Thursday, August 2, 2007 at 1:01am
A sick hospital recovers
Column: Executive Soul
When Medrice Coluccio arrived at St. John Medical Center in Longview, Wash., as CEO in early 2002, she encountered a desperate situation: Morale had plummeted, patient satisfaction was low, the finances were in ruins. Already one of the poorest communities in Washington State, the Longview area had been hit further by the recession. And St. John Medical Center reflected the area's difficulties, both financially and in terms of morale.
For St. John Medical Center, putting people first through what Coluccio called "engaged leadership" proved to be the answer. She began her engaged leadership during the interview process, listening respectfully to as many people as possible. By the time she accepted the position, she had consulted with over 200 people at St. John and in the larger Peace Health (St. John's parent body) system. Upon arrival in the job, Coluccio demonstrated her ongoing commitment to her people by moving her office from the "White House," a separate administrative building so nicknamed by employees, to the main hospital building, so that she could be in the midst of St. John's employees and continue to listen to their day-to-day struggles.
And struggles there were. As Coluccio herself admits, "We were not well. We were on the respirator big time." She discovered that she had to prove herself. With morale low, trust didn't come easily. Employees needed to see for themselves that Coluccio's leadership was authentic. Because she had originally trained and worked as a nurse and knew her employees' challenges firsthand, and because she spent time every day out on the floor with front-line caregivers, Coluccio gradually won employees' respect and trust.
Knowing that engaged leadership begins with listening, Coluccio started a strategic planning process simply, with focus groups. She asked three questions: 1) What is working? 2) What isn't working? and 3) If you could wave your magic wand, what would you like to see different come out of our healthcare ministry here?
Building on this foundation of listening, Coluccio and a design team took the information gathered and constructed a mission-based strategic plan from the bottom up. The design team for the strategic plan, assembled by Coluccio in spring of 2002, represented the full range of hospital employees, physicians and board members. Everyone had a voice. The design team supplemented the focus groups with other data collection and analysis.
Then, using all the information gathered, the design team went to work. They began by asking, "Can we be more than we are?" Answering in the affirmative, they asked further, "What would be marks of a successful strategic plan?" They identified 10, from "Deliver a believable and doable plan" to "Meet the medical and surgical needs of the community" to "Create pride in the workplace" to "Serve as a benchmark for healthcare in the region" to "Be economically viable."
With the success criteria in place to guide them, the team articulated a four-step planning process. First, they described the desired future state of St. John Medical Center. They realized that the mission and vision statements needed to be clearly defined in order to articulate where they wanted to go, so they put their parent organization's mission statement front and center in their planning. This statement provided the plumb line the team needed to envision their desired future state.
Second, the design team recognized the need to describe the current state of the institution, in order to assess how far they needed to go to reach their desired future state. They took stock of their current commitments, identified the organizational barriers and the market barriers they faced, and examined internal and external limitations.
Third, the team evaluated their capability to move from where they were to where they wanted to be. To do this, the design team translated the mission and vision statements into concrete goals in such areas as patient care, leadership development, improvement of facilities, and employee pride and loyalty. With concrete goals articulated, the team assessed their resources and capability to achieve the goals.
Fourth, the team developed an incremental master plan. They examined activities that were already in place and initiated new activities that would meet the goals, and sequenced them over a five-year period, organizing the activities into 10 strategic initiatives.
By the time the board adopted the strategic plan in the fall, there was widespread enthusiasm for the new direction. By practicing engaged leadership, Medrice Coluccio demonstrated that, against all odds, employees can make a sick hospital recover.
— — —
Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," works with leaders in business, healthcare and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. Copyright 2007 by Margaret Benefiel.
For St. John Medical Center, putting people first through what Coluccio called "engaged leadership" proved to be the answer. She began her engaged leadership during the interview process, listening respectfully to as many people as possible. By the time she accepted the position, she had consulted with over 200 people at St. John and in the larger Peace Health (St. John's parent body) system. Upon arrival in the job, Coluccio demonstrated her ongoing commitment to her people by moving her office from the "White House," a separate administrative building so nicknamed by employees, to the main hospital building, so that she could be in the midst of St. John's employees and continue to listen to their day-to-day struggles.
And struggles there were. As Coluccio herself admits, "We were not well. We were on the respirator big time." She discovered that she had to prove herself. With morale low, trust didn't come easily. Employees needed to see for themselves that Coluccio's leadership was authentic. Because she had originally trained and worked as a nurse and knew her employees' challenges firsthand, and because she spent time every day out on the floor with front-line caregivers, Coluccio gradually won employees' respect and trust.
Knowing that engaged leadership begins with listening, Coluccio started a strategic planning process simply, with focus groups. She asked three questions: 1) What is working? 2) What isn't working? and 3) If you could wave your magic wand, what would you like to see different come out of our healthcare ministry here?
Building on this foundation of listening, Coluccio and a design team took the information gathered and constructed a mission-based strategic plan from the bottom up. The design team for the strategic plan, assembled by Coluccio in spring of 2002, represented the full range of hospital employees, physicians and board members. Everyone had a voice. The design team supplemented the focus groups with other data collection and analysis.
Then, using all the information gathered, the design team went to work. They began by asking, "Can we be more than we are?" Answering in the affirmative, they asked further, "What would be marks of a successful strategic plan?" They identified 10, from "Deliver a believable and doable plan" to "Meet the medical and surgical needs of the community" to "Create pride in the workplace" to "Serve as a benchmark for healthcare in the region" to "Be economically viable."
With the success criteria in place to guide them, the team articulated a four-step planning process. First, they described the desired future state of St. John Medical Center. They realized that the mission and vision statements needed to be clearly defined in order to articulate where they wanted to go, so they put their parent organization's mission statement front and center in their planning. This statement provided the plumb line the team needed to envision their desired future state.
Second, the design team recognized the need to describe the current state of the institution, in order to assess how far they needed to go to reach their desired future state. They took stock of their current commitments, identified the organizational barriers and the market barriers they faced, and examined internal and external limitations.
Third, the team evaluated their capability to move from where they were to where they wanted to be. To do this, the design team translated the mission and vision statements into concrete goals in such areas as patient care, leadership development, improvement of facilities, and employee pride and loyalty. With concrete goals articulated, the team assessed their resources and capability to achieve the goals.
Fourth, the team developed an incremental master plan. They examined activities that were already in place and initiated new activities that would meet the goals, and sequenced them over a five-year period, organizing the activities into 10 strategic initiatives.
By the time the board adopted the strategic plan in the fall, there was widespread enthusiasm for the new direction. By practicing engaged leadership, Medrice Coluccio demonstrated that, against all odds, employees can make a sick hospital recover.
— — —
Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," works with leaders in business, healthcare and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. Copyright 2007 by Margaret Benefiel.