Culture Transformation

THE CHALLENGE

The health system CEO set a goal to rank among the top 10% of health systems nationwide in patient experience within the next four years, and soon launched a system-wide pursuit of achieving it. Viewing the drivers of patient and customer experience as Culture, Process, Environment, and Leadership Accountability, the recently created Patient and Customer Experience department sought strategic partnership to develop a culture change program that infuses connectedness, hospitality, and empathy into the fabric of the health system.

OUR APPROACH

This engagement featured a unique, collaborative partnership among the client leaders of Patient Experience, management consultants at Vynamic, and coach-sultants at Delivering Happiness. Together, we began the engagement with a series of focus groups, site tours, and executive leadership interviews to better understand the current climate and opportunities within the organization. In direct collaboration with the senior leaders from the client, we developed a multi-faceted program to cascade through the organization and co-facilitated workshops and Coach-the-Coach sessions with our partners from Delivering Happiness.

The program included:

• Vision and design of workshops for Senior Leaders featuring experiential, dialogue-rich content
• Creation and design of a Culture Program featuring a two-hour Culture Course
• Creation and design of a two-day Coach-the-Coach program to train facilitation skills and build individual confidence

THE RESULTS

During an initial period of 10 weeks, the team collaborated to envision and create each component of this experiential, reflective program – a mix of head & heart – designed to re-energize while offering tangible tools and a dose of accountability. Over the course of four months, we began to introduce them to the organization. Future metrics, specifically HCAHPS site and service line scores and employee engagement data, will continue to be evaluated.

Some specific results achieved include:

• Design and articulation of the new Culture Program for the entire organization
• Over 200 Senior Leaders aligned and activated in half-day workshops
• Over 250 Culture Leaders and Facilitators trained and coached in the art of facilitating the Culture Program
• Launch of a peer-to-peer employee recognition program

“The day after I took the course, I absolutely interacted with my patients differently.” – Cardiologist, Medical Director at Major Client Hospital