Mark Z. Hartford

Mark Hartford has been affiliated with IHS since 1989 as a consultant, facilitator, curriculum developer, and trainer. He previously worked as Staff Development Coordinator for the Ohio Department of Human Services, and as a caseworker for a county department of human services. Mr. Hartford specializes in designing and implementing organizational change interventions in the public and private not-for-profit sectors. Mr. Hartford developed the Transformational Change Process Model to guide community-based strategic planning to promote best practice in child welfare and public human services. He is the principal developer and author of the IHS Core Curriculum for Child Welfare Supervisors and Managers, and the IHS Training of Trainers curriculum. He is co-author of the Universe of Competencies for Child Welfare Supervisors and Managers, and its associated Individual Training Needs Assessment. He has also authored numerous articles related to organizational and systems development, including "Improving Your Leadership;" "Leadership Style and Organizational Development;" "Local Chapter Development" for The New Democrat, a journal for community organizations; a "The Key to Competency-Based Training: The Individual Needs Assessment Instrument" for the newsletter of the National Child Welfare Training Center; and a series of articles on training, presentation, and group management skills for the IHS email newsletter. Institute for Human Services Mr. Hartford works throughout the United States and Canada to promote system change in child welfare and public human services. He has trained thousands of staff in topics that include supervision, management, leadership, management of conflict, management of change, and training presentation skills. He has been instrumental in setting up competency-based inservice training systems in many states and provinces, and has coached and mentored hundreds of training managers and trainers. He is also an expert facilitator, and has planned and led numerous senior management retreats in envisioning futures, mission development, strategic planning, team building, conflict resolution, and interagency collaboration. Mr. Hartford has also designed, facilitated, and evaluated community-based strategic planning initiatives for public child welfare and human services agencies throughout Ohio, using the model of transformational change he developed. He has been instrumental in helping dozens of county human services agencies implement organizational changes to meet the requirements of TANF, Welfare-to-Work, and Workforce Investment Act programs.