Resources

Last year, ithrive31 partnered with Mary Greeley Medical Center to make external coaching available for all their leaders. Through this partnership, we have been able to offer support to leaders in a very personal way. This opportunity sends a message: “We care about your wellbeing.” The message that comes back from leaders who participate is 100% appreciation and a resounding “Thank You, we appreciate you offering this support to us.” It also allows leaders the tools they need to become better coaches for the employees and teammates they work with on a daily basis.

Mary Greeley implemented their partnership with the ithrive31 team during this new ‘great resignation’ era. Their results show that their turnover rate is within the top quartile of hospital benchmarks. This means that their turnover rate is among the lowest 25% of peers and their nurse turnover is in the top decile which means among the lowest 10% of peers.

We interviewed Mary Greeley Director of Human Resources and Education, Penny Bellville, MS-HRD, SHRM-SCP, CCP, SPHR about her experience working with ithrive31.

Q:  Tell us about Leadership Coaching at MGMC

A: MGMC has always had a strong commitment to excellence and implementing a Coaching Culture has been our theme this year. In doing so, we have focused on building coaching capabilities for leaders. We have been helping leaders build a coaching mindset and skill sets into their work. We have done this through workshops, leader messaging, group sessions and one-on-one coaching support. We also wanted to support leaders by offering Coaching for them. This means we gave all leaders access to an external Coach to use as needed, in the way it could best support them. This allows us to focus on leader well-being at a time when it is critical.

Q:  How does this program work?

A: We offer external coaching to all leaders and it’s totally voluntary. We set it up so leaders can contact ithrive31 directly. All calls are confidential, we don’t have records of who has or has not called. They can access coaching by sending an email and then the ithrive31 team sends a link to schedule a coaching session. We offer up to 2 sessions per leader. If leaders desire more, they can reach out to HR to discuss a more formal Coaching arrangement.

Q: What do they talk about with their external Coach?

A: We don’t tell our leaders what topics to discuss; we tell them it is a resource for them to be successful at work and at home. We communicate ideas for how to use this resource like:

• Dealing with workplace stress, burnout, overwhelm
• Supporting them personally and finding balance between work and home
• Identifying ways to be a stronger leader to their team; overcoming team challenges
• Discussing a workplace issue they are wrestling with, such as having a difficult conversation with their boss, dealing with difficult peers, etc. or career challenges

Q:  Why did you decide to offer this to all your leaders?

A: Coming out of the pandemic, we saw the multiple challenges leaders were facing. We wanted to find ways to support them. We wanted to send the message “we care about you”. Having someone external helps us focus on the well-being of our leadership team.

Q:  How did you communicate it?

A: We had a meeting with all leaders to introduce this; we had Dorene MacVey, Head Coach for ithrive31 talk about what to expect and how they could use this program.  She was available to answer any questions. It was helpful for our leaders to understand and feel comfortable with who would be on the other end of the phone. 

Q:  How do you know it’s effective?

A: We get information on numbers of leaders who use it and ithrive31 provides client survey feedback to us.  We have seen 100% satisfaction. Leaders have shared that after talking with Dorene they are:

• more confident in a decision they were struggling with
• More confident in their approach to a difficult conversation
• Have learned new approaches to make teaming/collaboration better

Q:  What have been the biggest take-aways?  

A: Leaders really appreciate that Mary Greeley is investing in supporting their personal success and growth. They also appreciate having an external professional coach available to help them when needed.  The external coaching opportunity for leaders provides them with a resource that is confidential, not tied to internal hierarchy. Too often it can be hard to reach out to peers or internal resources when struggling with something.  This is like having our own external executive coach that people can reach out to as needed and know that the discussions won’t be shared.  This comes from a place of helping leaders be the best version of exactly who they are.