routed to a page where you can download the paper curriculum for free and view some other resources. You will also be given a chance to enter your name and contact information into a database for notification regarding when the online fee-based curriculum will be available.

We appreciate your interest in the College of Frontline Supervision and wish you the best in meeting your workforce challenges!