PODCAST DESCRIPTION

The Human Services Value Curve: Charting the Path to Equitable Outcomes and Systemic Transformation

In this episode, we explore the groundbreaking framework that is redefining how health and human services organizations measure success: the Human Services Value Curve (HSVC). Developed by Dr. Antonio M. Oftelie (Executive Director, Leadership for a Networked World Fellow at Harvard) and Leadership for a Networked World (LNW), the HSVC functions as a theory of change and a leadership guide for designing the organizational and systemic capacity needed for transformational solutions.

The HSVC was profoundly inspired by real-world outcomes, contrasting the tragic case of the Jacks children—where multiple government and non-profit organizations worked in disconnected "silos"—with the author’s own family experience, which was lifted up by "generative" human services. These stories illuminate what is at stake for organizations striving to help families attain a self-sufficient, healthy, and sustainable future.

The framework charts growth in both outcomes and organizational capacity across four progressive horizons:

1. Regulative Horizon: Focuses on efficiency and compliance, delivering customer-friendly and cost-effective programs that adhere to strict policy and program rules. This level builds the foundational capacity necessary for future innovation.
2. Collaborative Horizon: Focuses on effectiveness by helping people achieve stability. Organizations expand beyond silos to coordinate services, adopting a person-centric model and whole-family mindset. This enables two-generation family solutions and capacity growth through shared information and cross-program outcome reporting.
3. Integrative Horizon: Aims for sustainable social and economic mobility by helping families overcome the root causes of challenges. This strategy requires seamless integration of multiple programs across organizational and sectoral boundaries using digital platforms, rigorous application of social determinants of health (SDOH), and leveraging analytics to become predictive about customer needs.
4. Generative Horizon: Maximizes social value by generating equitably flourishing communities. This horizon relies on the deep integration from previous stages to form an "ecosystem for outcomes"—a network that co-designs and delivers solutions to multi-dimensional population-level challenges. This ecosystem uses population data and insights to work "upstream" and become prescriptive, linking policy and investment to achieve equitable community outcomes.

Transformation along the curve is driven by four adapting Advancement Levers—Governance & Structures, Insight & Evidence, Services & Solutions, and People & Culture—which mutually reinforce continuous improvement. Leaders undertaking this journey must recognize it as an "adaptive challenge". As described by Ron Heifetz, this type of change requires not only technical innovation but also difficult organizational innovation, forcing people to develop new competencies and navigate the real and perceived losses associated with adopting new models.

The HSVC provides a crucial guide for leaders to drive the innovation, collaboration, technology adoption, and adaptive leadership required to meet the pressing challenge of advancing equity in health and social and economic mobility.