MCH Workforce Development Section 
Children, Youth & Families Branch

Strategic Anchors

When thinking about an anchor, it’s easy to visualize an object that creates stability; one that allows that which it is tethered to, to be agile in its ability to shift with the changing environment around it, yet, most importantly, by design, preventing it from drifting too far from it’s desired state.  

When we began our MCH needs assessments a few years ago now, MCH staff at both state and local levels felt strongly about having alignment across the individual priorities being identified.  Alignment in how we approach our work.  Using insight from Patrick Lencioni’s “The Advantage”, we learned that strategic anchors are a critical component to organizational (programmatic) health. 

The best way for an organization (program) to make strategy practical is to boil it down to three strategic anchors that will be used to inform every decision the organization (program) makes and provide a filter or lens through which decisions must be evaluated  to ensure consistency.  Strategic anchors...help companies avoid the temptation to make purely pragmatic and opportunistic decisions that so often end up diminishing a company’s plan for success.”  (Lencioni, 2012, pg 108).

Strategic anchors are a programmatic mechanism that allows us to remain tethered and mindful of our desired state of shared alignment - alignment in how we identify, pursue and create change within our priority areas.  Anchors guide us in how we shape our work at state and local levels, how we choose and take action on strategies, and how we measure the impact that our efforts have.

For the 2021-2025 MCH priorities, the strategic anchors that state and local public health staff found most critical are: Racial Equity, Community Inclusion and Moving Upstream  

Because of the nature of anchors - being that of guides/tethers, you’ll notice that the Workforce Development Team isn’t going to “tell” you what to do...but instead we have provided a structured guide for remaining anchored despite the complex and challenging nature of our work. This brief guide is intended to assist you in remaining mindful of our shared anchors - as you navigate conversations, make decisions and take action.  Because this is HOW we do our work, these anchors become a thread through everything we do and every decision we make. 

If you are interested in learning more, or to request training, consultation or coaching on how to incorporate the strategic anchors into your work or other workforce needs, please reach out to the Workforce Development Team through the Workforce Request System. 

 Risa Friedman
 MCH Program Specialist
 Children, Youth & Families Branch

 New MCH Icons Unveiled

 We are very excited to share the new set of MCH icons! 

 This past fall while creating new data and educational  products for the 2021-2025 MCH priorities, it became clear that icons would be a useful communications tool. I worked closely with a CDPHE graphic designer to create the icons and solicited feedback from priority coordinators, other MCH staff, the community advisory board and local public health agency staff along the way. Thank you to all of you who helped us make improvements! While these are pretty much considered final, if you notice anything that should be changed, please let me know. We can still make tweaks if needed.

During the May LPHA Partnership call, several people voiced interest in using the icons in their MCH materials. All local public health agencies are welcome to use them and we put together a document for you with all of the icons in color and one with all of them in grayscale. We will always use the icons with the names of the priorities and/or a key to indicate which icon corresponds with which priority and request that any LPHAs using them do the same. 

If you have any questions about how to include the icons in your products please feel free to email me. I can send you individual jpegs for any of them and can help with placing them into documents. I also put together this monthly newsletter, so if you have any feedback or suggestions about the Digest, please reach out!