Published in Nurse Leader, December, 2003           

Overview

Healthcare executives throughout the country are looking for innovative, cost-effective ways to provide leadership development.  We have found that combining 360-degree feedback, competency-based learning and individual coaching is a highly effective formula for preparing competent, confident leaders.  This article describes the three-year leadership development journey undertaken by The Medical Center of Aurora (TMCA) in partnership with Cunningham Communications, Inc. 

The purpose of the program was to improve organizational performance by improving individual leader and team performance. TMCA wanted to “shift” the existing culture & build stronger leaders, thus, the term “LeaderShift”® (a term coined by Cunningham in 1995) was used.

With solid executive sponsorship from, Cunningham designed a program that included the following four elements comprehensively woven together over the course of three years:

• 360-degree feedback & coaching for the senior executives
• monthly group learning sessions & individual coaching for directors

Multidisciplinary groups were formed to catalyze creativity and collaboration among the directors.  Coaching was viewed as integral to the learning process for its effect on accelerating training efforts.  Cunningham recruited a small cadre of professional executive coaches, including co-author Kimberly McNally, McNally & Associates, to join her in delivering the program.

Background

TMCA is a 346 bed tertiary hospital located on three campuses with over 1000 medical staff members, 1500 employees and two Emergency Departments that serve over 106,000 patients per year.  Having just led TMCA through an extensive consolidation.  With relatively new executive leadership team, CEO Young was interested in building a new organizational culture characterized by service excellence and accountability. and recruitment results.  The team  realized they  needed to provide more mentoring and direction to the Director group to augment what the senior staff was giving them.  They recognized that investing in leadership development was essential, albeit costly.

Group Learning 

Directors were assigned to one of three multidisciplinary peer groups and attended a full-day interactive, experiential learning session each month for a year.  The directors worked on team projects aimed to foster collaboration, encourage peer mentoring and decrease competition.

Topics covered in the monthly learning sessions included; leadership models, organizational culture, communication, emotional intelligence, self-care, team dynamics, coaching, delegation, recognition and public speaking skills.  As part of the program format, TMCA executives shared tips for success duplication. The program culminated in an off-site retreat that brought together all the participants for the purpose of team reports, celebration and planning next steps. 

Individual Coaching Process

Each director shared specific annual performance goals with his/her coach.  The coaches designed customized programs for the directors that included self-observation exercises, “homework” assignments, tools for structure and accountability, recommendations for new practices and relevant resources.  Coaching sessions were held generally twice per month for a total of twenty sessions.   The coaches addressed actual work issues and provided “just-in-time” development and reinforcement of the content presented in the monthly group learning sessions.

In addition, Cunningham provided on-going coaching on public presentation skills and leadership presence using video feedback.  The team recognized the need for the executives and directors to be able to effectively stand up and present in a variety of venues.  Although not initially planned for, this proved to be a critical component in the program.

Some Outcomes: